Football Update: Internazionale Untouched By the Failures of National Team
Although, the Italian National side has made a name for themselves, by winning four World Cup tournaments, but they are suffering badly during the recent times. As the players, who won the 2006 World Cup, are aging and well past their best days, there is not a lot of fresh talent coming from the Serie A clubs. The players, like Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta, Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo, have reached their retirement ages leaving a big void in the National side, which would take years to fill.
However, if we take a closer look to these big names we would know that these are the same men who have also made a name with their clubs as well. Therefore, Cannavaro, Buffon and Del Piero also succeeded for the Torino side, Juventus, while Maldini, Nesta, Gattuso and Pirlo won a lot of fame with their side, AC Milan. These players were successful not only in Italy, but also in Europe. These quality players were also transferred to their National sides, as they helped their team to win the World Cup in 2006. However, since then the side is on a road of deterioration, as they failed to inspire in Euro 2008, FIFA Confederations Cup and the World Cup in South Africa.
These failures have come despite the success of another Italian club, Internazionale. Internazionale has dominated the Italian league for a very long time now, while they have been successful in Europe just before the start of the World Cup. However, ironically, Internazionale has adjusted themselves to the failing standards of football in Italy by putting a lot of international players in their squad. Therefore, they have been untouched by the failures of the National side. On the other hand, they have provided no quality to the National side at all.
The success for Inter Milan is bound to come, due to the quality of their squad. In the defence they have three of the most powerful defenders from South America, i.e. Lucio, Maicon and Walter Samuel. Although, the Italians are famous for their defenders, as the likes of Maldini, Cannavaro and Nesta made a name for their country, however, Inter Milan have chosen to get rid of the Italians from their team. The only known Italian figure in Inter Milan’s defence is Marco Materrazi, while others like Burdisso, Chivu and Cordoba are also non-Italian.
As we move along in the squad, we would see that there is hardly any presence of any person who would help the Italian National side in reclaiming their glory. The Internazionale’s midfield comprises Esteban Cambiasso, Javier Zanetti, Wesley Sneijder, Thiago Motta, Sulley Muntari and Dejan Stankovic. Ironically, none of these players had to do anything with Italy; however, the success in the World Cup did come for Inter Milan, as Wesley Sneijder led his Dutch team to the final of tournament, leading them as their top goal-scorer.
The same situation is seen as we take a look at the forward line of Inter Milan, which has players like Samuel Etto, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev and Mario Balotelli. Among these names only Balotelli is an Italian, but due to the controversial nature of his short career, he was not included in the Italian squad by Macello Lippi.
Therefore, the other clubs in Serie A would be troubled by the lack of form shown by their players; Internazionale would not be troubled at all. They have nothing to worry about, as their squad is complete and undeterred by the failures of the National team. Although, they might come under some pressure and might be blamed for the failures of their National side. However, right now, Internazionale looks a far better side than the rest of the Italian team, and apparently, they look good to maintain their supremacy in Serie A. However, other clubs are getting stronger and the challenge would be harder than before. In addition, Real Madrid is after a bunch of Internazionale players, so it would be tough for them to keep their squad together.
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