WTI Magazine #34    2014 June, 11
Author : Simone Callisto Manca      Translation by:

Giuseppe Rossi, the talented but ill-fated Italian American striker for Fiorentina, has not climbed the ladder of the plane that brought the Italian National Football Team in Brazil, but now is not the time to cry on.

There is a World Cup to win, in line with Italian tradition that has always seen our national team to do well in this tournament, apart from a few exceptions such as the 2010 edition, when a tired team satisfied from the triumph of four years before lost to most unknown players from Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia.

This year, as never before, Italy is characterized by extreme unpredictability in the strategy and in its interpreters: coach Prandelli has built his team on a mix of senators (the champions of the 2006 World Buffon, Pirlo, De Rossi, Barzagli), players who won the silver medal in the 2012 European tournament (Balotelli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Marchisio, Cassano) and young newcomers (Immobile, Insigne, Verratti).
There is not an official preset strategy or eleven regular first-string players (except few unbeatable names): Prandelli's team will be a Zelig which will fit, even in just a small part of the single games, to the different circumstances that it will have to face.

To give an example: it is possible that against England Prandelli will have a team full of midfielders and raiders and just one striker, which should be Balotelli; ready, however, to change strategy and other settings during the match - for instance, by inserting an unpredictable talent like Cassano – if the situation will require it.

The turnover will also be very thorough because of the particular climatic conditions of the World Cup: in Brazil is winter, but Italy will play in the Amazon, a place where temperatures are high and humidity rate is extraordinary in all seasons of the year. It is therefore unthinkable that the same eleven performers will play all the three matches of the first round.

It is also impossible to make a prediction on how things will go: we only know that when Italy starts humbly, with no headlights, as in this case, the chances of making a good impression multiply. The apparent lack of fame of many players on this team should not in fact be misleading: would anyone have predicted before the World Cup of '82 that Rossi would have been the protagonist? And two more examples: the wild Schillaci of the unfortunate "magic nights" of Italy '90 should not even be in the team at that time, because of the more famous couple of strikers Vialli-Carnevale; and before Germany 2006 - our latest triumph - the hero Fabio Grosso was just an almost anonymous left back from the Palermo team, intended to act as a possible substitute to the regular, Zaccardo; as well as Marco Materazzi - the man who scored in the final against France, and took the famous hit in his stomach which ended the career of Zidane - was the substitute of Nesta, much more titled and talented than him.

One possible unknown variable is coach Prandelli himself: a great coach but, for some, lacking a bit of malice. Besides, in his past there is no trace of the titles that accompanied the arrival to the Italian National Football Team of Sacchi and Lippi - the last two coaches who brought us to the final: but it is also true that in his career, unlike the other two, Prandelli never coached a big high ranking club team, but only medium-high ranking teams, expressing a nice game and discovering good young players.

We do not know where this Italy will arrive, but a team that has won 4 World Championships as well as 2 silver, 1 bronze and 1 fourth place, can only aspire to to win, even when it is not favored. Indeed, and this is what our history says, especially when it is not favored.