Third Round Assessement: Expectations

This edition of the World Cup has been a big disappointment for the Azzurri. In fact, it is considered one of the Top 10 worst performances. I think that the Italians, while preparing for disappointment, are surprised at how the pieces fell into place. Most, myself included, expected Italy to pass to the knockout stage; however at best, it could arrive at the quarter-finals. Not qualifying at all and finishing last, with more goals given up than scored, is very distant from this expectation. It could have been worse, as history has shown. But then, it shouldn't be so surprising, as the country has been bemoaning the mediocrity of the national team for some time now. Even the 2006 World Champions took time to warm up to the Italians (as did the 1982 team). If Italy had tied, as in '82, it would have advanced. And perhaps a scenario would have repeated itself again...But I don't think so, because the players on that team were true champions. I am not criticizing or demeaning the qualities of the present players, and I do believe they are the best players in the country, but this generation rests at an inferior level.

I saw several positive things about the team. I thought that even though the midfield still struggles to win and distribute the ball, the players worked hard to execute the coach's orders. The newer players gave energy and cohesion to the team that increased with each match. The play was more mid-field and attack oriented, rather than defensive ball possession. Italy did pretty well on several occasions of getting up the field quick with four or fives passes with a shot on net. Not enough, unfortunately, but much more adept than the Euro 2008 team.

All in all, Italy's final standings reflect a team that has a lot of hard workers, but lacking that spark of brilliance. Sometimes a decent performance can get satisfactory results, but at the World Cup, you just can't play "alright" and expect to come out of the group stage. You need that extra push to get you past the others; to show the world why you deserve a spot in the elite tier, rather than that other team. The 2010 squad isn't completely hopeless. The general agreement is that there is a great need for fresh faces. New CT Cesare Prandelli already has the football world galvanized. With Lippi's exit, so a number of problems calling up players will disappear with him. Not calling up players such as Antonio Cassano, Fabrizio Miccoli and Christian Panucci were due to litigation among those players' managers and Davide Lippi, ex-CT of Italy Marcello Lippi's son. Davide is a manager in the Player's Association who had legal problems with these players (and others). Many point to "personality conflicts" with the coach (Cassano and Panucci), but these conflicts probably arose from the managing situation. And it will probably be the last term of "The Senators," some of which (Gattuso, Cannavaro) have already announced retirement from the national team. But let's not get too carried away. Each coach builds his own group the way he sees fit. We will see "Prandellian" Senators soon enough.  

Italy's results fell far short of our expectations, low though they were. There is a lot of disappointment out there, but I hope that doesn't dampen interest in and enthusiasm and support for the rest of the teams.  As far as I'm concerned, this is the world's biggest party, and I'm still partying on.