Italian Football's Rise and Fall

So if you want to understand Italian football briefly, then you will remember this famous meme of Gennaro Gattuso. And it is exactly true. Italy's current condition is very dire because Italy can probably miss out on their 3rd consecutive FIFA World Cup. Yes, although in their last match, they defeated Estonia in the final, which was Gennaro Gattuso's first game. In the first half, Estonia scored against 0 goals. In the next half, they made changes and by that Italian national team. 5 goals for Estonia as much as it would be a decent result but it doesn't guarantee given group if you see here they still stay at the third spot and in this group you have Norway in first second is Israel Italy is also behind Israel at the moment so they have to really work hard to qualify for the next world cup but how does a 4 time world champion come into this situation they missed out in 2018 they missed out in 2022 2020 Euros winners How can they do this? And they are at the moment looking at another exclusion from the 2026 FIFA World Cup. So let's know about the downfall of Italian football in today's video. So if you have to understand the collapse, you have to know what came before. Italian football was never about just players. It was about architecture, it was about design, about structure, it was about discipline and intelligence. And hence, from there Italian football took up its virtues. Proper positioning, proper structure, proper discipline, proper organization, intelligence and neatness. The old brand of Italian football was synonymous with impeccable defending and tactical cunningness. A school of thought built on a phenomenon that you can defeat any kind of individual brilliance with collective organization. And this philosophy was named as Ketanachio, which literally means door bolt. A system that prioritizes compactness. It involves a sweeper, which we call libero, who acts behind the backline and a ruthless game management. Katanachi wasn't just a genuine A practical response through competition it was also meant to deliver trophy and identity an italian football flurry world cup back to back jita 1934 and 1938 and then post world war ii yahaan se catanaccio actually started to reap its benefit on the league phases as well halaki next world cup 1982 paul and rossi campaign golden boot jita and then they had to wait another Two decades almost That he got his next FIFA World Cup And then in 2006 Italy won their Fourth and final FIFA World Cup Led by the greats Like Buffon Cannavaro Gattuso Pirlo By the way Catenaccio basically Gives you defensive Compactness Gives a defensive Organization A prime asset Against any Attacking element To guarantee you A win But Catenaccio Was also more than that By late 1980s Or early 1990s Managers like Arrigo Sacchi They pushed Defensive orthodoxy By like pressing, highline, and collective movement. These ideas reshaped Italian football, and presented Serie A as the most magnetic league on the earth. And the expanse stretched from the late 80s to the early 90s, where Serie A was blooming like anything. The best players of the world wanted to come and play here. We have seen the likes of Maradona, Ruud Gullit, Van Basten, Platini, all of these great legends, Ballon d'Or winners, who wanted to come and play in Serie A. that hey bhaiye League was booming Syria was one stop gap for all the biggest stars in world football Ranging from Zico, Ronaldo, Zidane, Kaka, Baggio All of the home grown talents plus the talents from abroad as well Everyone wanted to play in Syria because this was the most watched league Italian Football was founded in 1960s and 1970s Explosion in 1980s and 1990s European success of AC Milan Domination of Juventus on the domestic front Diego Maradona's title gripping win of Napoli and big clubs filled by global superstars. And in these decades, players who learned in such a pipeline where tactics mattered as much as technique, defenders who became philosophers in positioning, midfielders who became masterminds and masters, attackers who were learning such fluidity where they were ruthless in half spaces, and pure, cold-blooded finishers. And we saw a school of thought being built in Italian football. People used to look at Italian football from a distance and think how could we defeat them because they were an amazing entity and their playing style, although it was pragmatic, it was thought to be very difficult to beat. A defensive football that they believe in a pure counter-attacking measure, sit back, defend with ruggedness, passion, heart. If you watch Gattuso playing on the pitch, you know what I'm talking about. And then a relentless, swift counter-attack and where he finishes you with deadly killer moves. Even in 2006 FIFA World Cup If you see Their campaign They were So, 1 goal, 2 goals and that was it. And that was enough for Italy. And then the paradox happened in the summer of 2006. Italy won their World Cup. Streets of Rome, the villages of Naples, they were filled with joy. But yet back home, Italian football was gonna face its... Difficult, most difficult problem ever. The Caciopoli Scandal. An investigation that exposed corrupt links between club executive and the referee appointment. Which removed a veil from a clean domestic game and presented to the people how badly this league is run, how many scandals are there, how many corruptions are there, politics are involved, because of which Syria took a heavy hit. Juventus suffered the most in this Calciopoli scandal Their titles were stripped off They had to face relegation to Syria And other clubs' points were docked And their licenses were banned On pitch, Azuri was the champion But off pitch, the league was in ashes And this should have been a wake-up call for Italian football Calciopoli damaged more than records More than the reputation of the clubs Calciopoli damaged the trust Fans felt betrayed Supporters and investors Were calculating their risk By looking at the headlines Syria's momentum Was grabbed This scandal Forclosed that momentum And we saw A huge cultural shift Foreign players At one point in time Saw Syria as a haven Of the likes of Ronaldo Kaka Who came from Brazil Argentina And played in Syria At the moment They were starting to look Elsewhere And why not There is no trust There is a scandal There is politics Stadium investments Lacked Global broadcast's narrative completely changed towards the league Which was once a marketable and a sizeable asset for broadcasters There at this point of time because of these scandals Broadcasters were like no bro, now we won't deal with you And on the other side your Premier League was on the boom Their exploding TV revenues, their global marketing, their modern stadium experiences They began to outmuscle Serie A So the impact of Calciopoli was both direct and symbolic And its impact was so big that clubs and the entire league are still enduring its aftermath jheel rahe hain. Now whatever you say, football as much as it is a sport, it is also a business. It's also related to money. So in 21st century, the leagues that sold themselves quickly, marketed well, showed value to their assets, they started growing. And Syria was covering up this whole embarrassing scenario, this humiliation. What were the other leagues doing there? They were using their money to recruit talents, invest in youth systems, and build infrastructure. Although over the years, Syria's revenue increased. But still it was not at... pace with the growing revenues of the other leagues. You talk about Spain, you talk about Bundesliga and don't talk about Premier League. Piracy, illegal streaming, aging stadium, weaker commercialization have all been called out by Serie A executive and these have become your biggest problem to deal with. Imminent problems. Not your youth nor your infrastructure. In short, money gap was showing at every level. Transfer market, academy budget, stadium infrastructure and even the pull power of the Serie A. Here, at one point in time, Serie A He used to house big superstars. Now Syria has become home for the old retirement players. His impact was huge on youth players more than global superstars. Now a youth player who is guaranteed to get more visibility, more money and a league run without corruption, he will join there and not in Syria. And that's why there is a huge problem in Italian football, the youth structure. And who proved it best? Cesc Fabregas. Cesc Fabregas is currently the manager of Como. And you must have noticed that at the moment they have signed a lot of players who are Argentine and Spanish. So when a reporter asked them why they don't sign Italian youngsters, they said I myself went scouting and it's shocking that I didn't get any quality bowlers. And this is the problem of Italian football that they are not able to grow. Because there used to be a pipeline like Beresi, like defenders like Berzaghi, like defenders like Maldini. at the moment you look and you can look only as far as Bastoni he is not a rush of quality there is a lack of talent talent pool has a big hole and Cesc Fabregas exposed him he says he himself wants Italian under 14s under 16s to sign on his team of Como and he himself gives them training because you know what is the reason these U teams of Italy they force these kids to learn more than development that you guys learn to win so meaning winning for these young players is prioritized over their development and this is not me telling you This is the word of one of the youth coaches in Italian football leagues. So hence, your youth system will collapse. You won't be able to funnel the players to the senior team. Your entire ecosystem will collapse. Italy's strength comes from the school of thought, which is the catenaccio of football, which is embedded in their youth training. There you are taught a patient approach, player development, and then you become someone like a Maldini. And then comes the biggest embarrassment of Italian football, after the Calciopoli scandal, when they won the FIFA World Cup in 2006. People expected them to perform well in the 2012 Euros But then they reached the final But yet a much more superior Spain beat them 4-0 Warning signs were there, some would say But the 2010 FIFA World Cup made you realize a glaring possibility Italy's group was Paraguay, Slovakia, New Zealand And Italy finished 4th in the group without a single win This was a slap in the faces of the champion Who assumed himself to be on a very high pedestal They had a sense of attitude and this was the visualization that things are going wrong. And after that, the next World Cup was FIFA World Cup 2014. In their group, it was Costa Rica, Uruguay and England. Although Italy defeated England in the opener, but then a shock loss to Costa Rica and Uruguay caused them to finish third and they failed to qualify for the knockouts yet again. But things were going to get worse FIFA World Cup was in 2018 And in the playoff Sweden against Italy Lose a match And they failed to qualify For the 2018 FIFA World Cup But then People thought Italy will bounce off quickly In 2020 They became European Champions Euro won With the management of Mancini They played good football But then Many of their players Were going The players like Bonucci Buffon All of these players They weren't at the level And there was a lack of talent pool Who would be the young blood you Which will take this Italy team to the 2022 FIFA World Cup And then everything plummeted down How? They had to play a playoff match against North Macedonia Yes, you heard it right North Macedonia scored 90 plus second minute goals And Italy lost their chances 2022 World Cup, Italy didn't qualify Missing one World Cup could be a generational wound Missing two World Cup back to back is a structural diagnosis World Cup is a cycle of revenue Of... talent of visibility. A competition that keeps their nation's players on the map because the world is watching. And because Italy was absent from two big world cups, one of the best world cups we saw, Italy was not there so their stocks started falling. Trust started decreasing. This also causes off-pitch problems. The youngsters of Italy who could potentially get a chance to showcase themselves, to increase visibility, they got a stopgap. The reputation of the coaches was very big in Italy. And the federation was FIG. They had failed their narrative to sell to the fans, to the sponsors and they started to back out. So Italy's inavailability to play in two world cup was not just a blip, it was a trend. And it was going to happen for a long time. Calciapoli scandal's shadow was very long and it was still casting on Italian football. Scandal eats momentum. And this scandal didn't just ban teams, didn't reduce titles, didn't fire executives. This scandal shifted the market, drove off investors and destabilized big leading clubs. Where Italian football could give effort to its youth system Could put money Could renovate its stadiums Could improve its grounds There Italian football Was able to save all these blushes While dealing with the absence of two FIFA World Cups Since 2010 Italian football has seen a rift of managers Come and go It was a revolving door of managers Because now you were in desperation After 2010's loss Then came 2014 Where you lost the group stage Then you reached 2018 about poetry and So managers were just coming and going. So no manager could instill his philosophy because there was desperation for victory. Winning was so important that development and training were not given attention. What was the result? Players were never able to fully settle or adjust to the demands of the coach. The second big thing that happens in a team is that leadership was also changing. Gattuso, Cannavaro, then slowly Maldini went in 2002. And then later on we saw Bonucci, Cellini and Buffon. all of these legends, leaders of the group who had voice, who had say, they were also slowly retiring. So who were going to be the next player to step up? Who was it? This was the biggest question of Italian football. Who will be the guy, who will be the leader to step up and sing that national anthem with passion? And it was even worse by some managers who still believed in the dinosaur approach. Some managers whom I don't want to name they thought that Italian football youngsters should first play in Serie D Serie C me khelna chahiye. Then they should play in B. And then they should get the light of the first team. So, until they are 23 years old, the youngsters of the world already take 200-300 games in their belt. And here they haven't seen the light of first team football. So, how will they come to the national team? How will they help? So, this type of thinking, this structural thinking, this FIGC problem, this improper planning of some of the coaches of Italian top flight teams, I am talking about here, that led to a drought in the talent pool as well. But it's very ironical for me to say this Because at the moment if you look at it Italians are under 17 and under 19 European champions And last time under 20 They have been runners-up in FIFA World Cup So that tells you Talent is still there But talent if not groomed in the best levels It won't be able to impact on the senior level And then pile up Psychology of failure Sports is as much as collective psychology As it is tactics Failure breeds cautionness Cautionness breeds pragmatism Pragmatism often works in tournament Italy's 2006 Best example Greece Very big example But sustained pragmatism Without creativity And innovation Draws a ceiling Of success For you Once a nation Which eroded And erupted in confidence Whose tactical Boundless Whose passion Whose willingness To gamble On youth in big games They were now growing With self-doubt Where France Was making pitches To develop their players 2, 3, 4 Teams So that That first team Well, Players will keep shooting. Spanish football was developing its youngsters. English football was doing different things. Everyone was doing something. Italian football was stuck. Federation thought to fix it quickly with a bandage. But you can't fix a heartbreak with a bandage. And then came Mancini. You won. Euros. Great. And this was the bandage. After that Mancini just ups and leaves because he was not agreeing to be forced by the Federation because of the player selection. Then comes Spalletti, who did a great job with Napoli. Spalletti was on his leave when he was called to manage the national team. And when Spalletti arrived, although the results were not good because he didn't inherit a very good team. Spalletti should have given more time, but you also sacked that guy. And then your eyes turn towards Ranieri, who was leading Roma. He did such a mercurial job with Roma last year. In the second of the season, it was only Hansa Flix Barcelona who earned the most points in the domestic league. So, here FIGC wanted to appoint Rene Re but Rene Re wanted to be executive role at Roma. So, bro, your first pick didn't come. So, now you had to go for another candidate which is not well proven in world football. Has been shuffling, changing teams like he has changing the dress. That is your Gennaro Gattuso. However, if you see his record in Croatia, he goes on to say that he has used players born in 2005, 2006 and 2007. means he is showing that he had promoted youth in Croatia so he may be able to do the same thing for the Italian national team In the last to last match, Norway had a very bad crushing defeat against Spalletti They had 3 goals in the first half You were 3-0 down against Germany even though you had a comeback after a fight of 3-3 but curtains were closing on Spalletti But now Gattuso is the manager He is a fighter in simple language A manager who possesses the Italian DNA and he knows about passion he knows about grit he knows about self-sacrifice At the moment, you would say that yes, he may be the best suited manager to manage Italy. So that he can bring that passion in them. And when you look at the squad, you don't see that there is no quality in it. You have Bastoni, you have Donali, you have new young bloods. Maybe in Samuel Ricci, Moise Keane up top. You have world-class players like Donnarumma at the back. Retegui as a striker. Barella is always a long-standing servant for the national team. So maybe, just maybe Gattuso at the moment would make more sense. But what about Conte? What about Allegri? What about Inzaghi and De Zerbi? Yes, you guessed it right. FIGC ne socha tha that we will make one of them our manager. But Inzaghi got stolen by Saudi. Conte was not going to leave Napoli. And Milan quickly pursued Allegri so that he can stick them to him. But Gattuso's management goes beyond personality. It goes beyond tactics. It is about passion. It is about culture which is lacking in this team. It is about a voice which is lacking in this team. And I think it was a public demand of people to see a manager in the team which reminds these people what it means to play for the crest of Italian football. But Gattuso has to make some very important decisions What kind of football does he want to play? First thing What will be his selection? Second thing Third thing How is he integrating the youth? Which again he will need help from the clubs as well The more clubs will promote the youth The more options will be made for the national team Otherwise Gattuso Who will he call? So if you have to surmise everything At least past is not a promise for the future It contains the DNA for recovery The same tactical imagination Which produced Kattinaccio Same mindset of Arrigo Sacchi who developed zonal marking pressing highline that mindset now has the responsibility that they are going to do something with this team or not because if they don't boys Italy will be missing out on the 2026 FIFA World Cup altogether so Italian football's decline it wasn't about morality It was inevitable It was about choices Market choices Coaching choices Investment choices And also moral choices That how you will treat your young players Italy's problem was not caused by a single villain That a guy came and ruined everything It was a culmination of scandal Bad governance Market shift Cultural drifts Lack of proper youth development But the door is not closed here There are still signs In the first game If Gattuso has won a massive final And he has shown a tactical drift A change Which he can do in the mid game That performance in the second half It tells you that maybe, just maybe, there is still life in the Azores. I really hope that you learned a lot from this video. If yes, let me know your thoughts in the comment section. And if you want to know more of these stories about international teams, you can tell me. I'll make those videos for you. So, bye. Thank you so much for watching. Like the video. Subscribe to the channel. I'll see you guys very soon. Until then, take care and peace out.

In the next half, they made changes and by that Italian national team. 5 goals for Estonia as much as it would be a decent result but it doesn't guarantee given group if you see here they still stay at the third spot and in this group you have Norway in first second is Israel Italy is also behind Israel at the moment so they have to really work hard to qualify for the next world cup but how does a 4 time world champion come into this situation they missed out in 2018 they missed out in 2022 2020 Euros winners How can they do this? And they are at the moment looking at another exclusion from the 2026 FIFA World Cup. So let's know about the downfall of Italian football in today's video. So if you have to understand the collapse, you have to know what came before.

Italian football was never about just players. It was about architecture, it was about design, about structure, it was about discipline and intelligence. And hence, from there Italian football took up its virtues.

Proper positioning, proper structure, proper discipline, proper organization, intelligence and neatness. The old brand of Italian football was synonymous with impeccable defending and tactical cunningness. A school of thought built on a phenomenon that you can defeat any kind of individual brilliance with collective organization.

And this philosophy was named as Ketanachio, which literally means door bolt. A system that prioritizes compactness. It involves a sweeper, which we call libero, who acts behind the backline and a ruthless game management. Katanachi wasn't just a genuine A practical response through competition it was also meant to deliver trophy and identity an italian football flurry world cup back to back jita 1934 and 1938 and then post world war ii yahaan se catanaccio actually started to reap its benefit on the league phases as well halaki next world cup 1982 paul and rossi campaign golden boot jita and then they had to wait another Two decades almost That he got his next FIFA World Cup And then in 2006 Italy won their Fourth and final FIFA World Cup Led by the greats Like Buffon Cannavaro Gattuso Pirlo By the way Catenaccio basically Gives you defensive Compactness Gives a defensive Organization A prime asset Against any Attacking element To guarantee you A win But Catenaccio Was also more than that By late 1980s Or early 1990s Managers like Arrigo Sacchi They pushed Defensive orthodoxy By like pressing, highline, and collective movement. These ideas reshaped Italian football, and presented Serie A as the most magnetic league on the earth.

And the expanse stretched from the late 80s to the early 90s, where Serie A was blooming like anything. The best players of the world wanted to come and play here. We have seen the likes of Maradona, Ruud Gullit, Van Basten, Platini, all of these great legends, Ballon d'Or winners, who wanted to come and play in Serie A.

that hey bhaiye League was booming Syria was one stop gap for all the biggest stars in world football Ranging from Zico, Ronaldo, Zidane, Kaka, Baggio All of the home grown talents plus the talents from abroad as well Everyone wanted to play in Syria because this was the most watched league Italian Football was founded in 1960s and 1970s Explosion in 1980s and 1990s European success of AC Milan Domination of Juventus on the domestic front Diego Maradona's title gripping win of Napoli and big clubs filled by global superstars. And in these decades, players who learned in such a pipeline where tactics mattered as much as technique, defenders who became philosophers in positioning, midfielders who became masterminds and masters, attackers who were learning such fluidity where they were ruthless in half spaces, and pure, cold-blooded finishers. And we saw a school of thought being built in Italian football. People used to look at Italian football from a distance and think how could we defeat them because they were an amazing entity and their playing style, although it was pragmatic, it was thought to be very difficult to beat. A defensive football that they believe in a pure counter-attacking measure, sit back, defend with ruggedness, passion, heart.

If you watch Gattuso playing on the pitch, you know what I'm talking about. And then a relentless, swift counter-attack and where he finishes you with deadly killer moves. Even in 2006 FIFA World Cup If you see Their campaign They were So, 1 goal, 2 goals and that was it.

And that was enough for Italy. And then the paradox happened in the summer of 2006. Italy won their World Cup. Streets of Rome, the villages of Naples, they were filled with joy.

But yet back home, Italian football was gonna face its... Difficult, most difficult problem ever. The Caciopoli Scandal.

An investigation that exposed corrupt links between club executive and the referee appointment. Which removed a veil from a clean domestic game and presented to the people how badly this league is run, how many scandals are there, how many corruptions are there, politics are involved, because of which Syria took a heavy hit. Juventus suffered the most in this Calciopoli scandal Their titles were stripped off They had to face relegation to Syria And other clubs' points were docked And their licenses were banned On pitch, Azuri was the champion But off pitch, the league was in ashes And this should have been a wake-up call for Italian football Calciopoli damaged more than records More than the reputation of the clubs Calciopoli damaged the trust Fans felt betrayed Supporters and investors Were calculating their risk By looking at the headlines Syria's momentum Was grabbed This scandal Forclosed that momentum And we saw A huge cultural shift Foreign players At one point in time Saw Syria as a haven Of the likes of Ronaldo Kaka Who came from Brazil Argentina And played in Syria At the moment They were starting to look Elsewhere And why not There is no trust There is a scandal There is politics Stadium investments Lacked Global broadcast's narrative completely changed towards the league Which was once a marketable and a sizeable asset for broadcasters There at this point of time because of these scandals Broadcasters were like no bro, now we won't deal with you And on the other side your Premier League was on the boom Their exploding TV revenues, their global marketing, their modern stadium experiences They began to outmuscle Serie A So the impact of Calciopoli was both direct and symbolic And its impact was so big that clubs and the entire league are still enduring its aftermath jheel rahe hain.

Now whatever you say, football as much as it is a sport, it is also a business. It's also related to money. So in 21st century, the leagues that sold themselves quickly, marketed well, showed value to their assets, they started growing. And Syria was covering up this whole embarrassing scenario, this humiliation.

What were the other leagues doing there? They were using their money to recruit talents, invest in youth systems, and build infrastructure. Although over the years, Syria's revenue increased.

But still it was not at... pace with the growing revenues of the other leagues. You talk about Spain, you talk about Bundesliga and don't talk about Premier League. Piracy, illegal streaming, aging stadium, weaker commercialization have all been called out by Serie A executive and these have become your biggest problem to deal with.

Imminent problems. Not your youth nor your infrastructure. In short, money gap was showing at every level. Transfer market, academy budget, stadium infrastructure and even the pull power of the Serie A. Here, at one point in time, Serie A He used to house big superstars. Now Syria has become home for the old retirement players.

His impact was huge on youth players more than global superstars. Now a youth player who is guaranteed to get more visibility, more money and a league run without corruption, he will join there and not in Syria. And that's why there is a huge problem in Italian football, the youth structure. And who proved it best? Cesc Fabregas.

Cesc Fabregas is currently the manager of Como. And you must have noticed that at the moment they have signed a lot of players who are Argentine and Spanish. So when a reporter asked them why they don't sign Italian youngsters, they said I myself went scouting and it's shocking that I didn't get any quality bowlers.

And this is the problem of Italian football that they are not able to grow. Because there used to be a pipeline like Beresi, like defenders like Berzaghi, like defenders like Maldini. at the moment you look and you can look only as far as Bastoni he is not a rush of quality there is a lack of talent talent pool has a big hole and Cesc Fabregas exposed him he says he himself wants Italian under 14s under 16s to sign on his team of Como and he himself gives them training because you know what is the reason these U teams of Italy they force these kids to learn more than development that you guys learn to win so meaning winning for these young players is prioritized over their development and this is not me telling you This is the word of one of the youth coaches in Italian football leagues. So hence, your youth system will collapse.

You won't be able to funnel the players to the senior team. Your entire ecosystem will collapse. Italy's strength comes from the school of thought, which is the catenaccio of football, which is embedded in their youth training.

There you are taught a patient approach, player development, and then you become someone like a Maldini. And then comes the biggest embarrassment of Italian football, after the Calciopoli scandal, when they won the FIFA World Cup in 2006. People expected them to perform well in the 2012 Euros But then they reached the final But yet a much more superior Spain beat them 4-0 Warning signs were there, some would say But the 2010 FIFA World Cup made you realize a glaring possibility Italy's group was Paraguay, Slovakia, New Zealand And Italy finished 4th in the group without a single win This was a slap in the faces of the champion Who assumed himself to be on a very high pedestal They had a sense of attitude and this was the visualization that things are going wrong. And after that, the next World Cup was FIFA World Cup 2014. In their group, it was Costa Rica, Uruguay and England. Although Italy defeated England in the opener, but then a shock loss to Costa Rica and Uruguay caused them to finish third and they failed to qualify for the knockouts yet again. But things were going to get worse FIFA World Cup was in 2018 And in the playoff Sweden against Italy Lose a match And they failed to qualify For the 2018 FIFA World Cup But then People thought Italy will bounce off quickly In 2020 They became European Champions Euro won With the management of Mancini They played good football But then Many of their players Were going The players like Bonucci Buffon All of these players They weren't at the level And there was a lack of talent pool Who would be the young blood you Which will take this Italy team to the 2022 FIFA World Cup And then everything plummeted down How?

They had to play a playoff match against North Macedonia Yes, you heard it right North Macedonia scored 90 plus second minute goals And Italy lost their chances 2022 World Cup, Italy didn't qualify Missing one World Cup could be a generational wound Missing two World Cup back to back is a structural diagnosis World Cup is a cycle of revenue Of... talent of visibility. A competition that keeps their nation's players on the map because the world is watching. And because Italy was absent from two big world cups, one of the best world cups we saw, Italy was not there so their stocks started falling.

Trust started decreasing. This also causes off-pitch problems. The youngsters of Italy who could potentially get a chance to showcase themselves, to increase visibility, they got a stopgap. The reputation of the coaches was very big in Italy. And the federation was FIG.

They had failed their narrative to sell to the fans, to the sponsors and they started to back out. So Italy's inavailability to play in two world cup was not just a blip, it was a trend. And it was going to happen for a long time.

Calciapoli scandal's shadow was very long and it was still casting on Italian football. Scandal eats momentum. And this scandal didn't just ban teams, didn't reduce titles, didn't fire executives. This scandal shifted the market, drove off investors and destabilized big leading clubs. Where Italian football could give effort to its youth system Could put money Could renovate its stadiums Could improve its grounds There Italian football Was able to save all these blushes While dealing with the absence of two FIFA World Cups Since 2010 Italian football has seen a rift of managers Come and go It was a revolving door of managers Because now you were in desperation After 2010's loss Then came 2014 Where you lost the group stage Then you reached 2018 about poetry and So managers were just coming and going.

So no manager could instill his philosophy because there was desperation for victory. Winning was so important that development and training were not given attention. What was the result?

Players were never able to fully settle or adjust to the demands of the coach. The second big thing that happens in a team is that leadership was also changing. Gattuso, Cannavaro, then slowly Maldini went in 2002. And then later on we saw Bonucci, Cellini and Buffon. all of these legends, leaders of the group who had voice, who had say, they were also slowly retiring.

So who were going to be the next player to step up? Who was it? This was the biggest question of Italian football.

Who will be the guy, who will be the leader to step up and sing that national anthem with passion? And it was even worse by some managers who still believed in the dinosaur approach. Some managers whom I don't want to name they thought that Italian football youngsters should first play in Serie D Serie C me khelna chahiye. Then they should play in B. And then they should get the light of the first team.

So, until they are 23 years old, the youngsters of the world already take 200-300 games in their belt. And here they haven't seen the light of first team football. So, how will they come to the national team? How will they help?

So, this type of thinking, this structural thinking, this FIGC problem, this improper planning of some of the coaches of Italian top flight teams, I am talking about here, that led to a drought in the talent pool as well. But it's very ironical for me to say this Because at the moment if you look at it Italians are under 17 and under 19 European champions And last time under 20 They have been runners-up in FIFA World Cup So that tells you Talent is still there But talent if not groomed in the best levels It won't be able to impact on the senior level And then pile up Psychology of failure Sports is as much as collective psychology As it is tactics Failure breeds cautionness Cautionness breeds pragmatism Pragmatism often works in tournament Italy's 2006 Best example Greece Very big example But sustained pragmatism Without creativity And innovation Draws a ceiling Of success For you Once a nation Which eroded And erupted in confidence Whose tactical Boundless Whose passion Whose willingness To gamble On youth in big games They were now growing With self-doubt Where France Was making pitches To develop their players 2, 3, 4 Teams So that That first team Well, Players will keep shooting. Spanish football was developing its youngsters.

English football was doing different things. Everyone was doing something. Italian football was stuck. Federation thought to fix it quickly with a bandage.

But you can't fix a heartbreak with a bandage. And then came Mancini. You won.

Euros. Great. And this was the bandage. After that Mancini just ups and leaves because he was not agreeing to be forced by the Federation because of the player selection.

Then comes Spalletti, who did a great job with Napoli. Spalletti was on his leave when he was called to manage the national team. And when Spalletti arrived, although the results were not good because he didn't inherit a very good team.

Spalletti should have given more time, but you also sacked that guy. And then your eyes turn towards Ranieri, who was leading Roma. He did such a mercurial job with Roma last year.

In the second of the season, it was only Hansa Flix Barcelona who earned the most points in the domestic league. So, here FIGC wanted to appoint Rene Re but Rene Re wanted to be executive role at Roma. So, bro, your first pick didn't come.

So, now you had to go for another candidate which is not well proven in world football. Has been shuffling, changing teams like he has changing the dress. That is your Gennaro Gattuso.

However, if you see his record in Croatia, he goes on to say that he has used players born in 2005, 2006 and 2007. means he is showing that he had promoted youth in Croatia so he may be able to do the same thing for the Italian national team In the last to last match, Norway had a very bad crushing defeat against Spalletti They had 3 goals in the first half You were 3-0 down against Germany even though you had a comeback after a fight of 3-3 but curtains were closing on Spalletti But now Gattuso is the manager He is a fighter in simple language A manager who possesses the Italian DNA and he knows about passion he knows about grit he knows about self-sacrifice At the moment, you would say that yes, he may be the best suited manager to manage Italy. So that he can bring that passion in them. And when you look at the squad, you don't see that there is no quality in it.

You have Bastoni, you have Donali, you have new young bloods. Maybe in Samuel Ricci, Moise Keane up top. You have world-class players like Donnarumma at the back.

Retegui as a striker. Barella is always a long-standing servant for the national team. So maybe, just maybe Gattuso at the moment would make more sense.

But what about Conte? What about Allegri? What about Inzaghi and De Zerbi?

Yes, you guessed it right. FIGC ne socha tha that we will make one of them our manager. But Inzaghi got stolen by Saudi.

Conte was not going to leave Napoli. And Milan quickly pursued Allegri so that he can stick them to him. But Gattuso's management goes beyond personality. It goes beyond tactics. It is about passion.

It is about culture which is lacking in this team. It is about a voice which is lacking in this team. And I think it was a public demand of people to see a manager in the team which reminds these people what it means to play for the crest of Italian football.

But Gattuso has to make some very important decisions What kind of football does he want to play? First thing What will be his selection? Second thing Third thing How is he integrating the youth?

Which again he will need help from the clubs as well The more clubs will promote the youth The more options will be made for the national team Otherwise Gattuso Who will he call? So if you have to surmise everything At least past is not a promise for the future It contains the DNA for recovery The same tactical imagination Which produced Kattinaccio Same mindset of Arrigo Sacchi who developed zonal marking pressing highline that mindset now has the responsibility that they are going to do something with this team or not because if they don't boys Italy will be missing out on the 2026 FIFA World Cup altogether so Italian football's decline it wasn't about morality It was inevitable It was about choices Market choices Coaching choices Investment choices And also moral choices That how you will treat your young players Italy's problem was not caused by a single villain That a guy came and ruined everything It was a culmination of scandal Bad governance Market shift Cultural drifts Lack of proper youth development But the door is not closed here There are still signs In the first game If Gattuso has won a massive final And he has shown a tactical drift A change Which he can do in the mid game That performance in the second half It tells you that maybe, just maybe, there is still life in the Azores. I really hope that you learned a lot from this video.

If yes, let me know your thoughts in the comment section. And if you want to know more of these stories about international teams, you can tell me. I'll make those videos for you.

So, bye. Thank you so much for watching. Like the video.

Subscribe to the channel. I'll see you guys very soon. Until then, take care and peace out.

Transcript for:Italian Football's Rise and Fall

Transcript for:
Italian Football's Rise and Fall