Napoli-Juventus: The changing face of the National team and Serie A

     There were a significant number of Italian nationals on the field yesterday during the Napoli-Juventus match.  There was an interesting mix of present and former players as well as former under-21 players.  All the roles were represented.  For Juventus, there was Storari, Grosso, Chiellini, Motta, Marchisio, Bonucci, Aquilani, Del Piero, Amauri, Toni and Pepe.  Napoli also had Italian nationals with De Sanctis, Maggio, Dossena, and Paolo Cannavaro.  The final score of 3-0 for Napoli has the Italian football world wondering how Juventus, with so many Italian nationals, crumbled under Napoli's assault.  Unsurprisingly,  Juventus exhibited many of the same problems as the Italian national team: a leaky defense, an awkward midfield, and an impotent attack.  Napoli, on the other hand, seems to have cultivated a winning formula with South Americans Lavezzi, Cavani and Gargano, the dynamic Slovak Hamsik, and relatively unknown Italians Grava, Compagnaro, Aronica and Pazienza.  These last four players are Serie A veterans, but not "big names."

     South American players dominate certain teams in Serie A.  Roma, Milan, Inter, Napoli, and Palermo, all top 10 so far, prefer to scout in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil for strong players.  These teams do have their share of Italian nationals, except for Inter, as well as players from other national teams.  But much of their strength comes from South American talent.  The Napoli-Juventus match demonstrated that Italian talent is no match for the South Americans, particularly Italian defense against South American attack.  Ironically, Napoli's nearly all Italian defense completely nullified the Juventus Italian attack.

     The Napoli-Juventus game also demonstrates that big names could be the downfall of a team. Christian Maggio, for example, is thirty years old, and only just breaking into the national side, yet he's played for Napoli for three years; he is part of why the Neapolitan team has been so successful these past three years.  Why did it take so long for the national team coaches to recognize this midfielder's talent? 

     The top teams in Serie A do have a strong presence of Italians, both Nationals and not, but it is the strength of other nationals, particularly the South Americans, that keep them afloat in the domestic table and internationally.  This indicates that talent is cultivated successfully in South America, and not so well in Italy.  If Italians players want to have more clout on the field, then perhaps coaches and scouts should pay more attention to how things are done in other places, rather than glorify and cling to the superiority of Italian football of the past.