Look, it’s a little complicated to write. But it’s a precise feeling. This: seen live, here, now, on the lawn of the Olympiastadion, while they linger before going out, and pat each other, and blow phrases while holding their hand over their mouth, carefully observed, here, the Azzurri seem relieved.
Keep in mind: lift up.
In a few paragraphs you will understand better why.
Immediately, in the heat of the moment, a few lines of shocking and painful news: because it is a mortifying, dramatic, memorable evening for Italian football. Switzerland has humiliated us. There isn’t just the story of a defeat with which we are kicked out of the European Championships. We are inside something deeper and more radical. Historical, perhaps.
But let’s get straight to the point: is Luciano Spalletti to blame? Yes, of course, of course. Okay: what are they? It should be explained like this: the coach has a high opinion of himself, and he deserves it (or deserved it, someone will object). However: when he arrives at the helm of the national team he realizes that he has at his disposal a human material that is, to say the least, modest. He has no players of international rank (apart from Donnarumma). He has no men of personality and experience. He has no playmakers. He has no center forwards. He has to choose from the very little that our championship offers.
But instead of imagining a team that plays simple, accessible, dignified football, he decides that the best way is to put his own spin on it. That is, more or less, he thinks: I’ll improve these guys with my visions. It’s not presumption: it’s Spalletti. Walter Sabatini, loving him, claims that he is a “neighbor of madness”. Because Spalletti’s football has always been a wonderful mix of pure tactical genius and fussiness bordering on obsession. So, when we arrived in Germany, he began to explain to us his “perimeter football”, which then had to become “relational”. We journalists, frankly, understood little of it. The huge problem is that not even his players understood it (to teach certain schemes you need daily drills, and months of psychological sessions).
One of the worst early times
The match against Albania was a colossal misunderstanding. Spain then hit us with balls. We suffer against Croatia until the 98th minute, when Zaccagni enters and throws it in. Zaccagni, at that point, is described in some generous titles as a cross between Bruno Conti and Claudio Sala: but it is Zaccagni. Spalletti even prefers El Shaarawy, who is a reserve for Roma, against the Swiss. Changing, again, training and patterns. This time it should be a rather scholastic 4-3-3, but we are struggling terribly. We ended, one goal down, perhaps the worst first half ever played by the Azzurri in the last fifty years. They are almost just notes from memory. It’s all so bad that it sticks. Di Lorenzo, embarrassing. Damn, irritating. They have this Xhaka, who is an excellent director: but he seems like Schiaffino, between Barella (badly) and Fagioli. Who plays in place of Jorginho. Let’s say that, seeing him in action, it remains rather incomprehensible why he was called up, despite the fact that he still had the stench of a disqualification on him, and he hadn’t played for seven months. But we’re talking about gossip.
The Azzurri come out almost relieved
The truth is that ours, even throughout the second half, struggle in an obscure, almost irrational way, making mistakes in doubles, diagonals, losing absurd balls on the way out and then you can tell that not only do they have a self-esteem problem (understandable, after having seen people like Rodri, Yamal, Modric up close), but that they are confused, tired in the head. The closed retreat imposed by Spalletti – and here, probably, there is another serious error of judgment – has plunged them into a condition of pure claustrophobia. The referee who blows the final whistle takes them out of a nightmare. Their relieved looks, which I spoke about at the beginning of the piece, can be explained like this.
Of course, there is still a lot to explain. Where is the president of the Football Federation, Gabriele Gravina? What does he think of this disaster, of this abysmal crisis of ours? Do you know, President, that now it is unfortunately also legitimate to be assailed by the doubt that in London, three years ago, we won only due to a generous stroke of benevolence – let’s call it that – from fate? But Gravina doesn’t speak. They saw him leave with the Minister for Sport, Andrea Abodi. Even Spalletti now goes towards the bus.
The Azzurri are already on board. With headphones on and their toiletry bags full of Japanese oils and anti-wrinkle creams. Just one thing, guys: on vacation — when you’re in the Maldives and Porto Cervo — think again. And feel a little ashamed, anyway.
June 30, 2024
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2024-06-30 05:15:19
#Spalletti #blame #Italys #elimination #Euro #Players #confused
