Dennis Bergkamp and Italy's Religious War

This article first appeared on IBWM and later on World Soccer 

When you think of Dennis Bergkamp numerous superlatives instantly spring to mind; perfectionist, genius, artist, visionary. You hear his name mentioned in conversation and your thoughts are sharply brought back to that defying-footballing-physics goal against Newcastle in 2002 or his three touch masterpiece vs Argentina at France ’98. You flashback to the sumptuous spin-and-delicate-lob assist for Freddie Ljungberg against Juventus in 2001, to the seemingly endless supply of defence-splitting passes for Ian Wright, Nicholas Anelka and Thierry Henry. Dennis Bergkamp was a footballers’ footballer who played for the players as much as he did for the fans.

The term 'donkey', however, is one that nobody should ever associate with the Dutchman, yet for a brief period during his disastrous two-year spell at Inter in the mid ‘90s, things became so bad that the Rome-based publication La Repubblica renamed their ‘donkey of the week’ award for worst player to‘Bergkamp della settimana’ (Bergkamp of the week). How could a player of his unquestionable talent be reduced to a punchline?

In 1993 Bergkamp was ready to leave Ajax, having been promoted from the youth team by Johan Cruyff in 1986. He believed the time was right at 24 to seek fresh pastures and felt he had hit his ceiling within the confines of the Dutch game and let the directors at Ajax know during the winter break of the 1992-93 season that this would be his final campaign, giving them ample time to find a replacement. Cruyff, knowing full well the stark contrast between the countries’ footballing philosophies, pleaded with him not to leave Holland for Italy, but rather urged to follow him to Spain, and more specifically to Barcelona were his ‘Dream Team’ were in the midst of their golden age.  

Bergkamp, quick to comprehend that with the three-foreigner rule in La Liga and Hristo Stoichkov, Ronald Koeman and Michael Laudrup already at the club, he wouldn’t be guaranteed a starting position at the Camp Nou.

His mentor’s pleas fell on deaf ears as Bergkamp had his eyes on only one league, Serie A, comfortably the world’s most daunting for attacking players. He had begun to take Italian lessons a year beforehand in preparation for the move. ’’For a long time my heart was set on Italy because it was absolutely the best football country then. Italy, Italy, Italy… it’s all I was thinking about.’’

Dino Baggio: Living in the Shadow of Roberto

This article first appeared on TheseFootballTimes and later on The Guardian

It’s June 23^rd and nearly one week into USA ’94. If you happened to miss the clash between Italy and Norway and, as one did in those days, checked Ceefax and seen the headline ’Baggio heads winner’, you would reasonably assume that Roberto Baggio had saved Italy’s blushes from a surprising early exit from the competition. Italy’s talisman and creator-in-chief was the planet’s finest player having won the Balon d’Or the previous December and had scored seventeen league goals for Juventus in the season heading into the tournament

Ray Houghton’s winner for the Republic of Ireland in the opening match of group stage E meant Arrigo Sacchi’s Azzurri had no alternative but to win their second game against the dull-but-resolute Norwegians.  In the 68^th minute Italy, who had been reduced to ten men earlier in the match, are awarded a free kick on the left hand side of the pitch. Beppe Signori, with his pint-sized left foot, whips a glorious ball into the box on to the head of the onrushing Baggio. He guides the ball powerfully past Erik Thorstvedt to give Italy the lead and eventually the victory.

Yet it wasn’t the pony-tailed genius that garnered headlines this time, it was the other Baggio, the unheralded yet-gifted central midfielder Dino Baggio.

David Platt's Italian Odyssey

This piece originally appeared on TheseFootballTimes.net

Often in football a player’s entire career trajectory can change with one swing of a boot. It’s June 26^th on a balmy night in Bologna. England are squaring off against Belgium for a place in the quarter final of Italia ’90, it’s the 119^th minute of a fairly even game when England are awarded a free kick some thirty-five yards from goal. What happened next would go down as one of the most dramatic goals in England’s recent history.

The then Aston Villa midfielder David Platt rids himself of his marker in the box for split second as Paul Gascoigne’s ball descends towards him. Platt swivels and connects beautifully with a right-footed volley which arrows across Michel Preud’homme and into his right hand corner. Platt peels away in celebration, euphoria overtaking him and sinking to his knees - a rare manner of celebrating a goal by his own admission – and is soon mobbed by teammates.

The goal was life changing for Platt, in the immediate aftermath of the strike and for the long-term effects. He had been a substitute in every game of the World Cup prior to the goal, following the Belgium game he subsequently became an automatic starter against Cameroon, West Germany and Italy. Scoring a further two goals in the quarter final and the third place playoff.

The England squad returned home as heroes for their unexpected run to the last four, restoring pride to the national game after a decade of darkness. It could be argued that with the exception of Gascoigne, nobody’s value rose higher after the tournament than Platt’s. He had been named PFA Player of the Year in the season leading into Italia ’90 as he rattled in nineteen goals in the league from midfield, yet his performances in Italy garnered international recognition and speculation was mounting that he wouldn’t be playing in the Midlands for much longer.

Defending Prandelli (To an Extent)

The inquest is by now underway, the nation of 60 million coaches trying to comprehend and explain what went wrong, but the fact is that Italy have been eliminated for the second consecutive time from the group stage at the World Cup. And just like in 2010, no one can deny it wasn’t merited. 

As expected Cesare Prandelli was severely criticized in the wake of the defeat to Uruguay, even more so than the defeat to Costa Rica five days prior. Ever the classy man, he resigned as boss of the Azzurri a short time after, citing ‘’ this was my technical project, and not a winning one’’, he said, dignified to the end. How can this have happened? And can we really put all of the blame on Prandelli?

Prandelli unquestionably deserves criticism for his selection choices in the remaining two group stage games, playing a 4-1-4-1 system against Costa Rica was his first major error of the tournament, yes it made sense to stick with the same tactics and same players that beat England in the opening game, but Costa Rica were never going to open themselves up and play into Italy’s hands like England in Manuas.

What if: Pele had joined Juventus in the '60s?

Pele and Sivori in 1961

If you asked people (old enough to remember of course) to describe Italian football in the 1960s, you will most likely get the same responses; ‘Catenaccio’,‘Helenio Herrera’ and ‘Nereo Rocco’. The 1960s belonged to the Milanese giants, on the domestic and European front; between them they won five Scudettos (including numerous runners up finishes), four European Cups and one Cup Winners Cup. It was the decade of La Grande Inter and Gianni Rivera.

Compare this to the fortunes of Juventus in the decade and it’s quite a stark contrast. Juve won back-to-back titles in 1959/60 and 60/61, a further title in 1966/67 and a sole Coppa Italia title in 1964/65. By La Vecchia Signora’s high standards it wasn’t the most successful of decades, but the entire landscape of Calcio could have been very different if a particular mission by the club had been successful.

The mission in question was a potential transfer that could have changed the face of Italian football in the '60s, over the years Juve have had numerous 'nearly done' transfers (Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Xabi Alonso spring to mind), yet this 'nearly completed' transfer is by far the biggest of them all, and it is a relatively unknown story.