Back in May 2002, France were touted as the team to beat at the forthcoming World Cup finals. Roger Lemerre’s side included some of the finest players Europe had to offer; Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and the world’s greatest player, Zinedine Zidane, were the headline acts in a squad with quality in every area of the pitch.
However, there was an underlying problem: many of France’s players, who had lifted the World Cup four years earlier in Paris, and had also triumphed two years later at the European Championships, were now getting old.
The likes of Lillian Thuram, Marcel Desailly and Bixente Lizarazu were all the wrong side of 30 by the time they arrived in the Far East; and all approaching the winters of their respective careers.
The now infamous 1-0 defeat against Senegal in the opening group match set the tone for one of the most dramatic World Cup exits in history. A 0-0 draw against Uruguay in the second group match, followed by another shock 2-0 defeat at the hands of Denmark, sent Les Blues crashing out of the 2002 World Cup and completed their fall from grace.
It’s now eight years on from that humbling campaign and history could well be set to repeat itself this summer; not for France, though, but for another set of European giants.
Italy are the current World Cup champions – just as France were in 2002. Italy have an over-the-hill captain in the form of Fabio Cannavaro – just as France did in 2002, with Desailly. And Italy were also over-reliant on an ageing set of players – just as, well, you get the picture.
The similarities are striking. And for all of their coach, Marcello Lippi’s, qualities, it appears certain that he’ll take nearly exactly the same squad to South Africa this summer as he did to Germany in 2006.
Lemerre tried to adopt the same approach in the summer of 2002. But as soon as his side landed in Korea, it became evident that his players were off the pace – struggling to recover from the effects of a cripplingly long season.
Over the past four years, Italy have failed to bring through the wealth of young, talented players they’re surely going to need to defend the World Cup.
Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Grosso, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Antonio di Natale, Gianluca Zambrotta, Mauro Camoranesi, Luca Toni – by the time you listed all of the players over 30 poised to board the Italian plane to South Africa this summer, the finals would have already started.
Serie A is famed for its slower, more tactical approach to matches, compared to the English Premier League and Spain’s Primera Liga; and this is why the senior players are still able to compete at the highest level – David Beckham, being the prime example.
This summer, though, against top opposition, they will be out of their depth – just as the Champions League has proven this season. Inter Milan are the only Italian side to have advanced to the last eight of this season’s European Cup; but take a closer look through their squad and how many are actually domestic-based players?
It may come as a surprise to know that from the team which beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last week, only 90th-minute substitute Marco Materazzi was Italian.
Meanwhile, the AC Milan team which was destroyed 4-0 by Manchester United at Old Trafford a week earlier featured no less than eight Italian players. Against younger, more exuberant individuals like Wayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher and Nani, Milan’s ageing contingent failed to have the time on the ball they needed to take control of the match. It could be a similar story for Italy in South Africa this summer.
At the 1986 World Cup finals, Italy only just escaped from the group stages after a thoroughly unconvincing opening three matches. It was inevitable, then, that in the first knockout round, they were comfortably dispatched by France in Mexico City.
The 2010 World Cup draw has been kind to Lippi. Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia are the trio in Group F alongside Italy – it could have been a whole lot worse – but don’t expect them to breeze through this group at a canter.
If they manage to qualify – which they should – then in the first knockout round they will face either Holland, Japan, Denmark or Cameroon – all younger, more dynamic sides, who will be determined to make it an uncomfortable afternoon for the Azzurri.
A repeat of 1986 is undoubtedly on the cards.
Age catches up with everyone eventually, and after this summer’s World Cup finals, it will be time for wholesale changes in the Italian national team.
Sadly for the Italy supporters, they will first be forced to watch through their fingers at a group of has-beens - representing the famous blue shirt - capitulate in front of a global audience this June.
It’s not a question of ‘if’ they’ll crash out of the World Cup; it’s now a question of whether it’ll be during the first knockout stage or even earlier.
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