It has often been stated that one of the main problems England face is that the Premier League is populated by so many foreign players that this hinders the progress of England’s top stars and in particular the youngsters, in the Premier League. But that same argument could equally be given for Italian football’s current lack of talented superstars.
In recent times the Azzuri have been less than impressive. Their qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup finals was hardly impressive, relying on a last gasp equaliser in Ireland to put them into the finals after a series of unimpressive drawn games. Italy’s disappointment only grew in the finals, where their first two games against Paraguay and New Zealand were supremely lackluster.
Despite Italy’s strong reputation for defense, their lack of imagination in attack was painful. Italy missed the cunning of Andrea Pirlo, a looming threat from a player of the amplitude of Francesco Totti, and the usually great from of Luca Toni; what is worse, Italy may struggle to find new players to fill the new soccer jersey.Inter Milan won both Serie A and Coppa Italia in 2010 prior to lifting the European Champions Leauge with a 2-0 game, beating out Bayern Munich in Madrid. However, in spite of the great season, Inter failed to send a single player into the Italina World Cup team. For most of the season, Inter’s first team barely contained an Italian player. Young Mario Balotelli and Davide Santon did in fact make a lasting contribution, but were used mostly as substitutes and neither player ended up on the final squad for the showpiece in South Africa.
Looking through Serie A big teams is enough to confirm this worrying trend. AC Milan have more Italians in their first team squad, but the vast majority are approaching or beyond 30 years of age. It’s a slightly rosier picture at Juventus, but only just thanks to the likes of Chiellini, Giovinco and De Ceglie coming through the ranks to supplement the impressive Marchisio in midfield. Still, a majority of Juventus’s Italian nationals exceed the age of thirty, especially those that could be considered as first team material.
More and more, the majority of the players on the Italian national team are not coming out of the top four to five teams from Serie A, but instead from the teams which sit just outside of this elite crew. The 2010 World Cup Italian squad has a total of six players from Juventus, with two coming from Milan, and one from Roma. However, the team also has 3 players from Napoli, another 2 from Sampadoria, 2 from Genoa, two from Fiorentina, and one apiece from Udinese, Cagliari, Bari, and Al Ahli of the UAE.
It is a trend which considering the age of many of the players from the top clubs, looks likely to continue and it must be a worry for the Italian FA and any Azzuri team manager. A number of these Italian players are not currently participating in the Champions League every season, a wounding phenomenon that will fiercely impact performance abilities when such players are on the pitch.
Italy does have hope for the future, with players like Domenico Criscito, Salvatore Bocchetti, Giampaolo Pazzini, and Leonardo Bonucci as up and coming players. Sadly, though, these players are likely to gain their football education not on the pitches of Old Trafford, Allianz Arena, Bernebeu and Nou Camp but on those of Palermo, Bari, Cagliari, and Lazio.
The Italian side needs to begin worrying about the state of their leagues. Can the heroes of a country really be considered heroes if they don’t have their hearts in a national cause?
