9 July 2006. Olympiastadion, Berlin. Following 120 minutes of blood, sweat and tears, Italy beat France 5-3 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw, securing the Italians their fourth World Cup title.
The game will forever be remembered for Zinedine Zidane’s head-butt on Marco Materazzi, but this match signalled so much more than simply being the craziest decision of the great man’s career; it marked the end of a golden era for both sides. Between 1998 and 2006, France had won a World Cup and a European Championship in addition to reaching this final, while Italy had appeared in a European Championship final as well as winning this final.
The two teams’ fortunes were closely intertwined over those golden years; France beat Italy on penalties in the ’98 World Cup quarter-finals, and then came from behind to secure a golden goal win against the Azzurri in the Euro 2000 final. The Italians finally got their revenge on that dramatic night in ’06 after coming from a goal down. Since that night, both sides have seen a steady decline and both are a shadow of the team they were that night in Berlin.
After the final, both Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti hung up their international boots, while in the subsequent years Alessandro Del Piero, Luca Toni, Fabio Grosso and Marco Materazzi have been deemed surplus to requirements. Of those who stayed, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso are all reaching the latter stages of their career. Only goalkeeper Gigi Buffon is as good or better than he was in 2006, and those who have come into the squad in recent years are simply not on the same level as their predecessors.
For France, the situation was similar, with French legends Fabien Barthez, Lilian Thuram, Claude Makelele and the great Zidane all having retired since that final. The post-Zidane era has been simply disastrous, with much of the blame falling at the feet of boss Raymond Domenech. In fact, many would say that the moment Domenech talked Zidane out of international retirement for the 2006 tournament, this became Zizou’s team, and Domenech has got everything wrong since Zidane retired.
When the sides met again on 17 June 2008 in the group stages of the European Championships, it was their fourth competitive meeting in under two years, with the two teams having come through qualifying in the same group. The starting line-ups were quite different, but Italy got the better of France again to knock them out at the first hurdle.
Italy were out themselves in the next round, losing on penalties to eventual winners Spain; a loss which cost Italian manager Robert Donadoni his job. Donadoni had replaced Marcelo Lippi after the 2006 final, but had a clause in his contract allowing the deal to be terminated if Italy did not reach the semi-finals. French fans must have wished Domenech had a similar clause, but the hapless French boss managed to keep his job.
Lippi returned as manager for the qualifying campaign for this year’s World Cup. Qualification proved comfortable enough, primarily due to the fact they had such a comfortable group, with only the Republic of Ireland providing any level of resistance. It was soon France’s turn to cross paths with Ireland; having finished behind Serbia in their group, the French found themselves in a play-off against the Irish.
Their play-off victory was the stuff of infamy; Thierry Henry’s handball in the lead up to William Gallas’ extra time winner prompted vigorous protests from the Irish, ranging from an unsuccessful request to have the game replayed to a newfound hatred toward Henry hoovers.
French fans were embarrassed and angered by the manner of their victory, but had to wait four months to vent their frustration against Henry. They did so by booing the forward from the opening whistle of their March friendly at home to Spain, but pretty soon Henry was just one target amongst many. French fans booed the team throughout the second half of their 2-0 defeat, a game in which the Spanish played France off the park and could have won by more. By the end, Henry had at least one rival for the least popular man in the Stade de France; the French support called for their manager’s head throughout the match.
Perhaps we should have seen this coming; both teams struggled in the pre-tournament friendlies, Italy losing 2-1 to Mexico and drawing 1-1 with Switzerland while France drew 1-1 with Tunisia and lost 1-0 to China. Yet even with those struggles, what came in these group games has to go down as a monumental and unprecedented failure; both finalists finishing bottom of their groups in their next World Cup is something that has never happened before.
With so many parallels and links between these two sides since 1998, it would be tempting to assume that their recent problems stem from similar issues, but that is simply not the case, so it is important to look at the two sides in isolation.
For Italy, under the stewardship of Lippi, the root issue is clear; their top players are past their peak and the next generation of talent is simply not that good. There are a couple of players, namely Giorgio Chiellini and Daniele de Rossi, who are comparable to the 2006 side, but generally there is a real dearth of top level Italian players right now.
Italy may point the injuries to two of their top players, Gigi Buffon and Andrea Pirlo, as contributing to their downfall. While that may be true, a team of Italy’s stature should be able to cope without a couple of absentees, at least during the group stage. The fact they could not points to a real lack of depth, and nowhere is this clearer than with the team’s front men.
In the final group game, the 3-2 defeat which put them out, Slovakian forward Robert Vittek, currently playing for mid-table Turkish side Ankaragucu, looked far more dangerous than any of Italy’s forwards. Gone are the days of Baggio and Vialli, Totti and Del Piero. Right now, Italy would kill just to have a slightly younger Luca Toni or Pippo Inzaghi amongst their ranks.
Italy’s current stable of strikers consists of Vincenzo Iaquinta, Antonio di Natale, Giampaolo Pazzini, Alberto Gilardino and Fabio Qualiarella. All five are reasonable, but far from frightening, and the lack of real quality points to a deeper problem, one that has been coming for a while.
Serie A has not so much declined as it has globalised; the top sides no longer build their team on a foundation of top home-grown players. Inter Milan’s XI, which won the Champions’ League final in May, featured four Argentinians, three Brazilians, as well as a player from Holland, Romania, Cameroon and Macedonia. There was a distinct lack of Italian influence however, with Marco Materazzi’s appearance as a token 92nd minute substitute the only Italian involvement.
This move away from an Italian core is not exclusive to Inter; Serie A runners-up Roma now have as many Brazilians in their first teamsquad as Italians, while Italians were usually in the minority in the starting line-up of third placed AC Milan. In fact, the only traditional Serie A powerhouse to pick a predominantly Italian side in recent years is Juventus, and it’s not really working out too well at the moment; they crashed out in the group stage of this year’s Champions’ League and finished 7th in Serie A.
This has had a clear effect on the national squad, as the following fairly shocking statistic shows; Serie A runners-up AS Roma had one player in the 2010 squad, while Inter provided none. That is an extremely unhealthy position for a nation which prides itself on the strength of its domestic league, as well as the fact that traditionally nearly all of its national team players have played for the top clubs in Italy.
France’s situation is quite different; no lack of talent, but a complete lack of coherence, leadership or collective spirit. While there may never be another Zidane, France’s current generation could well be as talented as the rest of the French side which won it all ten years ago.
France’s starting XI which took the field for their opener against Uruguay had all played in the knockout stages of this season’s Champions’ League, a level of pedigree that no other nation in this tournament can match. Yet in the shirt of Les Bleus they looked clueless; treble winner Nicolas Anelka, Champions’ League finalist Franck Ribery and Ligue Un’s golden boy Yoann Gourcuff on entirely different wavelengths and ineffective as a trio.
Rumours abound of problems within the camp; Florent Malouda nearly came to blows with Domenech in training, none of the other players wanted Sidney Govou to start, many within the camp disliked Gourcuff. The in-fighting escalated dramatically as the performances deteriorated, with the decision to send home Anelka and the subsequent refusal of the squad to train causing huge embarrassment to the French FA.
In the final game against South Africa, Domenech made his final throw of the dice by making drastic changes to his line-up including axing former captain and leader of the mutiny Patrice Evra. Although there was a relative improvement early on, France were terrible defensively and should have conceded more. Their chances were certainly hampered by the controversial dismissal of Gourcuff, but the loss, which left them bottom of the group, was the final indignity of a disastrous four years since the 2006 final.
So, what next for the two sides?
There will certainly be a number of international retirements for both nations; Cannavaro and Gattuso already announced for Italy, while others like Zambrotta, Camoranesi and even Pirlo may follow. For France, this is likely the end for Henry, Vieira and Gallas, with Anelka already announcing his shock international retirement.
Each of these players have been tremendous servants to their national sides, but France and Italy could actually both benefit from a clean break and a chance to rebuild.
Replacing Lippi in the Italy hot-seat will be Cesare Prandelli, who enjoyed an impressive few years in charge of Fiorentina. The work begins in earnest on the 3rd September, when Prandelli leads the Azzurri away in Estonia in their first game of Euro 2012 qualifying. The problem for Prandelli is that he simply cannot manufacture new talent; he has to make do with what he has, and may well decide to take a risk on some of Italy’s more unpredictable and precocious talents.
Look out for possible recalls for highly talented pairing Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli, both of whom are brilliantly gifted, but notoriously difficult to handle. With the lack of attacking inspiration shown throughout this World Cup campaign, it may well be worth the gamble. They must surely offer something more than what was on show in South Africa?
For France, the most important change has already been made; Domenech has finally gone. It is difficult to understand how he has managed to survive for six years, with his tactical struggles and lack of respect from the dressing room dogging his time in charge. Replacing Domenech is Laurent Blanc, winner of World Cup 98 and Euro 2000 as a player and already a French league winner as a manager with Bordeaux.
Blanc immediately commands respect, both for what he achieved as a player and what he has achieved in his fledgling managerial career. He needs to pick up the pieces of this disastrous campaign and foster a fresh sense of spirit and pride, as well as finding a system that allows the squad’s undoubted talent to shine. It would make sense for Blanc to build his team around young playmaker Gourcuff, who has been so influential for Blanc’s Bordeaux side over the past two years.
The rest of the team will be similar; Sagna, Evra, Abidal, Sagna, Toulalan, Malouda, Ribery, all genuine top level players who will be key for France for years to come. Returning to the squad will be further quality like Lassana Diarra, Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema, while young talents like Adil Rami, Yann M’Vila and Loic Remy may get their chance at international level.
When France open their qualifying campaign at home to Belarus in early September, many of the names will be the same, but the hope is that the team itself will be vastly different; a team in Blanc’s image, a team that gives the fans something to be proud of once more.
That’s all both nations’ fans are asking. They don’t expect another Zidane or Baggio; they just want a team that gives them something to be proud of.
Surely that’s not too much to ask?
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