‘Shame’ of 2010 haunts Italians
Youthful English a good test for revamped squad
RIO de JANEIRO — South Africa, 2010. Arguably the worst Italian performance since Luciano Pavarotti starred in his only movie, playing — now here’s a stretch — a famous opera singer in 1982’s lamentable Yes, Giorgio. Or the last time Silvio Berlusconi opened his mouth.
Three and on the plane home. Bottom of a seemingly straightforward group. Shamed and eliminated by Slovakia. Nothing more substantial than a draw from either New Zealand or Paraguay.
The worst official finish at a World Cup … ever. A sad end to the Marcello Lippi era. Flayed savagely by the Italian press despite injuries to the two key men, Andrea Pirlo and Gigi Buffon.
“Humiliated by Slovakia, time to go home in shame!” read the blazing headline in the pink paper, Gazzetta dello Sport. La Repubblica mourned: “Shame and tears, a nation to be rebuilt.”
La Stampa labelled it: “The blackest page of our footballing history.”
Fast-forward to today. Out of the ashes of South Africa, hope. Maybe they’re not on a small list of upper-echelon list of favourites here — Brazil, Argentina, Spain and Germany — but certainly included in an intriguing second cut of contenders. Runner-up at the last Euros, third at the 2013 Confederations Cup, reinvented by the more progressive-thinking, attackminded Cesare Prandelli.
Either loyal or lazy, Lippi died with a tired old team that had come through for him four years earlier in Germany. Prandelli has introduced kids like Ciro Immobile, Marco Veratti and Lorenzo Insigne into the national team setup, sweeping aside many of the cobwebs. Only a half-dozen players remain from the creaky embarrassment of South Africa.
The Azzurri open their latest World Cup quest Saturday in the sauna that is Manaus, situated on the Amazon River, on a pitch that from all reports resembles a patch of ground housing a nuclear waste plant, against the habitually overestimated English. Still, it promises to be a tricky fixture, given the fresh legs and openly confident, almost defiant attitude of the Three Lions.
“I think we have moved ahead of Italy in the last two years,” Wayne Rooney boldly declared earlier this week, hearkening back to a loss on penalties at the 2012 Euros. “The squad we have is youthful with a lot of energy and excitement. It will be interesting to see how we have moved on and progressed.
“The future is bright with so much ability and it is a joy to be part of the squad. I still feel I have a massive role to play. I think we can all be really excited. The Italians should look at our team.
“They have some great players, but so do we and they should be worried about their own team.”
Prandelli has worked wonders but make no mistake, this is hugely important tournament for him, having recently signed a two-year contract extension (he earns $4.3 million this year, third highest of any World Cup manager) that takes him through Euro 2016. Now in his third year in charge of the project, this is what he and the Italian soccer federation have been aiming towards. Here. Now.
“At the start of every tournament there is always pessimism in Italy. That’s how we are,” the boss said of the customary skepticism to Italy’s chances back in the Boot. “Maybe psychologically we need this feeling of insecurity and criticism. I am calm because we have worked well.”
Everything seems to be in order. Bland and highly unconvincing in their final two pre-tournament friendlies, versus Ireland and Luxembourg. Check.
Busy putting out small fires (with the Italians, could it be any other way?). Check check.
One of the more interesting options put forth this week has been that Prandelli would be better served cohesively and tactically using the aforementioned Immobile as a first-choice striker in lieu of nut-job Mario Balotelli.
Well, certainly nothing against Immobile but ignoring Balotelli’s immense, if often hard to harness, talent — at least until he throws his first major hissy-fit — would be sheer lunacy. As Prandelli knows. Sure Balotelli has it in him to go off the charts or off the rails, but he is an authentic potential match winner and Prandelli, more than any other coach, has been able to sculpt the most out of a flawed piece of marble. Sanity prevails. The madman plays.
What must be worrisome from an Italian standpoint is that those defensive fortifications, the historic hallmark of Italian football, ain’t what they used to be.
“Can Italy win the World Cup?” asked Pirlo. “Of course. When I play, it is solely to win. I am never just content with getting through the round. We have a competitive squad and will give our all to achieve this objective.
“We have what it takes to go far. The important thing is to believe, sacrifice ourselves, work hard and the results can arrive.”
Four years removed from the blackest page. From out of total darkness.