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| [photo by Alessio Damato] |
- by Adam Huntington, writing from Dundee, Scotland
Italian football's style has never been considered an attacking one, and it's well known that the main criticism from foreigners looking in at the Serie A have is that the teams are all far too defensive. However, this is a false criticism. Italian teams are not too defensive, they are simply much better at defending than any other European teams. This is because in Italy, defenders are all technically astute, able to trap the ball, dribble with it and accurately pass it on. Defenders are taught that aimlessly kicking the ball away is their last option, not their first. The value of possession is drilled into them at grass-roots level, and that is exactly why you will find most Italian teams will play the game, intelligently, from the back. Transfer this to an international level and we find that Italy has produced some of the greatest defenders of all time; Nesta, Cannavaro, Maldini, Baresi, Facchetti and Tardelli to name only a few. In comparison to this, Italy's strikers have forever been in their defender's shadow.
Luigi Riva, who stopped playing in 1974, is still the Italian national team's all time top goalscorer with 35 goals. Giuseppe Meazza, who retired in 1939, is second with 33 goals and Silvio Piola, who hung up his boots in 1952, is third with 30. The only players in recent times to come close to Riva's total are Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi and Christian Vieri. Out of the four, Del Piero had the best chance of breaking into the top three, but he was somewhat constricted by the rumours that he and Totti couldn't be played in the same team, forcing a disrupting rotational system. Given Totti's talent at that time, it's fair to conclude that Del Piero would have surely scored more than his respectful total of 27 goals had the two played together more frequently. Widely regarded as Italy's best pure striker of recent times, Vieri could have perhaps achieved more if he avoided injury, or found a regular strike partner, such as Roberto Baggio, who he teamed up with at the start of his international career.
However, these players had to live up to their predecessors and, unfortunately for them, their predecessors were pretty prolific. Meazza has a huge number of impressive accolades tied to his name; greatest player of his generation, first Italian footballer to be known globally, one of the greatest players of all time, fourth best player in the history of the World Cup. Technically gifted, a superb dribbler and a player who could both score and create goals, he was Italy's first superstar. He was also Italy's top goalscorer for almost 40 years until Luigi Riva overtook him. Riva was unfortunately plagued with injury throughout his career but, in spite of this, his goal tally internationally is still nothing short of remarkable. Italy's relationship with their strikers has since changed; player's popularity, performance and goals seem to now come in bursts and not cosistantly. Paolo Rossi, who practically dragged Italy single-handedly to their 1982 World Cup win, didn't score for Italy for two years previous to that tournament. After it he faded rather quickly - he wasn't even selected for the 1986 World Cup despite being only 29 years old. Roberto Baggio, the Italian hero who infamously missed a penalty in the 1994 World Cup Final, scored 20 of his 27 goals for Italy in the small space of four years (1990 - 1994).
Prandelli's choice is, of course, a tricky one but - statistically speaking - Pazzini and Rossi are currently indisputably better than their respective teammates. However, Italian football has a notorious history regarding club form and how smoothly it transfers to international level. It's time a formidable Italian striking partnership was formed, to fire Italy forward. Given the talent that these players have, it's definitely possible, but not at all assured.
