Sport

Italy’s issues run deeper than the national team

Football is getting ready for its biggest party, and once again, Italy aren’t invited.

It should be unthinkable that the World Cup could take place without its second most successful nation, but recently, it has become the norm. When the Azzurri lost the play-off ahead of Russia 2018, it felt like an almighty blip. Failing to make it to Qatar, as sitting European champions, was bizarre.

But their defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in March, excluding them from an expanded 48-team tournament in North America was more inevitable.

There were ripples of shock, but the reaction was more numb. The ‘novelty’ of Italy’s failure worn off.

For all of the excitement surrounding countries like Belgium and more recently Norway building squads to improve their relatively minimal reputations on the international stage, Italy are proof that success cannot be taken for granted.

Four World Cup wins, a long history of producing excellent players and coaches, and a very specific way of playing have potentially resulted in an entire country becoming complacent.

But the issues run deeper than the national team. In fact, they are a symptom of the true cause. Generally speaking, a country’s success only follows on from a thriving domestic landscape.

In the 1990s, Serie A was the place to be. All the best players from abroad flocked to play there, and Italy’s biggest clubs, namely Juventus, Milan and Inter, were a force in Europe. The production line of talent was seemingly never ending, too. From Roberto Baggio to Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero, Italy had some of the finest attacking talent in the world, despite being better known for defensive stability.

Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta weren’t bad, either.

Winning the World Cup 2006 came from Italy’s tactical nous and unbelievable team balance. Although Marcello Lippi’s squad was full of quality, they weren’t seen as superstars like many of those playing for France, England and Brazil were. Defensive strength was paramount; they conceded just one goal, a penalty in the final scored by Zinedine Zidane in the final. Cannavaro won the Ballon d’Or months later.

Yet, Italy has always been known for preservation, rather than evolution. Players often hit their peak later and played on for longer, and perhaps that attitude has caught up with them now.

Because Serie A was thriving at the turn of the century, players and coaches often stayed in Italy. Although rivalries were fierce, particularly cross-city in places like Milan, Rome and Genoa, it has never been uncommon for clubs to trade, and coaches often crossed enemy lines too.

Lippi, the World Cup-winning coach, has also taken charge of Inter and Juventus, while others like Fabio Cappello and Carlo Ancelotti also have multiple Italian clubs on their CVs.

At the time, self containment wasn’t such a problem because the quality was there. But gradually, as the likes of Totti, Cannavaro and Del Piero have been replaced by lesser talent and standards have slipped, it has had more of an impact.

Italian football is still stuck where it was 20 years ago, while other countries have evolved and developed. Yet still, the same coaches and players move between clubs. Gennaro Gattuso, the former Milan midfielder who was sacked as Azzurri coach after their qualification failure, is set to replace Maurizio Sarri at Lazio. Sarri, who has also worked for Napoli and Juventus, could go to Atalanta, while Antonio Conte has been linked with Milan after leaving Napoli, despite winning Serie A with them, Milan’s city rivals Inter and Juventus.

It doesn’t stop there. Max Allegri is set to replace Conte at Napoli despite his sacking from Milan last week, where he was in his second spell, having also been given the chop at Juve.

Some, if not most, of these coaches are falling upwards. But it isn’t hard to see why Italy as a nation and Serie A are failing in the modern era. They are stuck in a cycle where everybody plays or coaches every club, and nothing changes.

Until it does and fresh ideas emerge, the stagnation will only continue and one of football’s great nations will continue to rot.