The Demise of “Beautiful” Italy

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present our first guest column by the venerable Sven Kotowski:

Full time Italy-Slovakia: 2-3. Italy were piss poor most of the time and got deservedly kicked out. I've just done some fact checking: The team members had little success in the past season. In the first two matches only two starters in Italy's first XI (de Rossi/Roma; Zambrotta/Milan) were from one of last season's six best teams in Serie A (joined by Gattuso/Milan against Slovakia). Those who played are relatively old – the average ages of the fielded teams were 27.9, 27.4, and 28.6 years, respectively. The core of the team was made up from a group of Juventus players (five in match 1, four in the 2nd – plus Camoranesi coming on in both matches). The four or so Juventus performances I watched last season, as well as their overall results, were nothing short of disastrous – 7th in the league, kicked out in the CL group stages and in the last 16 of the EL. Or not disastrous but rather, maybe worse, mediocre – simply no top-notch side. A Brazil-Argentina final, in contrast, might feature five players from scudetto (and treble) winners Internazionale.

Caught in a downward spiral, the three group matches have seen the Squadra Azzura go from bad to worse, constantly lacking drive and creativity going forward and increasingly losing it defensively. 1st: 1-1 – defensively sound – concede from Paraguay’s only chance (a somewhat ambivalent record for both teams) – yet, don’t create many chances, either, and eventually aren’t dissatisfied with a draw. 2nd: 1-1 – another cheap goal from a set-piece sees Italy early 1-0 down against New Zealand, while Italy don’t create significantly more or better chances than in the Paraguay encounter. Need a debatable penalty to score the equalizer. 3rd: 2-3 – embarrassing! Except for the final 15 minutes and Italy with their backs against the wall, Slovakia are the better of two dire teams – Italy concede the first after the most catastrophic of turnovers and another two after mixtures of counter attacks, comic- and non-defending.

I’ve always rated the “traditionally hidden beauty” of Italian football, its tactical superiority, the decelerated build-up play, the technical skills of all players irrespective of positions (plus “Super Bippo” Inzaghi), great goal keepers, and a seemingly inexhaustible pool of talent. Yet, having a soft spot for calcio is somewhat unfortunate here in Germany. First, because Italian football is still unfairly considered the most cynical and destructive spawn of professional sports; second, more disturbingly, because Italy is the only nation towards which racism (sure, mostly in disguise as various forms of unsubtle humor) appears to be accepted. The lack of creativity in central midfield (Pirlo injured, Totti retired), a center-half/captain/leader who’s been past it for two years, a lack of young talent (though, without Italy’s own, worse problems with racism, Balotelli may well have become Italy’s Özil), and an increasingly impotent strike force are probably among the major factors responsible for the elimination. Personally, I think it’s sad that the “traditional beauty” has ceased to exist, that grassroots problems do not promise quick recovery, and – most depressing – that so many people are happy about it.