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OT: Soccer thread

it's iffy.

I think he's been hard done by as coach in limited duty - his teams have done much worse after he was let go.

He's a legend who understands what it takes to win a world cup as probably the most important player on the team, understands the importance of both offense and defense. and should command all the respect from the players.

He's also not a merc like a guy like pep would have been - this is his chance both to make his name as a coach and to save italian football so he'll be all in and won't be eager to leave anytime soon.
 
We’ll see if they listen this time


After Italy’s disastrous 2010 World Cup, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) hired Roberto Baggio to help reform Italian football from the ground up. Rather than offering vague ideas, Baggio spent over a year working with dozens of experts and produced a 900-page blueprint for rebuilding youth development.


His plan included ideas such as:
  • putting much greater emphasis on technical skills instead of tactics for young players,
  • creating regional training centres,
  • improving coach education,
  • modernizing scouting and player development,
  • and even focusing on developing better people as well as better footballers.
What happened?

According to Baggio, almost nothing. He later said he waited five hours just to get a 15-minute presentation in front of federation officials. Although money had reportedly been earmarked for the project, he said his recommendations were never implemented and his report “remained a dead letter.” Frustrated, he resigned in 2013.
 
CH1 said:
Saving Italian football needs more than tactical adjustments — it’s a long term plan that requires a big name like Pirlo to stick around
Click to expand...

Y’all are in the same place as hockey in Quebec.

No short term solutions.

Edit: Baggio could commiserate with Jocelyn Thibault.
 
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Italian youth teams have been arguably the best in the world in the last 5-7 years, so much success. But then they never actually play them from there. Talent isn't horrible but you need to stop letting them rot on the bench and destroying what should be promising careers.

Obviously the problem runs deeper than that but that's a low hanging fruit that should be fixable short term. No other country treats their young players like this.
 
lecoqsportif said:
?

Why aren’t they loaned out to Serie C teams?
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Many of them are way too good for that. But serie a coaches are afraid of playing them. Granted, it's been that way forever, it's just more obvious now that it's all gone to shit.

Serie A ranks 49th out of 50 monitored leagues worldwide for the percentage of minutes played by U21 players eligible for the national team — a figure of just 1.9%.
 
Also…

The Spanish players who competed in the 2023 U19 European Championship (won by Italy) are no longer playing in youth football and have accumulated almost double the minutes in their top-flight leagues and almost six times more in European competition than their Italian counterparts.
 
OK, then Serie B which is a pretty good calibre. Or maybe to middling teams in Switzerland or Portugal. They gotta play.

Should be noted that academies of Serie A teams don’t have a great reputation, which is weird. Of course, the kids could be from anywhere.
 
Preston said:
Also…

The Spanish players who competed in the 2023 U19 European Championship (won by Italy) are no longer playing in youth football and have accumulated almost double the minutes in their top-flight leagues and almost six times more in European competition than their Italian counterparts.
Click to expand...

I once saw a U20 team from Argie - they were all pros. Battle hardened.
 
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