The disaster of Italian soccer was already foreseen

The explanations for the failure of the national soccer team continue. There are at least two types of explanations.

The first one concerns a group of players that, independently from their technical value, have not been able to manage the stress caused by decisive matches. No one can say that this fact was not foreseeable because it has been the main theme of the last matches of the national team. We do not know what has been done to change this kind of attitude. In my opinion, it is nothing, except to provide public opinion with reassuring phrases (we will win the World Cup, the guys as soon as they pass the gates of Coverciano forget all other worries). This responsibility obviously falls on the technical staff as well as the players.

The second, as pointed out by many, regards the failure to develop young players. Among these, Billy Costacurta said that after watching a few matches of the Primavera championship, he realized that “young players do not run anymore, they do not cross and they do not dribble. No one teaches them. Instead of occupying the opponent’s area, they go around the field. So the problem is one of training the players and not only of the subsequent opportunity to play for the first team. But the issue is not new and I will quote some data. Already in 2000, 22 years ago, when I was in charge of the psychological area of the youth sector of the Italian Football Federation, a study by Stefano D’Ottavio showed that 15 year olds did not dribble and did not shoot on goal. Also, in 2013, 10 years ago, at an international soccer conference I had shown data that showed that the top 15-year-old adolescents in Italian soccer were not using any system to mentally prepare for games.

Now many years later, and no longer working in youth soccer, it seems to me that the problem has gotten much worse and has become chronic, as these are issues that were already documented many years before.

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