World Cup: Marcello Lippi Admits to Failure as Italy’s Coach, But the Issue Becomes Political
After France’s early elimination from this year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the Italians are the other major football nation to join them. Thus, with the early exit of Italy, both the finalists from Germany have been eliminated. The problem is not the elimination itself, as both these teams had no real chance to win this year, but the problem is the humiliation suffered at the hands of relatively less-popular and average teams. The Italian and the French stars were outplayed in every sector of the game, by the lesser-known and definitely lesser-paid footballers.
Marcello Lippi, after the shock defeat at the hands of the Slovakians, admitted his mistakes in the post-match press conference. He was humble enough to take all the blame for the loss and is ready to leave the place for another manager to replace him. This showed the humility of Lippi, because despite all his efforts his players were the ones who let him down. Otherwise, there was not much of a difference between the tactics in 2006 and 2010.
Lippi admitted in the press conference that the players were not ready mentally and physically for the World Cup, which is the fault of the manager. He believed that the fatigued players clearly indicated his inability to prepare the squad properly.
For once, Lippi’s statements were good to hear, as the manager showed a lot of grace and elegance by taking all the blame. On the other hand, most of the other coaches, like Raymond Domenech, in the same situation would blame their star players for being unable to step up to the challenge. Also, the Italian World Cup campaign is prematurely over, and blaming others would only cause further controversies; a thing avoided by Marcello Lippi, who is set to leave the managerial job.
Despite Lippi’s efforts to avoid a controversy, the politicians back home had different ideas about the humiliation of Italy. A right-wing Italian Politician, Roberto Calderoli, has blamed the immigration laws of the country for the Italian defeat. He said that the immigration laws bring a lot of outsiders to the Italian league, which definitely pays a lot to these players and gives incentives. These players, Calderoli believed, are groomed in Italy but are unable to play for the country. Therefore, the Italians at home have been deprived of an opportunity to play for the big clubs, which actually grooms the players for the National side. Calderoli also said that the big tournaments have been won by the teams who neither had any Italian player nor an Italian Coach. The last remark was definitely pointing towards the success of Inter Milan under Jose Mourinho.
Although this is an attempt by the politician to give the issue a political side, but there is some reality to the issues being pointed out by Calderoli. The real intention here is to get the backing of the Italian public, who are clearly in a state of shock after the team’s early exit from the World Cup. However, this issue is not new and has been a problem of all the big teams in Europe. After England’s failure to qualify for the Euro 2008, the same issue was raised in England. The English clubs, like Arsenal, came under intense criticism, as they had not a single English player in their starting line-up. However, Arsene Wenger, Arsenal’s coach, had very clear ideas when he said that the English players are not good enough.
Due to all this controversy, there has always been talk in the football circles about the change in regulations by their respective federations, to control the influx of foreign players. The suggestion is that the foreign players in a starting line-up should always be restricted, so that the local players get a better chance to develop.
However, in the modern days, this idea is quite impractical. Club Football has become a business, where many foreign investors are making heavy investments. Now, fans want the best players to play for their clubs, a demand that cannot be overlooked as it would be bad for business.
If we look at the recent success of the Spanish team in the World of Football, we would clearly see a lot of Spanish players being developed from the youth system of the local clubs. Before that, the La Liga was also dominated by the foreign players. Now the same problem is being faced by the Italian team. It would require a real effort from their football association, to develop players for the future of football in the country.
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