Italy may not win World Cup Soccer 2010
He may not show signs of worry but Italian coach Marcello Lippi must be the most troubled man during the FIFA World Cup currently underway in South Africa. Not because he is the coach/manager of the defending champions but because he has realized after just one match that he bet on the wrong players. He could have opted against aged players and gone for young legs, but it’s too late to go back now and that the mistake has been made.
The Italian team seemed out of sorts during their opening match against Paraguay on Monday. They left for their hotel as soon as the match ended in a draw, with both teams scoring one goal each, but it would have been better had they shown the same agility on the field. Their poor show proved that the Italian press back home was right in predicting that most of players are over the hill, others are out of form and devoid of ideas, targeting Lippi himself.
Not even Lippi can answer why he has persisted with the 36-year-old Fabio Cannavaro, who may have been a successful player and captain in 2006, but with the passage of time has lost the touch. It was he whose error last week allowed Antolin Alcaraz to score a goal and nod Paraguay ahead, a match which the Azzuris were expected to win easily. The Italian attack also lacked penetration in the absence of Andrea Pirlo, who was unable to take the field due to a calf injury. In his absence, Simone Pepe tried to attack but couldn’t deliver decisive blows.
But Pirlo isn’t getting any younger himself, he is also among the countless players in the Italian squad who are in their 30s, and they haven’t been termed as young in quite some time. What one fails to understand is Lippi’s strategy of relying on veterans. The idea may seem beneficial to the older players in his side who helped Italy win the World Cup in 2006, but the memorable triumph in Germany four years back is a thing of the past. Having nine members from that squad neither helps any fan nor favours the defending champions. Teams like Argentina, England, Brazil & Germany have youngsters in their side who seem to outshine their senior partners by attacking, and let them do the stuff that’s all mental, not physical.
But football is more physical, than mental and Lippi could have named a squad that had a little bit of both. Instead, he didn’t and continues to believe that his side is one of the better sides in the event, saying “he hasn’t seen any World Cup team that is perfect”. May be he didn’t turn on his television set when Argentina was playing Nigeria or Germany was thrashing Australia. Even the hosts South Africa gave Mexico a tough time, something the Italians are yet to experience in the event.
Lippi might have missed the better matches of the event but his days of worries are just round the corner. He will not only be busy in the next few days wondering which veterans to rest and which to field in his side’s next match against New Zealand and Slovakia, but also how to make the players attack more in their remaining Group F matches. And if the Italians somehow manage to reach the next level, they’ll have to play their heart out since they might meet the European champions Spain in their quarter-final, if all goes well. If they lose despite playing well, they will not be the first defending champions to do so, but if they lose without trying, they might go down as the side that could have been a contender!
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