Claudio Ranieri was sacked as manager of Inter Milan yesterday and today during the formal unveiling of their new manager, Andrea Stramaccioni, they get a little surprise. That surprise was former Inter, and current Man City player, Mario Balotelli. According to the BBC, Balotelli drove a ferrari to meet up with his former teammates at Inter's training grounds. It's just Balotelli being Balotelli.
- by Andrew McCarten, writing from Miami, FL via. Ireland
The substitution took place in the 32nd minute of the match, and Balotelli exchanged words with Roberto Mancini before taking his place on the bench, and failing to come back out after the first half. Balotelli has never been far from the spotlight and criticism, and given his past, it would seems his reputation is almost beyond repair even at such a young age, with this another mark on his record. Because, to many, an attempted back-heel in a pre-season friendly might be seen as immature, at the most.
If fellow City team mates Edin Dzeko or Shaun Wright-Phillips would have attempted it, it would likely not have been anywhere near as covered and condemned as it has been. In fact, what would the reaction be if Lionel Messi attempted it, or another Barcelona player? Would he be praised for his creativity and love of the game, with the same old cliches bandied about regarding the “Barcelona way,” La Masia, “mas que un club,” total football, etc? Even with the attempt ending up off-target like Balotelli’s, the little Argentine would likely be praised and saluted for his unique skill and artistic license with the ball, rather than having questions about his professionalism and maturity raised; a model for the youth to enjoy football and play beautiful. So why is Balotelli judged so much more harshly?
This is not to in any way defending Mario Balotelli for previous actions, or to make a definitive statement on his personal character and his flaws or lack thereof. Rather, football fans should take this most recent “incident” and put it more into a rational, unbiased perspective. With no preconceived notions of the player, the action in itself is barely noteworthy, certainly not front page news on the world’s major football media tabloids and websites. But it seems Balotelli, rightly or wrongly, has been labelled the ever-troublesome problem child yet again.
 |
| [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.
