Just like last year, Italy is represented in the last 16 rounds of the UEFA Champions League with only one team this year.
The fact that only Atalanta and last year only Inter made it to the last 16 rounds of the Champions League this season caused discussions among football authorities that Italian football was behind England and Spain.
Iacopo Iandiorio, international football unit manager of Italian media outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport, said that there are deep structural problems in Italian football.
Iandiorio said, “The first problem is that we no longer teach technique in football academies, only tactics are important. Our young players no longer learn how to play with two feet, defensive positions, dribbling and passing opponents.” he said.
The harm of “playing from behind” approach
Iandiorio emphasized that modern football, which has been implemented in recent years, has harmed the development of individual talent and only teaches how to play from the back, and that this is why fantastic players such as Roberto Baggio, Gianfranco Zola or Francesco Totti are no longer produced.
Iandiorio said, “Youth in Italy do not play football on the streets as they used to, players like Lamine Yamal can grow freely on the streets, do whatever they want and develop dribbling techniques such as “ruleta” (dribbling technique) etc. We are losing this fantasy.” he said.
Emphasizing the inadequacy of football academies in Italy, Iandiorio underlined that there are not many Italian players not only in big clubs but also in other Italian teams.
“If you look at the academy team, you will see that it is full of foreigners. We have a small amount of quality Italian players, which poses a problem for the national team. Very few players come especially from Southern Italy, which used to be the cradle of good players,” the Italian journalist said. he said.
Stating that Italy has not been able to produce a high-level star in recent years and therefore they cannot have high-level experience, Iandiorio said, “Liverpool’s Federico Chiesa and now Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori do not get much chance to play in their teams. The most consistent Italian football players are Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who play in the goalkeeper position.” he said.
The Italian National Team could not stop the bad trend
Emphasizing that the problem is reflected not only at the club level but also at the national team level, Iandiorio reminded that the Italian National Team has not been able to participate in the FIFA World Cup since 2014.
Referring to the statement of Fabio Capello, who has coached international teams such as England and Russia National Team, that “we do not train well like our rivals”, Iandiorio said, “The football players playing in Serie A do not have a good training method. We see this when we face the teams of other countries in Europe, we are weak. I do not know if this is a physical preparation problem, but we do not fight like our rivals and do not play at a high level for 90 minutes.” made his assessment.
Iandiorio stated that, according to the latest UEFA Financial Fair Play report, the Italian Serie A is growing slower than other top leagues in Europe.
Stating that Italy, which is shown as an example in world football with its tough defense approach and defense system, can no longer produce a famous defender in this region, Iandiorio continued as follows:
“We do not have quality defensive players like Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro or Alessandro. As Vincenzo Montella, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto De Zerbi said, we are tactically good. I think the problem is more due to the lack of technical knowledge, for example in the Bodo/Glimt-Inter match, the Norwegian team was much better than us in passing and directing the ball.”
Young people are expected to mature in Italy
Stating that players under the age of 20 are trusted in other European leagues, but this situation cannot be broken in Italy, Iandiorio spoke highly of national football player Arda Güler.
Experienced Italian journalist said, “Arda Güler showed world football that young people should get more time on the field. This is another problem of Italy: We think that players under the age of 22-23 are not ready to play and have not matured, but we also see Lamine Yamal, who has a huge trophy collection at the age of 18.” he said.
Stating that Atalanta is the best club that does the right thing and trusts young people and trains young players, Iandiorio said, “We once had players like Francesco Totti, Antonio Cassano and Del Piero who had the chance to play in Serie A under the age of 20, but today, unfortunately, we do not trust young people, we do not give them time to learn and gain experience.”
Emphasizing that it was a big mistake for Italian clubs to give their priorities to Serie A instead of Europe recently, Iandiorio stated that Inter was eliminated from Bodo/Glimt for this reason and said:
“Inter’s coach Cristian Chivu, considering the league matches in the first round of the UEFA Champions League last 16 play-offs, rested his main players and preferred a squad consisting mostly of reserve players. However, the team he would play in the league was Lecce, which was in the relegation pot, but for him, the Lecce match was more important, not the Bodo/Glimt match in the Champions League.”
