Alex deserves Italy chance
As the new generation of Italian strikers asserts their control, James Sugrue reminds us that there’s at least one old boy with as much hunger as any of them. Following Italy’s win over Ghana, Marcello Lippi seems quite clear about the pecking order of his strikers. Luca Toni is understandably the No 1 choice after his good showing against the Black Stars and Alberto Gilardino probably did enough to keep his place in the side. There can be little complaint about either seeing as both are undoubtedly top class players.
But who comes after those two? Vincenzo Iaquinta was the first striker to make an appearance from the bench on Monday and repaid Lippi’s faith with a goal. It was fortunate for him that he did, otherwise his performance would have been remembered for different reasons. Before his strike, which in reality was gifted to him by a combination of a Samuel Kuffour assist and some indecisive goalkeeping, his only contribution had been to repeatedly fail to time his runs and get caught needlessly offside.
Alex Del Piero was handed just a brief appearance against Ghana, but had nowhere near enough time to make an impact. Of course for many that is no less than he deserves, after all he has had plenty of chances to succeed on the biggest stage and has failed each time. Pinturrichio has subsequently often been the scapegoat for the Azzurri’s lack of success at recent tournaments. Much of that criticism was deserved, but with Alex those failures could perhaps be a reason for his inclusion rather than his omission.
Like Francesco Totti, the forward knows this is his last chance to prove his doubters wrong, and for a player that has achieved so much domestically that must be the ultimate motivator. At club level for Juventus he has won every trophy going and still continues to perform and maintain his desire to win. In fact, many fans will argue that he has even improved this season after falling out of favour with Coach Fabio Capello.
The presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Trezeguet in Turin has seen him relegated to the bench for club as well as country, but that only gave him the incentive to impress further. As Ibrahimovic’s form faltered Del Piero continued to act as the 'super sub’ and bailed his team out of trouble on a number of occasions. Why then does Lippi, once Alex’s biggest fan at Juve, seem so reluctant to follow suit? The huge amount of space available to the Italian team during the second half against Ghana would have been perfect for him had he been on the pitch long enough to exploit it. Even the withdrawal of Totti didn’t see him enter the field of play.
Spain have already proved how powerful the motivation provided by your critics can be. They have been repeatedly written off as 'not tournament players’ but showed the naivety of those comments with a 4-0 win over Ukraine. Totti and Del Piero have both been accused of the same thing and knowing this is their last chance will no doubt be desperate to show what they are capable of.
There are rumours of friction between Alex and Lippi, but few can blame him for being frustrated. With such a strong desire to win it must be the purest kind of hell to be forced to watch your teammates act things out while you are denied the chance to do likewise. That frustration can only be made worse when a player who has only scored three times from open play in the last year, and who before Monday had never scored for Italy in his 12 matches, gets his chance ahead of you. So please Marcello, give your old friend one more chance to make you proud.
channel4.com