In these days of chaos for the Italian national football team, the main commentators have blamed the defeat against Norway, in the World Cup qualifying match, on the poor technical level of the players, while the coach Luciano Spalletti himself expressed regret at not having been able to do his job to the best of his ability.
I do not want to question these explanations, nor those that blame the FIGC and its president.
What I would like to know, instead, is what was done beforehand to build a united team, aware of the difficulties and the tasks that awaited them.
We all know—or at least we all should know—that if a team lacks great individual talent and a well-oiled playing style, it should not give up, but rather be ready to fight for every inch of the pitch, with players ready to step in when a teammate is about to face trouble. In essence, regardless of everything else, never give up an inch. Be tenacious, which means continuing to do what you’ve been doing, even after you’ve done it.
With this in mind, I wonder how the days leading up to the match were spent, how these issues were addressed in training and technical meetings—or whether, as I have often seen happen, only technical-tactical matters were discussed, detached from the human factor. It’s too easy to claim that the available players were just not good enough—what does that even help?
It’s easy to say they didn’t show pride in wearing the Azzurri shirt—but how were they supposed to develop that pride, when they don’t even play for Italian clubs because they’re overlooked in favor of any foreign player, and have grown up under agents more focused on inflating their fees than anything else? Of course, everyone should develop a sense of belonging—which, after all, is one of our fundamental human needs—but who was supposed to teach them that?
Unfortunately, these themes are of no interest—so let them go on finding a new scapegoat each time.
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