It’s an Italian’s job teetering on the brink
ENGLAND are in Turin and there is a coach very much balanced on the edge of a precipice. Tonight’s ‘ Italian Job’ is set to pick up right where the 1969 original left off.
This time, the coach in question is Italy’s Antonio Conte. The careering gold bullion that featured in the fi nale of the fi lm has gone, instead it is a golden career in the balance.
The winner of 15 trophies in 13 years as a player for Juventus, he added three further Scudetti when he returned as the club’s manager in 2011 – a haul that earned him, quite literally, the Italian job last August after a disappointing World Cup.
Although Italy remain unbeaten under his stewardship, unconvincing single- goal wins against Azerbaijan, Albania and even Malta have been interspersed with draws against Croatia and, most recently, Bulgaria.
It was in the build- up to this latest game on Saturday that tensions boiled over. For the fourth time this season, a Juventus player, Claudio Marchisio this time, appeared to have suffered a major injury while on international duty.
Conte was accused of overworking his players by senior fi gures at Juventus. His work ethic was running their top players into the ground, they said, when he is only supposed to work their bloody socks off.
Things became much more serious when Italian Football Federation president Carlo Tavecchio revealed Conte appeared “shaken” after receiving death threats from the club’s ultras on the internet. There was little evidence of additional security outside the Italian hotel in the centre of this elegant but austere northern town in the shadow of the Alps, and the dozens of fans milling in the sunshine generally seemed in a positive mood. This is what Conte wants more than anything at the moment. “We have got a lot of fans behind us because Italy are playing and we will all come together from every perspective,” he said.
“The fans need to support Italy. They know we are working hard at a time that is not easy. So when everyone gives everything they have got in what they are doing, you always hope it will be appreciated.
“It is such a strange period for the Italian football system and we have to have the humility to understand who we are and how much we have to do.
“We are surprised if teams like Croatia are ahead of us in our group, but they have proved on the pitch they have a stronger team than us with a greater number of international caps.
“There are statistics to show this is a generational change. I have been saying this for a while now. It is good to open our eyes and try to grasp what we have to try to work with. A number of players are taking their fi rst tentative steps in international football – please do not slate them.
“It is not good for the players, it is not good for the team and it is not good for the country.” Questions over the prospect of Conte seeing out the fi nal 15 months of his contract were batted aside by the press offi cer and at times the antagonism in the room seemed palpable.
The only unfl appable fi gure was Italy’s veteran goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Buffon, who missed the game against Bulgaria with fl u but will return tonight.
“We can calmly say the last few days have not been boring in any sense,” he said. “But this sort of energy is better released than bottled up because it can ultimately lead to defeat.
“I am pleased because it can often provoke a reaction. Hopefully all of this can benefi t us, bring us together and maximise the days we have together.”
‘ We have to open our eyes’