| |
| | Thursday 3 July, 2008 | | Blog: Euro sceptic | | If Europe’s big nations are to maintain their strength on the international stage, Giovanni Spinella thinks they need an EU assist |  |  | | |
As the Azzurri slink home, and the players fly off for a couple of weeks holiday before returning to their clubs for the new season, an old question returns – what is the future of the national side in modern trans-national Europe?
For decades the EU has striven to abolish legal barriers between its member states, allowing millions of people to cross the continent to find better jobs, make better lives for themselves and ultimately enrich the Union as a whole. In this, the EU is undoubtedly a success. But even this noble principle can sometimes run into exceptions. And football should be one of them.
When the EU compelled UEFA to remove the limits on foreign players per club, European football changed dramatically. Teams that used to nurture young domestic talents started looking for a quicker, and cheaper, fix abroad. This made sense from a purely commercial point of view, and no one can deny that Serie A, the Premiership, La Liga or the Bundesliga have been enriched by the influx of international players.
But the flip side is that many clubs stopped investing on their youth teams. Obviously there are notable exceptions such as Ajax, Arsenal, Roma, and to a lesser extent Juventus.
With fewer youth players making it into the clubs’ first teams, this has a knock-on effect that reaches the national side. Coaches face a dwindling pool of home-grown talent, especially from the big clubs, the sides most likely to compete in European tournaments.
Inter, winners of the last three Scudetti only have one Italian in their starting XI, Marco Materazzi. So tacticians either have to stick to aging stars – Italy had one of the oldest squads at Euro 2008 – or look for their men in the smaller clubs, which inevitably means less experienced players. Some nations suffer these problems more than others, like England or Italy.
Obviously talent is talent. Stars such as Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane, to name a few, are unique and any club worth its salt will always try to sign them. But how many foreign players are of that calibre?
FIFA chief Sepp Blatter tried to redress this situation, by suggesting that all clubs field no fewer than five players from the club’s country of origin, with three more from the UEFA federations. Such a proposal would no doubt have benefited the various national sides. But the EU commission shot the suggestion down. Caught up in its admirable foundational principles, it failed to appreciate football’s uniqueness. So the question remains unanswered – is there room, in the EU’s great design, for Italy, for England, for the national side?
| |
| |
|
Italy has always had a lot of foreign players in its League since the early 1980s. But in that time we have won two World Cups, been to four Finals - one in the European Championship and three World Cups - and if you notice we don't have as many foreign players as we use to. Unlike England, who have loads and that's why they have had three teams in the Champions Cup two years running as they have the foreginers in their sides. So don't worry, Italy will always have the players to come through to the senior level of the Azzurri and Serie A.
We live in England and my son has just a quarter of Italian in him, but he wants to play football in Italy not England, that's his dream to play for a great country.
We have ben here before and Italy will always rise from the ashes like Rome did with Nero - it's in our DNA.
Gino
I agree with the background of what Giovanni Spinella is saying in his blog, it is true that the foreign players' influence in the League will always threaten a national team’s status. However, I do honestly believe that there is a different and altogether more positive reality in Italy than say in other European countries such as England. It is true that top clubs like Inter shamefully fail to represent Italian footballers in their first teams however there are still plenty of good youth systems throwing the fresh blood out into Serie A every year. Yes much of the next generation Italians do find themselves in the bottom half teams of Serie A but there is a lot of Italian representation there and this is largely due to the fact that lower League clubs can (thankfully) afford to bring in the home grown talent on loans or sales and often they find a better financial option with a home grown player than a foreign player. This is not the same case in England where home grown players are altogether much more expensive than foreign options.
To quote Giovanni I really don’t agree that these young players found in the bottom half clubs can be labelled as ‘men in the smaller clubs, which inevitably means less experienced players’. Many of these younger Italian players are going up against the Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma and Fiorentina pedigree teams fighting for the Serie A crown and European qualification. In these matches they are gaining valuable experience of not only playing against the best squads in Serie A but also competing against players who are altogether more European ‘wise’ because of their background in foreign, Champions League and UEFA Cup football. It is feasible that a young Italian player who plays regularly for say a lower league team like Livorno (no disrespect intended) can draw on the same level of ‘match’ experience as a young Italian player at a bigger team like Juventus. In fact sometimes that player at Livorno will get better match experience because the player at Juventus will often miss out on the big European and Serie A ties due to the more experienced superstars in the squad who must play to for fill public expectations and demonstrate a means of repayment for their huge transfer costs.
I refuse to believe that the Azzurri is only a representation of how top Italian teams play their football in European ties i.e. UEFA and Champions League. A big part of the Azzurri’s game is influenced by Serie A and every young player in Serie A has his own role and part to play in that overall influence, it doesn’t matter what club they play for. Every young Italian player in Serie A is there fighting fit and ready to serve an ambition to play for the Azzurri.
Recently Italy has failed massively in its choice of first team national selections. Managers like Donadoni have succumbed to the intense public pressure and that of the Federation to pick those aged and old Italian superstars because of their status and the clubs they play for. What is remarkable is that the Italian public continue to call for these old bod’s like Del Piero ahead of the young blood of Italy who actually have far more skill, capabilities and experience than the public and media eye give them credit for.
Is there really a valid reason to favour an old man like Del Piero ahead of the outstanding Guiseppe Rossi who has experience playing abroad for a top club as well as in Serie A? Is there really a reason why an old man like Ambrosini should be picked ahead of the outstanding Montolivo? You can argue a players club level statistics all you want but that’s for the club not the national team! A national team has to be a functional unit regardless of club reputations and in order for a good national team to exist it must draw upon the capabilities of young and experienced players across the Serie A league. I pray for the day that a ‘Brave Manager’ will be appointed into the Azzurri’s chair, a Manager that looks at the younger ‘experienced’ talents that Italy have on offer and then actually puts faith into picking them!! Forza Calcio!
MJ, Leeds
I think this an easy way to write dig at Inter, as is becoming the norm in most Serie A journalism. The truth is that Inter still has a strong youth system, one that has brought many great players of Italian, and other nationalities too, to the fore. Acquafresca, Andreolli and Balotelli are all Italian players brought through Inter's youth system and they will all become great players in the future no doubt.
Inter farms these players out as they cannot afford to use them in such important competition yet (except Balotelli) but these players will hopefully prove themselves and return or at least provide other Italian clubs with a good player for the future.
The reason the first team has no Italians is because there aren't that many good enough to play for Inter who are not already at other large clubs who will not sell them (Roma, Milan, Juve). If anyone can name an Italian player that Inter could buy to resolve their current problems (creative midfielder, left-back) I'd be very surprised.
K Gilmour
In theory the five/six rule sounds like a good one and would potentially help the national teams and if the EU were to grant the sport an exemption then it should be seriously looked at by UEFA. However it would need to be fully investigated, analysed and a report produced showing the pros and cons before being impleted. A national team may be helped by the rule but would it be to the detriment of a League. Would the smaller clubs benefit from this rule or end up even worse off and thus create greater gulf between the top clubs and the lower ones?
If the rule doesn’t change then other avenues will need to be looked at to ensure the talent keeps coming through. However if things don’t change then we should accept that the European cup competitions are no longer representative of the best club and best League but are simply a club competition and remove the notion of which country has the best club teams or League. If Inter and Arsenal play how can we honestly say its an Italian and English match up when there are hardly any Italians or English playing?
With regard to MJ in Leeds' comment regarding old players representing their nation, I agree that they shouldn’t be there solely based on their name but I don’t believe the example of Del Pier is accurate. He was picked because he had a great season, was in form and was top goal scorer, and not because his name is 'Del Pier'.
I agree with a comment made by one of the Euro teams Coaches, that its not about old and young but about good and bad players. If someone is in top form and playing great, has had an excellent season why shouldn’t he be in the squad, and not left out just because he's over 30?
Phillip
Right about England and Inter, but wrong about Italy. Italy has one of the best youth programmes in the world and the proof is in the results of all of its younger teams (Under-21, 19, 17 as well as Olympic squad) which remain at the top level in Europe. And even though Donandoni did not necessarily mix old and new with success, the elements were there for future use by a coach with, if we can have hope in Lippi, better tactical decision making skills. It should also be noted that not all emerging talent comes from youth - many players like Toni came into the Serie A game a bit later and others like Pirlo or Perrotta have developed later. Others still, like Di Natale and Quagliarella are still honing their skills and will be even better over time. As regards Blatter's proposal to restrict the number of foreign players, I think I have to agree with you and him on this. I do think in general that this undermines the quality of European football at large, and this will only get worse when African and South American players get better and remain much cheaper as compared to their European counterparts. Sadly though, this is not likely to change as the EU does not concern itself with football, only money.
John Libertino
|
|
| | | |
