There is an Italy that people like, that wins and that makes people dream. It is the Italy of Sinner, Bezzecchi, KimiAntonelli, and the historic 30 medals at the Cortina Olympics.
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Then there is an ugly Italy, one that for far too many years has strung together one failure after another, turning the unthinkable into reality. It is an afraid and naive Italy, like when it gets caught on camera celebrating Bosnia’s progression to the next round, only to then lose to them at the key moment.
This Italy manages the feat of missing a third World Cup in a row. Stuff you would expect from smaller national teams, from Estonia and Finland, so to speak, with all due respect. Well, reality tells us that this is what we are today: a smaller national team. And not just because of the failure to qualify.
😰 The crisis has deep roots
Nothing remains of the Italy some of us remember — the one that climbed to the roof of the world in 2006. Back then, Lippi could count on players of the caliber of Cannavaro, Pirlo, Gattuso, Totti, Del Piero, just to name a few.
Today we no longer produce not only champions, but not even top-tier talents. Barella, Bastoni and Dimarco are all strong players, but — aside from Euro 2021 — they have only shown it within the Inter system. With the national team, on the other hand, they have been poor, if not downright awful like last night.
If abroad players like Musiala, Lamine Yamal, Saka, Bellingham, Mbappé and all the others are thriving while we stand by and watch, there must be a reason. The Italian football system needs to be reformed with humility, forgetting what we once were and are no longer now.
🔙 Baggio’s plan and the current reality
After the disastrous campaign in South Africa in 2010, the FIGC appointed Roberto Baggio president of the Azzurri technical sector, with the aim of giving the entire movement a real jolt.
The Divine Ponytail took the matter very seriously, putting together in 900 pages a plan to reform the entire system, from youth academies to the training of players and coaches. The text was presented to the Federation’s top brass, which decided to allocate €10 million to put it into practice. Money that, however, never arrived. So in January 2013, Baggio resigned.
What at the time may not have been seen as a priority can only now return to the forefront given the current situation. We are a backward country, with a league that no longer attracts top players and is not competitive in Europe. Inzaghi’s Inter may have hidden the truth, which tells us that the last Champions League won by a Serie A team dates back to 2010 and that Italy’s last knockout match at a World Cup was the 2006 final. Yes, you read that right. Since then, two group-stage exits and three failures to qualify.
But now the league returns, the Scudetto race, the refereeing controversies, and everything will be just like before again. The hope, however, is that this time something can change, that the fans are truly angry about a failure that has left so many young people having still never seen Italy at a World Cup.
As for the person writing this, the last time he cheered for the Azzurri at a World Cup he was 19 years old. The next opportunity he will have to do so, assuming Italy qualifies, he will be 35. More than any other figure, that underlines the scale of the disaster that has unfolded since 2006.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.
