It was at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino that Italy took on Macedonia in a World Cup qualifier on Friday evening. That stadium was named after the great Granata side that were tragically killed in a plane crash after having become five-time champions of Italy, their players forming the very backbone of the national side. Gianluigi Buffon stood proud in his net, wearing the nation’s famous blue kit for the very first time in his 172nd appearance.
However, despite the iconic location of the fixture and the pride of their captain, the Azzurri did not play anything like those heroic sides of the past and slumped to a 1-1 draw. This allowed Group G rivals Spain to qualify for the tournament with ease, after breezing past Albania with a 3-0 win.
La Roja had also beaten Giampiero Ventura’s side by that same scoreline in early September, with the boss heavily criticised for deploying a 4-2-4 formation against Spain’s famously packed midfield. Somewhat ironically, the one player who could have made a difference against that side was Napoli midfielder Jorginho, the man who is the driving force in Maurizio Sarri’s passing machine, but he 25-year-old inexplicably remains without a call-up.
Yet Lazio’s Marco Parolo – a player who performs well at club level but doesn't excel enough to warrant a place in the national side – started against Macedonia, just one of many puzzling team selections from the veteran boss. Of course Daniele De Rossi, Marco Verratti and Claudio Marchisio had suffered injuries, but those who missed out through being on the treatment table did not excuse the glaring omissions from the squad or the team sheet.
Tactics too, seem to be a problem, with Ventura lurching from the aforementioned 4-2-4 to a 3-4-3 in Friday’s match. A backline of Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini may have been the preferred choice in the past, but this system was ditched by Juventus boss Max Allegri back in January after it had failed him on several occasions.
Macedonia are a team ranked 103 in the world by FIFA, yet Italy squandered a 1-0 lead on home soil and allowed them to equalise. Such was the ineffectiveness of their play, the Azzurri only had one shot in the second half whilst the visitors fired five towards Buffon, but Ventura was keen to avoid blame for the abject performance.
“We lost some players and lost a certain threat that we had in the first half, in my view,” he told Rai Sport. “I think a lack of fitness levels made a big difference and when that drops, the sharpness goes, so we could not develop anything more. In football, when you don’t propose anything in attack for an entire half, it can well be that you concede.”
It seems bizarre to blame fitness of a side made up from players who play at the top of European league football every week, and the fans in the stadium made their feelings clear as they jeered the side at the final whistle. But just as Ventura refused to admit culpability for the performance, he also thought criticism was uncalled for.
“I think Italy should never been jeered, as the team represents all of us. I thought the first half was positive, the second was not, but when you have nothing left in the tank, that’s what you get. You’ve been asking me about the World Cup and being afraid of getting sacked since the last time we played Macedonia. We need to get the players back, play some real football and get the situation back on track.”
Is Ventura the right man to get Italy back on their feet again? The simple answer is no. He may have experience at club level, but on the international stage the 69-year-old is way out of his depth in terms of tactics and squad selection. This will only get worse if he is allowed to take this side – who have a bank of immensely talented players – to the World Cup, with stronger teams able to unpick his naive choices with ease.
Italy have hit a real crisis point, and it will be interesting to see whether the FIGC decide to stick with the current man in charge or not.
