Just over a year ago, Italy hit rock bottom after failing to qualify from the group stages of the World Cup.
The Azzurri were simply not up to the task in South Africa as they were unable to gain one win in a group featuring Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia.
Marcello Lippi, the coach who led Italy to their fourth World Cup success in Germany four years before, was immediately replaced by Cesare Prandelli.
Lippi was not the only one to bow out as a number of senior players who had been part of the Italian squad in the 2006 World Cup announced their retirement from international football.
Prandelli had a mammoth task to build a new team capable of qualifying for the Euro 2012 finals. To complicate matters, the qualifiers against Estonia, Northern Ireland, Faroe Islands, Serbia and Slovenia were looming large as Prandelli had limited time with his players.
The omens were not encouraging for the coach. Italian football was passing through a difficult period with its top clubs having performed poorly in the Euro club competitions to the extent that Italy will only have three teams in the Champions League next season.
The new generation of Italian players hardly inspired confidence as, in the eyes of critics, they lacked the resilience and experience to replace the likes of Luca Toni, Gennaro Gattuso and Fabio Cannavaro.
The gloom didn’t affect Prandelli who has done a great job in reviving Italy’s fortunes. Last week, the Azzurri booked their place in Euro 2012 with two games to spare.
Italy have not only won seven of their eight qualifiers to top Group C but are still unbeaten and have conceded only one goal, keeping seven clean sheets in a row.
Two obvious questions come to mind. Can Italy be considered as challengers to win the European title next year? Are they on the same level as favourites Germany, Spain and Holland?
The answer, in my opinion, is no. It is true that Italy ran away with Group C but one must admit that they haven’t had the chance to test themselves against the top European nations in qualifying.
To put things in perspective, Italy were awarded a 3-0 home win against Serbia, arguably their toughest opponents in Group C, due to the crowd trouble which led to the abandonement of the home qualifier in Genoa. Also, one of Italy’s two remaining qualifiers is against Serbia next month.
At this stage, Prandelli should use the Serbia match and the subsequent home fixture against Northern Ireland to try new players, particularly in attack.
If Italy’s last two games against the Faroe Islands (1-0) and Slovenia (1-0) are anything to go by, then it is clear that the Azzurri have problems to score and finish off opponents.
Italy’s progress over the last 12 months can’t be measured by their performances against Slovenia, N. Ireland and the Faroe Islands.
Yet, Italy did rise to the occasion when edging Spain in a mid-summer friendly in Bari. Italy’s first win against the reigning world champions since their 2-1 success in the 1994 World Cup, came in a warm-up against an under-strength Spanish side, but it was nonetheless a morale-boosting win.
Italy will be no pushovers in Euro 2012. Prandelli has, so far, demonstrated that he knows what it takes to help Italy rediscover their winning form and bring fresh blood into the national squad.
Italy have improved under Prandelli but are still behind the likes of Germany, Spain and Holland.
Italy have not won the European Championship since 1968 and they face an uphill battle to end their drought.
Serie A statistics
1 win, one draw and two defeats is the record of the four coaches who made their debut in the Serie A last weekend. Palermo’s interim coach Devis Mangia made a dream start at the helm of Palermo as the Sicilians came from behind to beat Inter 4-3. Giuseppe Sannino had a quiet afternoon as Siena held Catania to a goalless draw. Eusebio Di Francesco’s Lecce crashed to a 0-2 home defeat against Udinese. Luis Enrique endured a disastrous start as Roma coach as his team lost to Cagliari in their own backyard.
1 goalless draw was registered in the opening Serie A weekend as Catania and Siena shared the spoils after a dull encounter. The Sicilians have a truly dire home record against Siena as they drew four of their last five meetings. Their last win at the Angelo Massimino Stadium came in March 2009 (3-0). Napoli warmed up for tonight’s Champions League clash with Roberto Mancini’s Man. City with an emphatic 3-1 away win against Cesena. Last season, this fixture ended 4-1 in favour of Napoli.
2 penalties were awarded by referees last weekend. Diego Milito completed his first double of the season thanks to an impeccable 50th-minute penalty conversion. Elsewhere, Sebastian Giovinco netted a last-gasp penalty to score a consolation goal for Parma against his former club Juventus. Meanwhile, no fewer than five players, namely Jose’ Angel (Roma), Paolo De Ceglie (Juventus), Valter Birsa (Genoa), Gennaro Sardo (Chievo) and Yohan Benalouane (Cesena), were sent off.
3 draws were recorded by the three Serie A newcomers – Atalanta, Siena and Novara. Last season’s Serie B champions Atalanta, who started the season with a six-point penalty for their involvement in a match-fixing scandal, came nearest to claim victory as they threw away a 2-1 lead in their away fixture against Genoa. Novara were trailing Chievo 0-2 after only 24 minutes but fought back to salvage a point.
4 goals were scored by Juventus in the debut game at their new stadium. Juve were in a class of their own as they broke down Parma’s initial resistance to beat them for the first time since April 2008 (3-0). Champions Milan came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Edy Reja’s new-look Lazio. The latter have not beaten Milan at the San Siro Stadium since September 3, 1989 (1-0).
35 goals were scored on the opening weekend: 18 coming from the hosts and the remaining 17 from the visitors, who managed three wins. There were three home wins and four draws. Foreigners contributed with 19 goals while there were 17 first-half nettings. There were no hat-tricks or own goals. Three players, Diego Milito (Inter), Fabrizio Miccoli (Palermo) and Maxi Moralez (Atalanta), grabbed a brace each. Marek Hamsik (Napoli), Arturo Vidal (Juventus), Mauricio Pinilla (Palermo) and Moestafa El Kabir (Cagliari) scored after coming on as substitutes.