The decline of the Azzurri

Italy’s defeat to a deflected goal by Sweden in the first leg of a play-off last Friday raises the distinct possibility that the Azzurri may not qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 1958. Italy won the World Cup in 2006 and performed well in the Euros of 2016 so why the decline?

In a word or player – Pirlo. Indisputably one of the modern masters Andea Pirlo, or ‘The Maestro’, defined a whole new role as the deep-lying playmaker like an American football quarterback.

There have been some decent midfielders alongside and after him – Daniele de Rossi and Claudio Marchisio are capable box to box players – but without Pirlo the Azzurri lack that crucial spark of creativity. In short there is no one to inspire and ignite the team.

It was hoped that new coach Giampero Ventura, who took over from Antonio Conte, would bring on the next generaton like Marco Verrati but the team, especially the defence, has grown old and the youthful replacements do not look good enough.

I had a long conversation with Alan Tanner about the decline. I said that unlike England we do not employ overseas managers, that Italian players like our own Federico Chiesa and before  him Bernardeschi at Fiorentina do not have their career pathway blocked by expensive overseas players. Yet England admittedly in a much easier group – we had to pay Sweden and Netherlands – qualified with relative ease. England also produced World Cup winners at under 17 and under 20 level.

Of course all is not lost if Italy can beat Sweden by more than goal in Milano on Monday. There is a school of thought that says that even if we do so, it will confirm Ventura in the job and result in a mediocre performance in Russia. I do not subscribe to this. It will be body blow to watch World Cup without our participation.