The (necessarily) global way of Mancini’s Italy

For a nation that saw thirty million people leave in search of fortune or better living conditions between the 19th and 20th centuries, it is not that difficult to find someone with an Italian grandfather or great-grandfather who can be called up to the national team when necessary. . The section Football Analysis of the Italian Clubthe body that brings together and coordinates the activities of the national teams, is well aware of this has been monitoring for years all over the world, especially in South America, the best talents who have the possibility to apply for an Italian passport. Legitimate, especially in a football that is increasingly globalized and in which timing, i.e. arriving first in spotting a talent and “making it your own” – perhaps it seems ugly but it is -, is crucial and can guarantee important victories.

Robert Mancini he had said it at the dawn of his mandate as technical commissioner that the national team had to think like a club. He was also referring to this. Mancini is a concrete person, he knows that if there is a problem, it shouldn’t be ignored or underestimated, but a way to solve it needs to be found. He had suggested that the Serie A teams pay more attention to the academies and he had no problem setting a good example himself by taking the best prospects from the academies – from Nicolò Zaniolo to Simone Pafundi -; he had repeatedly expressed the need for a reform of Italian football, underlined the usefulness of second teams for clubs (he knows what he’s talking about, he coached in England), and for the national team; he tried, very calmly to tell the truth, to push towards an enlargement of citizenship. The world of football and that of politics have not decided to follow him. Free to do so, he’s still just a coach.

Mancini led a national team that won the European Championship in two years and did not qualify for the World Cup: a sign that there are good players, but also many, many problems. Problems to which, however, not always, almost never, the right attention has been paid, because in Italy they believe they are solved with the first victory. We are also witnessing it in these days of great applause for the six Italians in the quarter-finals of the European cups.

Mancini thus decided to do what Antonio Conte had done. Trust the natives. At the time he was critical of the call-ups of Eder and Franco Vázquez: “My opinion is that a player born in Italy deserves the blue shirt, not someone with Italian relatives.” If there have been no tricks from the world of football, then you might as well reconsider your opinions. The national team needed someone who could score. Mancini went to get him in Argentina. Mateo Retegui few knew him, he grew up in Boca Juniors, he was dumped by the Xeneizes as he was not suitable for the Bombonera. He wandered around for a few years with little luck, but he’s been scoring a lot for a year and a half. Sometimes a striker matures after coming of age. He will be 24 in a few days, he has a career ahead of him. How much will be blue will begin to be discovered from tonight: at 20.45 Italy plays against England the first match of the qualifying round for the 2024 European Championships.