Cal88 said:
sluggo said:
Cal88 said:
sluggo said:
Cal88 said:
sluggo said:
Cal88 said:
Italian fans aren't laughing, Pirlo is one of the most creative midfielders in the history of the sport, Maldini touted as the greatest defender of all time, must be devastating for the tiffozi.
The sponsor in question is Russian sports betting company Fonbet.
But Pirlo and Maldini are too old to play. Having them involved gives a small emotional boast, but there are lots of good Italian coaches, they will find one.
Better for the team would be if Italy was more welcoming to immigrants.
Maldini was going to be in charge of a much needed organizational overhaul, and Pirlo had one of the highest football IQs ever as a player, and these guys have an incredible amount of aura and reverence in their country and beyond, as well as superior leadership skills.
The current squad has a good half dozen Black players of African origin, a lot more than world champion Spain, or runner-ups Argentina, so that point above is not really appropriate here.
In their final game where they lost to Bosnia they had one black player, Moises Kean, and no North Africans. A couple countries can get away with almost exclusively white players but Italy is no longer one of them. The cupboard is bare.
Maldini was an amazing player but I don't think he can't be replaced as a leader.
There are 5-6 players of African descent that have played in the last two Italian friendlies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy_national_football_team#Current_squad
The problem in Italian soccer is not race, it is more about a stagnant system that Maldini and Pirlo were going to rebuild from the ground up.
But when the game counted, there was only one. And they have had no internationally rated black players other than Balotelli, who they kind of hated when they had him. And no North African players that I can ever remember.
We will not get to see what Maldini and Pirlo would have done, so we will never know, but I am skeptical that anything would have changed or now will change. Italy is not about change. The world has passed it by in many ways, now including football. When I grew up watching there was a certain skill that all Italian players had like what Spain has now, but that is long gone. Their players are unskilled and unathletic.
It is still a nice place to visit, I was there this summer. Food is still great.
That is a bit of a sweeping generalization of Italian culture, which is not that unlike Spain's. In fact Spain is the closest culture to Italy, more so than France. You also have the American bias of "athleticism" on the sport. Italian soccer culture is excellent, their problem today are concrete issues that can be addressed like the clubs' neglect of youth academies, poor leadership at the top (which Maldini and co could have solved), bad marketing etc.
Fair. When you don't qualify for a 48 team world cup, you need to look deeply in the mirror. I get that Spain is similar to Italy culturally in the bad ways, but their football is the best in the world. Their clubs seem to have marketed themselves better and their youth development is second to none. At some point, say in the 80s and 90s, the top clubs in Italy were not so different from the top clubs in Spain. But now they are worlds apart. You probably know more about what happened than I do, as I really don't know anything. I do know that after Inter Milan, who don't spend that much, none of the other clubs are internationally competitive any more. I know that construction in Italy is considered incredibly difficult, but I don't know if that was a factor.
As to the game becoming more athletic with the infusion of more players from black majority countries, I don't think there is much doubt. I think Italy has lost its culture where I guess you think it is resting. Whoever is the best player from Italy (Locatelli?) is not all that great. And they now play too slow without the skill that they used to have.
I think the USA has a much brighter football future than Italy. It will be interesting to see. I do appreciate your comments as you know so much more about what has gone on off the field.
