++ [ originally posted by Zizou
] ++
I found this guy's comments quite spot on regarding this matter:
My friends. I've been a Juventus fan since the 1980's when I was a kid. I am a very passionate fan of the Bianconeri, and even more so of the Azzurri (Italian National Team). Since Alex Del Piero first made his debut for the bianconeri in 1993 I was a huge fan of his. Alex was supposed to be "The Next One." Labelled as "Il Pinturrichio" he took over as the Golden Boy of Italian soccer, and was subsequently supposed to sit on the throne left to him by former Juventus and Azzurri legend Roberto Baggio, (perhaps the most famous Italian striker of all time).
From 1993, when he first made his Juventus debut. To 1996, when Roberto Baggio left the Bianconeri for AC Milan, up to 1998, when Juventus won the Scudetto and went to the final of the Champions League, it looked as if Alessandro Del Piero, was indeed one of the best players in the world, and seemed destined to become a legend.
He had fantastic playmaking ability, decent speed, strength and skill on the ball, and an uncanny ability to put the ball in the net when need be. Alex Del Piero had me forgetting about Baggio and dreaming of success for both the Bianconeri and the Italian national team.
However, all of those dreams came to a hault, in May of 1998, when Juventus faced Real Madrid in the final of the Champions League. Juve had won the title in 1996 in a thriller against defending Champions Ajax, and then had lost in 1997, in a shocking 3-1 defeat to Borrusia Dortmund. It was the third European Cup final in a row for them and they came into the match as the overwhelming favourites, boasting superstars like Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi and Zinedine Zidane, however, they lost the match 1-0 in what was another major shock and disappointment.
Although the loss was disappointing, what would turn out to be a lot more concerning was the fact that Del Piero was injured in the match, and the 1998 World Cup in France was coming up in just a months time. Going into the tournament, Del Piero was not expected to be healthy enough to start, and therefore, the Italians started with Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri at forward. When Alex finally did make his debut in a 3-0 win against Cameroon, it looked as if the Azzurri were about to hit their stride in the tournament. However, they played a very boring and defensive brand of soccer under then coach Cesare Maldini and were beaten out in a quarterfinal shootout by the eventual World Champions France. Alex's form was atrotious in the tournament which many believed was going to be his international coming out party. Although I was disappointed, I realized he was not at 100% at any point during the tournament, and therfore, deserved to be cut some slack.
Unforuntely, more of the same was to follow. In what many thought was to be a year of retribution for Del Piero in 1999, he continued to suffer from numerous injuries and dips in form. His luck did not change during the 2000 season either and going into Euro 2000, everyone was hoping that he could regain his form to help the Azzurri achieve glory.
Juventus and the National Team were suffering by Del Piero's injuries and dip in form. Juve had lost out on the Scudetto in 2000 to Lazio, and had a disappointing run in the Champions League. I for one was looking forward to the Euro, for Alex to prove to me and to the world that his career was not spiraling downward, and that he could get back on track.
Just before the tournament, the team received the bad news that top striker, Christian Vieri would not be able to the play in the tournament due to injury. Due to Vieri's injury and Del Piero's poor form, no one, including me gave the Azzurri much of a chance to do well in a tournament boasting such great teams as France, Holland, Spain, England, Portugal and Germany.
However, lead by a young and inspired Francesco Totti, the Azzurri were able to make it all the way to the Final. In the semi against Holland, the Azzurri pulled off one of the most thrilling victories in the history of the European Championships, down a man for more than 100 minutes of play against a high flying Dutch team, the Italians were able to stick it out and send the game to a shootout where goalkeep Francesco Toldo put on a shot stopping clinic and pushed them into the final against defending World Champions France.
In what was to be the most heartbreaking of loses I ever witnessed as a fan of the Azzurri, the Italians allowed the French to tie to the game with only 30 seconds of injury time left to play. It was a game that the Azzurri deserved to win. They had hung with and for many stretches outplayed the World Champs, however, a one second lapse in concentration allowed the French to tie it 1-1, and at that moment everyone knew there was no way they would be able to recover from such a heart break. Soon after France scored the winner in extra time and drove a steak through the heart of Italian fans all over the world.
The final was once again a classic example of just how much Del Piero's form had dipped in recent seasons. After Italy had taken the lead 1-0 on a goal by Marco Del Vecchio, Francesco Totti set up Del Piero twice in front of the net, one on one with goal keeper Fabien Barthez and Alex was not able to put the game away, shooting right at the keeper both times. Even burying just one of the opportunities would have ensured France would have not come back and that the Azzurri would have been celebrating, however he was not able to do that.
The missed chances had me wishing that Vieri was there to put them in the net, but unforunately, that was not the case. Del Piero had once again let the Azzurri down, and this time, I would not able to forgive him.
After Euro 2000, it started to become painfully invident, that the player who looked so promising from 1993- May 2008, would no longer be able to recapture his lost form. Juventus had success in Italy in 2002 and 2003, winning back to back Scudetti, however, the successes were largely due to the contributions of others and not to those of Del Piero.
World Cup 2002 in Japan came along, and I saw a great opporunity for the Italians to win the tournament. They had tasted brutal defeat in the final of Euro 2000 and had a score to settle with France. Holland had failed to qualify, the Germans had what many believed to be a weakened team, Brazil had qualified for the tournament finishing only 4th in the South American qualifying zone and the French went into the tournament without a healthy Zinedine Zidane.
After the first round, powerhouses such as France, Argentina, and Portugal had been knocked out. It looked as if the Italians would have a great chance to go all the way to the final and possibly win it all. However, the tournament was to quickly become a disaster for the Azzurri as they had a total of 5 disallowed goals for questionable offside calls, (all of which replays showed to be good goals). They subsequently crashed out in the round of 16 to South Korea.
Much of the blame was put squarely on the shoulders of Head Coach, Giovanni Trappatoni and the "New" Italian Golden Boy, Francesco Totti, and rightfully so (to a point). However, once again, Del Piero did not show up, scoring only 1 goal in the tournament and was not able to lead the team forward.
Personally, World Cup 2002 would have been Del Piero's swan song from the Italian National Team for me. he had been given Euro '96 (to a small extent), World Cup '98, Euro 2000, and World Cup 2002 to prove that he could get the job done, and on all 4 occassions had failed miserably. In my opinion it was time for Italy to rely on some new blood, and I desperately wanted to see them go with younger stars such as Antonio Cassano and Alberto Gilardino.
Going into the tournament, Juventus had won another Scudetto in 2003, and reached the Final of the Champions League against AC Milan which they lost and Del Piero once again did not play much of a factor in.
I thought it was time for Trappatoni to go with some youth and bring in some new blood and enthusiasm to the team. However, aside from taking young Antonio Cassano as a backup on the team, Trap left top Serie A striker Alberto Gilardino at home in favour of Christian Vieri and Bernardo Corradi. That move would prove to be a fatal error as Vieri showed in the tournament that he was no longer the lethal striker he used to be, after being set up for countless scoring opportunities and failing to register even a single goal all tournament long.
The Azzurri played a very boring and uninspiring brand of soccer for most of the first round and were punished by missing out on the second round with 5 points and a record of two ties and a win. Most of the blame should have and did go to Trappatoni and Francesco Totti, (who's spitting actions in the first game against Denmark, proved to be a disgusting act by a player dubbed to be one of the world's finest). The incident also caused much distraction and surely could not have been good for team morale or preparation for matches. Not to mention that they were forced to play 2 of the 3 first round games without their most talented overall forward and playmaker.
The tournament however, was another highlight of how low Del Piero's career had slid, as he once again went goalless in the tournament and did not play much of a factor.
So now.. he we are in June 2005. Juventus is coming off another Scudetto season in which Alex scored 16 goals, and had a few decent performances, but nothing extrodinary. He was also substituted off for most of the matches he started by head coach Fabio Capello and was proven to no longer be an automatic choice for the starting lineup. Although Juventus managed to win the Scudetto, it was most due to the fact of contributions from players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro and Gigi Buffon than anything that Alex did. He was also unable to lead his team in the second leg, quarterfinal tie, vs eventual tournament Champions Liverpool, which Juventus could have easily beaten with a bit of luck.
Looking at it from the vantage point of the National Team, new Head Coach Marcello Lippi has so far proven that he is not afraid to call on a wide variety of players to make up his squad and fill in the gaps, and he has shown that although Del Piero played under him for many years at Juventus, he will not be given any preferential treatment and is no longer an automatic choice to be a member of the team.
The thing which baffles me most of all is why it took upwards of 6 - 7 years for people to finally realize this.
Don't get me wrong, Del Piero is a classy player, both on and off the field. In a day and age when many Italian soccer players get widely criticized for being Primadonnas and caring more about their appearance, and playboy lifestyles than soccer, (see Francesco Totti and Christian Vieri), he is a professional and breath of fresh air. He conducts himself in a manner which is a great example for any young player coming into the world of professional sports and should be rewarded for that, as well as his many accomplishments at the club level with Juventus.
However, the sad fact is, he never did and never will live up to the promise that he showed up to 1998. At the age of almost 31 now, Del Piero is on the wrong side of 30 and as time passes is destined to only get even slower and more ineffective.
It is time for Juventus to move on and buy a young playmaker like Antonio Cassano who has a tremendous amount of talent and upside. With the guidance of a strict and progressive coach like Fabio Capello, Cassano can develop into one of the best players in the world, and may just prove to be the heir to the throne that Roberto Baggio left behind, which both Alex Del Piero and Francesco Totti have seemed unable to fill up to now. Juventus needs another superstar Italian forward, and Antonio Cassano playing alongside forwards like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Trezeguet would be phenomenal.
It is also time for the Italian national team to move on. Del Piero has been given 5 international tournaments now to prove his wealth to the national team and has failed on each and every occassion, it is highly unlikely that at his old age now, he can offer anything more to the team, and therefore, Lippi would be smart to go with more young players like Cassano and Gilardino at forward, possibly supported by Totti (who hopefully can get his head screwed on straight and start playing with some brains, instead of doing stupid things). Del Piero and even Vieri would no longer be on the National Team.
And so.. I end by saying.. Del Piero.. it's been great.. but its time to move on buddy! Juve and Italia need to look to the future and you need to go and help a smaller Italian club like Parma or Lazio, Sampdoria or Fiorentina stay up in Serie A amd achieve success rather than trying to relive past glory with Juventus!
Ciao ciao for now!
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different opinions eh? Thats why you respect my opinion
