BLUE at heart of Azzurri’s joyous revival
Chelsea’s Jorginho is key to Italy’s new free-spirited style
IN a way we have never quite known before, Italy are a side playing with the wind in their hair. ‘Like Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn on a Vespa,’ as Gazzetta dello Sport described them this week.
Gone is the grey pragmatism that reaches right back to the creation of the nation’s first catenaccio football in the 1950s and in its place is free-spirited football, brought in by manager Roberto Mancini. What we have seen so far at this tournament feels like a quite impeccable marriage of time, place and sport. After the beauties of Rome had been shut down for over a year by the pandemic, here is a brand of football that captures all the beauty of the Eternal City where Rob Page’s buoyant Wales side are the opponents tonight.
The talk is of the team’s 31 goals in 10 straight wins, including nine successive clean sheets. Of the daring, attacking philosophy of Mancini’s 4- 3- 3, with a l eft winger operating high and what Gazzetta has called a ‘5-a-side attack.’ The great Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi had a saying that, ‘ If there is a grave-digger in the house, it means that there is also the dead man’ — meaning that if you allow the opposition onto your own territory, you reap the grim consequences. Italy keep the grave-digger away from their goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma by perpetually looking to flood into the opposition half.
But the man who has so far made all this derring-do possible in 3-0 wins against both Turkey and Switzerland 3-0 is Chelsea’s Jorginho, who shields the defence, sets the tempo and engineers the gear shifts for Italy. Only now, at the age of 29, is he getting a chance of tournament football, having become a naturalised citizen of the country in 2012 — five years after leaving his native Brazil to join Hellas Verona, aged 16. Italy didn’t qualify for the 2018 World Cup and he was one of many who missed the great stage that year.
It was just after the tournament that Maurizio Sarri, one of the main champions of his gifts at Napoli, brought him to Chelsea, convinced that his vision, passing accuracy and defensive work- rate would translate to the Premier League.
But the club’s usual revolving door of managers has made the last five years uncertain at times. It has taken Thomas Tuchel’s arrival to bring out his best. Frank Lampard didn’t always sound convinced about him and perhaps it’ s Jorginho’s slight frame that has made some managers question his value. He is not the fastest, either, but he has shown in this tournament so far that pace doesn’t always matter so much for a player with peripheral vision.
‘Jorginho is not a colossus, but he is able to organize the game like no one else,’ Mauro Gibellini, former sporting director of Hellas Verona, who spotted him in Brazil, said last week. ‘No, he is not very fast, but he compensates with his anticipation and the precision of his passes.’
The individual in question said that he looked for the pass that would open the defensive lines of the opponent. ‘My passes may seem insignificant, but it’s often the pass that comes after mine that brings a scoring opportunity.’
Italian writers point to his powers of communication on the field in training sessions and matches. ‘It’s true that I often end matches speechless!’ he added. ‘From my position, I can see the game well, so I can give advice and try to help my team-mates.’ He is also the reinforcement when Italy lose possession, a team-mate is overrun or an opponent finds space in the Italy penalty area. But he is not the only one to have justified Mancini’s judgment of a player. Inter Milan’s Nicolo Barella and Alessandro Bastoni, 24 and 22 years old respectively, have matured in the national team. Th eS assuol op air Dome ni co B era rd i and Manuel Locatelli have also proved impressive reinforcements.
Mancini, who will make three or four changes, was nonchalant in a discussion about the aesthetics of his
team last night. Asked if Italy were playing the best football at this tournament he said, deadpan: ‘I don’t know necessarily if we play the best football but we’re a group of good-looking lads, for sure.’
He laughed when asked if this challenge reminded him of playing Stoke as Manchester City manager. ‘Stoke was a tricky place to go to,’ he replied. ‘Stoke had a very tough style of play. They were a very tough nut to
crack. But Wales have players like [ Joe] Allen, Bale, [ Daniel] James — skilful, quality players. Wales are not only technical but powerful on the physical side.’
There’s a longing in Italy for a semi-final berth which would signal that the nation is back, after the indignity of 2018. But Belgium could lie in wait in the quarter-finals, at which point Lorenzo Insigne, Ciro Immobile or Domenico Berardi may need to find another level. Both Insigne and Immobile are in their 30s.
There is also age at the back of the team. The presence of
a 36-year-old Giorgio Chiellini, if fit, and 34- year- old Leonardo Bonucci may give Aaron Ramsey and Daniel James hope today. In short, Italy do not have global superstars like Belgium, France or Germany.
But the nation is simply enjoying the Vespa ride while it can. ‘Our attacking style is generous, but could also be costly,’ said one Gazzetta writer. ‘ A more hardnosed mentality would help to save energy. But this Italy team is a kite. If it doesn’t run fast, it doesn’t fly.’