Italy pressed. Italy pushed. They failed to score. Last
night, at San Siro, Giampeiro Ventura looked absolutely devasted. Daniel de
Rossi expressed his utmost anger and the legendary Gianluigi Buffon shed tears
and made all of us cry for whom, it was absolutely devastating to think, Italy
would not play in World Cup 2018. The Azzurri experienced such a shock almost
sixty years ago when Northern Ireland halted them at Belfast and showed them
the exit door. Italy did not feature in World Cup 1958 held in Sweden and since
then, they had been a regular side in the greatest show on earth and also
lifted the Cup two times and became runner-ups two times.
A team which has such an enriched history in World Cups. A
team which has given so much to World Cups. A team which has enthralled the
world with brilliant goalkeepers, sheer defensive display and counterattacks,
would not be seen in Russia.
How on earth could anything happen like this?
I am a fan of Italian football. Being a school going boy,
Italian Serie A attracted me very much and when I saw them in full flow during
Italia 90, I chose to support Italy along with Brazil and Germany. For the last
twenty seven years, Brazil, Germany and Italy had been my teams and boy, they
hardly dissatisfied me. Italy’s defenders, goalkeepers and last-minute-heroes:
the strikers provided me all the joy needed to watch a football match.
Last night, Sweden just killed me.
Why Italy’s result was such pathetic? I will blame Ventura
for all this. Antonio Conte transformed a decent Italian unit into a better one
and as soon as Ventura took over, the better side began to lose its shine and
gradually ended up as one of the worst Italian sides in the history of
football.
Ventura, in my opinion, was similar to Carlos Dunga who
relied more on his personal likings and aged players. He almost took Brazil to
the bottom, but thankfully, Brazil Football’s think tank realised, Dunga was
nothing but an all time best idiot.
But Italy did not realise about Carlos Dunga part 2:
Ventura.
When a coach still does not realise the importance of a
scorer like Insigne and leaves him warming the bench, then, surely, Italy would
suffer. Immobile is once-upon-a-time good scorer but not now and what Italy
needed was the scoring abilities of Insigne. Then, the idea of ignoring a
genuine number 10 like Balottei from starting XI was not understood. Meanwhile,
when you have a potent player like El Shaarawy to move fast in the left flank
why would you invest faith in Dramian?
Jorginho and Canderva organised the midfield and right side
after twenty five minutes, but they were not scorers. They played the ball wide
and moved fast towards the flanks to provide effective passes, but when a
number nine does not know the position of ball, then certainly I shall point my
finger towards the coach for leaving out a genuine number nine in a crunch
game.
Italy had plenty of options to invest faith after Conte’s
departure to Chelsea. Even if they really preferred someone very old, Fabio
Capello was available. But appointing a coach whose record is only good in Serie
C, was not at all justified.
I don’t think, the Italian officials noticed the negative
changes within the side after Ventura’s appointment. If you are not faring well
even against Macedonia, surely, your coach is not doing things right. This
world demands results and not words. Perhaps, the Italians thought, they would
pull it off in last minute, but even for that, a team needs charismatic
characters which this Italian team did not have.
Ventura’s Italy triggered an earthquake which shattered the
emotions of all the football fans who have followed this game as a football
lover and not as the fans of Cristiano Ronald, Lionel Messi, Brazil, Argentina
or Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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