By Arjun Chadha
The 1990 World Cup. The last time Italy hosted a major
football tournament. Italia 90.
There were many reasons to believe that Italy was the
undisputed centre of the footballing universe. The best players lit up Serie ‘A’
– Diego Maradona for Napoli, Roberto Baggio for Fiorentina, Marco van Basten of
Milan, Lothar Matthäus of Internazionale. They gained large salaries than their
fellow footballers at the time. Their lives appeared to be more glamorous than
anyone else’s. A dozen stadiums were remodelled and renovated to host Italia 90
and the facilities were regarded at the time as top notch, a level above their
continental peers.
Fast forward two decades to the summer of 2010. Just before
the World Cup in South Africa, the votes came in to determine who would get the
chance to host the 2016 European Championship. There were three main
candidates: Turkey, France and Italy.
Alas, the bid for 2016 came to nothing. Italy were
eliminated from the first round of voting and France beat Turkey by one vote to
be awarded the chance to host Europe’s flagship international competition.
Having also been overlooked to host Euro 2012 in favour of Poland and Ukraine,
the Italians were left regretting yet another lost opportunity to kick-start
the domestic renaissance they so dearly craved.
Mention Serie ‘A’ to most self-respecting football
enthusiast, and it is more than likely that you’ll receive a scornful rebuke.
‘The quality is rubbish’, they’ll scoff, ‘It’s a one team league’. Yet despite
the overwhelming evidence to back these claims up, with Juventus chasing a 5th
Scudetto in a row and striving to match Inter Milan’s record held between
2005-2010, it is important to not underestimate the other top Italian teams,
and indeed the league’s high quality as a whole.
The race for the 2015-16 Scudetto is the most thrilling in
recent years.
Near the start of the
season, there was a genuine possibility that Inter Milan could topple the
Juventus monopoly, holding a four point lead going into the new-year. Roberto
Mancini, the man who established Manchester City’s recent dominance of the
English game, returned (via a brief sojourn at Galatasaray) to an Inter side in
disarray in November 2014. He wasn’t helped by Inter president Erick Thohir’s
claim that, ‘’Mancini will get us back to the top level in Europe’’. Despite a
splurge on big-money signings, such as the mercurial Geoffrey Kondogbia for 22
million euros, Inter have flattered to deceive this season, and whilst still
only 5 points off 3rd place and a Champions League spot, now find themselves
pursued by city rivals AC Milan to even finish in the European places. How the
mighty fall.
The attack-focused Napoli have been a real treat to watch
this year, with the Argentinian maestro Gonzalo Higuain leading the
goal-scoring charts with a monstrous 26 strikes. The hope is that Napoli,
famous for its dodgy districts, pizza and ice-cream, and of course ‘El Pibe de
Oro’ - Diego Maradona, can knock Juventus of their perch, but that has been
made difficult by Juventus’ astonishing 46 points accumulated from a mere 16
games, a run of form that has seen them rise from 10th and 11 points off the
pace to being 3 points ahead of 2nd placed Napoli.
Whilst there is a certain feeling of regret that Juventus
eventually came good and recovered from their dreadful start, there are enough
matches left to suggest that Napoli, and perhaps even Roma, who have won their
last 7 games, can still overhaul the Old Lady.
Admittedly a brief summary of Serie ‘A’ this season, yet the
amount of drama is prevalent. Palermo have just moved onto their 7th (!)
manager this season alone, and the various flip-flopping of teams in the top
four has aroused interest throughout. Fiorentina and Roma are just two of the 7
clubs that have topped the table at various points this year. Serie ‘A’was
officially Europe’s ‘’goaliest’ division last season, providing 1024 goals,
largely thanks to an outrageous 47 goal final weekend.
Despite the flak that Serie ‘A’ has got in recent years, I
believe that it is on the way up again. The recent appearance of Juventus in
the Champions League, although admittedly humbled by a magnificent Barcelona,
showed that on the continental stage, Italian domestic football is beginning to
make a name for itself again. The threat of Italy surpassing England in those
oh so mysterious ‘Coefficients’ and removing England’s 4th place Champions
League qualification (*coughs* Arsenal), is very real indeed.
Europe watch out - Italian football may just have woken up
again.
Comments
Post a Comment