England has been facing more and more criticism over the fact that the Premier League is so overpopulated with foreign players that young English players don’t have the opportunity to grow adequately. 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.
Italy was hurt by their lack of ingenuity in attack, despite their renowned defensive abilities. 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 latest soccer jersey. Inter Milan made Jose Mourinho proud as the won the Serie A and Coppa Italia in 2010, ending up lifting the Europeans Champions League 2-0 against Bayern Munich at a match in Madrid. Disappointingly, Inter failed to contribute any players to the World Cup Squad for Italy. Inter’s first team hardly ever contained an Italian player for most of the season. 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.
A quick scout through the Serie A giants reveals a worrying trend. AC Milan can be commended for a higher amount of Italians in their first team, but this victory is diminished by the fact that most of these people are nearing or beyond thirty. 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. A large amount of Juventus Italian nationals, and especially those that are first team caliber, are all above thirty.
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 Italian World Cup team has, at present, 6 players hailing from Juventus, with three under the age of thirty, 3 from Milan, one from Roma, but also has 3 from Napoli, two from Genoa, two coming from Sampdoria, 2 from Fiorentina, and one each who come from Bari, Cagliari and Udinese. There is also a player from Al Ahli of the UAE (Fabio Cannavaro).
The trend is not stopping anytime soon, thanks to the ages of top players this may become a worry for both Azzuri managers and the Italian FA alike. A great many Italian players are declining participation in the Champions League each season, a fact that hurts Italian players’ performance against the competition.
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. Without a strong national identity, can a player really defend a nation with the vim and vigor of patriotism?
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