Stephen Maio

A nation was left helpless as they were about to watch Arsenal playmaker Cesc Fabregas take the penalty spot with the chance to end Italy’s Euro 2008 hopes with one swift kick during the quarter-final penalty shootout at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna. Spain led 3-2 and would cement the victory if he converted. A deadlocked score of 0-0 after ninety minutes of normal time, a deadlocked score of 0-0 after an additional thirty minutes of extra time, eight penalties and there we were. Like he had so many times this tournament, Gianluigi Buffon was unable to come to Italy’s rescue just one more time. The penalty was decisive. It was Spain’s first victory in 88 years over the Azzurri.

Some say penalty shots are just a lottery. Whoever’s day it may be just seems to go through. The game was arguably even despite what some people will write about it, Spain had a bit more possession, but the chances on goal were about even. It’s a tough loss for the Italian team who fought valiantly for 120 scoreless minutes, but way before Fabregas buried that decisive penalty for Spain, the Azzurri were far from playing the type of soccer that saw them win the World Cup two years ago.

There is always an unsure essence of what exactly to expect from a team with a new coach at a major tournament. Even if many of the players are the same, the coach almost always dictates the attitude the team personifies. Even with history and expectations aside, there were some benchmarks to suggest a pretty genuine idea of what to expect from this Italy team. Over the course of the last 4 years, fans had grown accustomed to seeing their beloved Azzurri play in a certain way, a fearless and often relentless attacking brand of soccer that is somewhat different to their historic image; deserving of the formidable world champions label they so proudly carry. So while Italy came into this tournament with a new man at the helm, for a few reasons, the nation had a general idea of what might unfold.

For instance, their qualifying record gave some indication of how they would perform at this tournament. The final draw against France and the victory over Scotland at Hampden Park in late 2007 were indicators that the squad remained mentally tough enough to survive. After a bumpy start which saw them draw with Lithuania 1-1 and lose convincingly to France 3-1 in Paris, the squad rebounded by winning 9 of their last 10 qualifiers to top their extremely difficult group. Luca Toni led the Azzurri in scoring and was pivotal in crucial games, scoring 3 of his 5 goals in the pair of matches against Scotland.

The form of some of their players gave an indication of the talent available. Gigi Buffon had yet another stellar season at Juventus, Fabio Cannavaro was busy marshaling the La Liga winning Real Madrid defence, Antonio Di Natale had a breakout year at Udinese, Daniele De Rossi was considered by many to have been Serie A’s best player for Roma, and of course Luca Toni, whose 39 goals in all-competitions this season helped Bayern Munich to the domestic triple crown.

As well as the recent form of some of the players, the squad’s recent form in terms of performances was stellar. A convincing 3-1 victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in Zurich in February was followed by a hard-fought well played 1-0 loss to Spain in March and then a 3-1 victory over Belgium in a warm-up weeks prior to the tournament start. That loss to Spain wasn’t even considered a blunder in the peninsula based on how well the Azzurri performed. It took an absolutely stunning David Villa volley to seal the win for the Spaniards. Who could’ve thought that night in Elche would be a forecast of things to come?

Despite all the indicators over the course of the last two years, when it came down it, there was just something about this team. For some reason or other things just didn’t materialize they way they were supposed to. We got the early indication but failed to read the message properly.

It will never be known just what exactly the impact was of losing Fabio Cannavaro on the eve of the tournament. A rock in defence, the 6-year captain was the unquestioned icon of the squad during their fantastic campaign in 2006. Looking back at it now, it seemed to be the opening string pull, a sort of unraveling for the unit. At the time it was something that left fans with that “are they really going to do it” feeling. Now it merely acts as the lead-off hitter in a series of miscues.

The injury to Cannavaro put Italy in a precarious position because now there was a possibility they couldn’t play that type of soccer that the squad and their fans were familiar with. The loss also took away the dictatorship of the backline, the intimidating and imposing figure at the back, the strength of the spine that ran down the center of the pitch. At the time of his injury, everyone involved with the national team and ourselves as fans said we would not use that as an excuse for an exit, and I’m not using it now. But even a biased fan can admit the impact of losing such a key figure.

In truth and with hindsight, the injury to Cannavaro may have just magnified a malignant problem that existed for some time but had gone previously unnoticed. The captain may have been the only Italian defender that was truly trusted back there by the attacking players, and without him in the line-up, maybe everyone felt they needed to chip in a little more defensively to compensate.

Whether the squad was mentally tough enough to deal with the loss we’ll never truly know. Only the 23 players there and the coaching staff really know what went on. We can only assume that by the way they performed and their results, they weren’t. We can only assume with regards to tactics, that Roberto Donadoni wasn’t either.

As usual, when a nation with so much pedigree, history and expectation is eliminated prematurely the coach will always fall under the microscope. In this case Roberto Donadoni isn’t just under the microscope, he’s been crushed by it. So I don’t sit on the fence with this issue I’ll say I do think that Donadoni is the main reason why this Italy team never fulfilled its promise. I just don’t think he’s the only reason. I will tell you what I do think Donadoni did wrong.

One could say the demise of the Azzurri started even before Cannavaro’s injury, right after Donadoni chose the final 23. Given the circumstances, it certainly didn’t help that Francesco Totti and Alessandro Nesta decided to retire. The Don called them “babies” for doing so and it is questionable if that should be acceptable. The fact is that Donadoni still left home some valuable pieces because at the end of the day, he may have been too in love with his 4-3-3 formation. The squad selection was questioned by many but soon after some came to understand that it was a reflection of the tactics that were expected to be used during Euro 2008. The Don’s 4-3-3 formation changed the landscape of player depth a little bit and we all had to swallow it and hope he knew what he was doing.

He said it was a physical reason why he decided to exclude Massimo Oddo, fine, but it was a tactical reason why he left Pippo Inzaghi at home. I wasn’t quite sure of what that reason was before the tournament started, and I’m still not quite sure of it now that it’s over. Inzaghi played fine in the sole striker role of the 4-3-3 during qualifying. Alberto Gilardino was another player left at home, and while his form may not have merited selection, he always seems to play better for the Azzurri. He is another who has vital experience playing as a lone striker.

With just 3 goals scored in 4 games at Euro 2008, it was clear the Azzurri were lacking a punch, and when you notice none were scored by a striker your eyebrows really raise. The six Italian forwards on this team had a combined 100+ domestic league goals this season. Where did all that go? We’ll come back to that.

Let’s clear up the formation debate once and for all. I don’t believe it was the 4-3-3 that was the reason for Italy’s demise at this tournament, but more or less the way it was gone about. For starters, the 4-3-3 formation is what Donadoni preferred from his time coaching at Livorno and he implemented it into the national set-up upon his hiring. I believed it was not the right formation for our talent pool at the time but nonetheless it qualified us and the team performed well in the system.

Donadoni said himself in an interview that Italy have far too few right-wing alternates other than Mauro Camoranesi and seemed to finally come to terms with it on the eve of the Euro by opting to take Antonio Cassano, who can play as a wide forward. Donadoni’s tactics have borne the brunt of the criticism aimed at him following the Azzurri’s exit, but again, I don’t believe it was the formation that was the true problem, more or less the Don’s reaction to the opening loss to Holland.

For a system Donadoni takes so much pride in, he abandoned it quite quickly after the opening 3-0 loss to Holland, and I think that decision handcuffed the squad thereafter. The team was left with too many unused forwards who had been handed a plane ticket with the anticipation of playing in the 4-3-3 and less midfield cover which in the end hurt us, as both Gattuso and Pirlo were suspended for the final loss to Spain. Upon further analysis of the opening game, the Azzurri didn’t play as badly as people thought. Offensively they created many chances but it was the defence that let them down. Donadoni hit the panic button a little too early on this one.

I still question why Andrea Barzagli and Marco Materazzi were even chosen in the starting eleven by Donadoni when he had two weeks to look over everyone in training. It was clear that neither were on form and Donadoni didn’t get the notion until after the game, and neither one appeared again. His hasty switch to 4-4-2 for the second game against Romania, and for the remainder of Italy’s tournament, brought upon many imbalances in the squad. Fabio Quagliarella was left almost useless and the gem during qualifying, Antonio Di Natale, was sitting next to him on the bench (we’ll get back to Di Natale).

It also drastically changed the team’s offensive strategy. Remember earlier when I asked where all the offense went? Without a collective link-up attack, Luca Toni was left on an island to fend off multiple defenders for long balls for the rest of the tournament. Toni missed some chances and took an absolute beating from the fans and media for no reason and probably had four of the most frustrating games of his entire career in Austria and Switzerland.

What was Toni exactly expected to do? Jump up and spike the ball into the net? Why not introduce Marco Borriello? Give him a shot. He was never used and when we were put in a situation where Pippo Inzaghi would have been helpful to encourage the players to utilize the ground play, I have to question that choice. Former Azzurri great Bepe Signori blasted Donadoni after the defeat to Spain by saying he didn’t have the guts to rely on Borriello. Their offensive philosophy alteration brought upon by the panicked reactionary formation change to the opening loss is the single biggest factor in Italy’s demise.

Back to Di Natale, and boy I really feel bad for him. Easily a top player for Italy during qualifying, he was immediately yanked following the tactical transformation after the Dutch loss, and never really given a second opportunity despite playing decently in that contest. He finally saw the pitch again against Spain and had a fine headed effort saved by Casillas during normal time, but then missed a critical penalty in the shootout that eventually sent Italy home. He was so close to being a hero, but instead is a scapegoat.

Along with the formations and offensive strategies, Donadoni’s substitutions seemed really questionable throughout the tournament. From the aforementioned opening game defensive pair to the rotation of the support striker, some wondered if Donadoni had any clue what he was doing at times. Di Natale was tossed in favour of Del Piero after the opening game, who was then benched for Antonio Cassano. It seemed as though the Don was merely hoping for someone to step up and make a difference.

All three of the substitutions made against Spain were puzzling to me. The first was to bring on Camoranesi for Perrotta. Bringing on Camoranesi is fine, but instead of removing Ambrosini who was on a yellow card, he opted for Perrotta. The inclusion of Ambrosini in the squad for this tournament was shocking and ended up proving to be useless as shown by his displays on the pitch.

No-one is quite sure why exactly the Don was so attached to the Milan defensive midfielder who looked like a red card waiting to happen. In the absence of Pirlo, a player like Ricardo Montolivo, one of the many left watching at home would have looked good in a starting shirt instead of the old and tired Ambrosini. The second sub was a straight switch of Di Natale for Cassano, which I didn’t understand because surely Donadoni could have forecast a penalty shootout, and Cassano is a penalty taker. The last was to introduce Del Piero for Aquilani, a good choice but a little too late as it came with only twelve minutes left in extra time. Donadoni later said a thigh strain to Daniele De Rossi stalled that substitution from happening.

In Italy right now, Donadoni is just taking a beating. As expected he has been replaced as coach and his days leading Italy are done. I think the fans and media are more irate now than in the past because of the expectations on this squad following their World Cup triumph. There is no question that Italy were mismanaged at this tournament, but all the blame can’t be put on just Donadoni. I know it sounds cliché, but quite simply it just wasn’t Italy’s tournament.

From Cannavaro’s injury to fact they barely scrapped through the group after dubious refereeing decisions against them, to the suspensions of Gattuso and Pirlo for the quarter-final, it wasn’t meant to be. Some of Italy’s better players during the 2006 World Cup triumph were merely average in Austria and Switzerland. Simone Perrotta, Mauro Camoranesi and Marco Materazzi to name a few.

Of course tears were expected following the penalty shootout loss but this exit shouldn’t hurt more than the disappointments of 2000, 2002 or 2004. This squad is made up of 13 players who are proven world champions and some young players who have their whole careers ahead of them.

For new coach Marcello Lippi infusing youth into the squad must be a number one priority. Italy have an easy qualifying group for South Africa in 2010 and will also compete in the FIFA Confederations Cup next summer, both of which can give valuable playing time to future up and coming stars.

Italy had the oldest team amongst the 16 at Euro 2008. Some will say Donadoni didn’t do enough to bring youth into the team upon seeing the results of older legs at this tournament. I don’t think so. He brought in future stars like Alberto Aquilani, Giorgio Chiellini, Fabio Quagliarella and Marco Borriello as well as laying the groundwork for players like Alessandro Gamberini and Ricardo Montolivo to chase spots in the future.

I am not going to be a hypocrite and bash Donadoni for selecting an older squad when I called for Oddo and Inzaghi to be included. He had little choice but to take most of the men who went all the way two years ago. It was a safe option going with the tried and tested. If you had to drive to from Toronto to Montreal and back with a choice of vehicle, which car would you choose? The one you don’t know how to drive or the one that you drove there before?

It is somewhat of a sad ending for this Azzurri squad. Over the course of qualifying I think that fans have watched this team mature right in front of our eyes without ever really noticing until now. Players like Gennaro Gattuso and Marco Materazzi who were so inspirational during Italy’s 2006 triumph struggled to match the speed of the younger players this time around.

If it was a question of heart, these guys would play until the end of time, and although their performances in the Azzurri shirt will forever live in the memory of those watching, their legs just can’t keep up forever. Personally for me it seems to be the end of an era of players I grew up idolizing.

While Christian Vieri, Francesco Totti and Pippo Inzaghi have all but drifted away by now, I can’t help but feel saddened to know it will be the last tournament for Alessandro Del Piero. I used to kick balls in my nonna’s yard when I was only 13 during the summer of 1998 pretending to be him. I may have just seen his last game in an Azzurri shirt.

There are doubts over ever seeing some of the other great players in a major tournament as well, like Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Grosso, Simone Perrotta, Mauro Camoranesi and Luca Toni who will all be in their early thirties by the next World Cup comes around.

So with that now famous stroke of Fabregas’ foot, so ends an era in Italian soccer, and one hell of an era for that matter.

It is time for the torch to be passed to the younger generation the likes of Sebastian Giovinco, Antonio Nocerino, Alberto Aquilani, Lorenzo De Silvestri, Giuseppe Rossi, Alessandro Gamberini, Alessandro Rosina and Luca Cigarini. Only the true greats like Alessandro Del Piero can stretch their careers longer than they should be. This team has a few capable of matching that distinction. Fabio Cannavaro comes to mind. Like the legendary Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini before him, Cannavaro would certainly join their class if he can captain this squad at age 37 in South Africa in 2010.

But for a new Italy in 2010, youth must surely be the key.

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