The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Time for not-soace Ventura to stand down: Zola
Former Italy internationalist Gianfranco Zola says it is necessary for his country to replace boss Giampiero Ventura.
Ventura is fighting for his job after the Azzurri failed to reach the World Cup for the first time in 60 years following a play-off defeat by Sweden on Monday.
Italian Football Federation president Carlo Tavecchio has called a meeting to discuss the country’s failure to qualify for next year’s tournament in Russia and the 69-year-old’s position will come under scrutiny.
Zola, who won 35 caps between 1991 and 1997, says Ventura’s time should be up.
“It will be necessary (for him to go), because it’s not going to be easy for him to continue with his work,” Zola told Sky Sports News. “It’s a pity because he’s a good coach, he really gets his teams playing good football but in this case, unfortunately as a national team coach, you cannot get the amount of time that is necessary to develop his football.
“It would be wrong to put all the pressure on the coach, all football in Italy needs to be regenerated and we need solutions to improve it.
“There are certainly men with very good credentials.
“We have to start restructuring our youth system and we need to improve the quality of players that we are producing, at the moment we are not producing a lot of quality and a country like Italy, which has always been known for producing players, it is a pity to see that.”