Italian Exodus + Best Starting XI of Italians abroad

*Hi all this is an article i recycled from the Italy page…

exodus : N. a journey by a large group to escape from a hostile
environment [syn: hegira, hejira]

Italy’s 2006 World Cup winning squad was the only team in the tournament that had only domestic based players. Even if Marco Materazzi, Gennaro Gattuso and of course, Mauro Camoranesi all had some foreign football experience, No member of that championship winning squad was playing in the Premiership, La Liga or anywhere else for that matter.

All of the Azzurri world champions were plying their trade in Italy’s Serie A and Marcello Lippi was coming off a very successful stint with Juve. A lot of pundits and analysts explained that that was one of the key factors that led Italy to victory in Germany. All the players we’re able to come together amongst the controversy caused by Calciopoli. Now 4 of those Italian International players are helping out a team outside of Italy!

So what happened ?

In the last millennium, you would rarely see an Italian player emigrate to go play in another championship. It was usually only at the end their careers that Italian-born players would go abroad for some fresh air and a new experience. Roberto Donadoni, Walter Zenga and Giorgio Chinaglia all had American adventures with the Don Doni even going to Mecca so he could join Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad a Jeddah based club. Gianluca Vialli, Pierluigi Casiraghi and Gianfranco Zola all spent some time in England, all with Chelsea.

There is the strange-but-understandable-choice, like Ivan Pelizzoli, who was given the chance to play some Champions league football after Reggina cashed in on Lokomotiv Moscow’s muchos roubles .

But the odd ones are still uncommon however; There is, Ex U21 CB Joseph Oshadogan, He left Ternana at 31 to become captain of Widzew Lodz, in Poland. Stefano Napoleoni , an amateur player from Tor di Quinto plays there as well. 1982 World Cup winner Antonio Cabrini decided to take a job as Syria’s National Team coach, after coaching the likes of Pisa and Novara

You also had the occasional internships abroad to sharpen the skills;

Spain’s Athletico Madrid had the chance to see Bobo for one season and even Cristiano Lucarelli played 13 games with Valencia back in the 90’s. Marco Materazzi’s short Everton stint and Gennaro Gattuso’s time in Scotland with Rangers is surely coincidental with their world-renowned gritty hard-nosed play.

Of course you have the exceptions that confirm the rule like; Fabrizio Ravanelli’s Marseille/Middlesbrough days (Don’t let the white hair fool you, he was 28 years old!) Carlo Cudicini’s Love of London and of course, Christian Panucci’s Real Madrid time

What i’m trying to say is that the time when an Italian player abroad was as uncommon as a clean Tour De France or a non pompous Parisian, is long gone. Even Owners are emigrating, like Flavio Briatore and his Queen’s Park Rangers. There even was some talk about Aldo Spinelli purchasing part of France Ligue 1 club Nice.

It can be understandable that our stars are moving abroad seeing how the British Pound and the fancy Spanish league can be quite enticing. However, our promising youngsters are being poached by teams abroad like Giuseppe Rossi, Arturo Lupoli and more recently, Graziano Pellè who’s now in Holland’s Eredivisie, under the tutelage of Louis Van Gaal. The recent transfer window saw Manchester City poach a couple of youngsters as well; Roberto Mancini’s son and Marco Giombetti , 17 year old star of Viterbese’s Primavera side. Why

Now more than 30 Italians are playing or coaching abroad, 6 Italian Internationals; Out of that number 4 players are World Cup winners. Some stars went as far away as Russia, Poland, Meccah, Japan, Hungary, Romania, the Ukraine (even if it was only a short time) and even Syria.

Enzo Maresca, Emiliano Moretti and Fabrizio Miccoli started the recent trend of staying more than one season and it is now catching on. Is it the 2006 scandal, the violence in Italian football, the implosion of Juve or the better wages? Serie A really isn’t that far behind La Liga and the Premiership in terms of talent, so why do a boatload of Italian players exiting? Luca Toni, Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro and Fabio Grosso are all world cup champs.

Massimo Donati, Enzo Maresca and Giuseppe Rossi have shined for the U21 side many a times. So why does Italy let these talents go abroad? Who knows, maybe it will be beneficial for the Italian game to get a little bit of useful knowledge from abroad.

So what would be the best Italians abroad Starting 11?

It would have to be a 4-3-1-2, seeing how only 3 midfielders are playing abroad (BRING BACK ENZO!)

Carlo Cudicini (Chelsea)

Coach: Giovanni Trapattoni

Let’s start with the coach;

The Blue eyed, White haired, Jesus loving tactician is the only serious candidate for this job. His Red Bull Salzburg experience in Austria isn’t going that great, but that didn’t scare Irelands’ FA. The Holy water splashing gaffer will be bringing his international experience to Dublin.

His Resume is quite stacked, it includes the likes of Juve, Bayern Munich,Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Ac Milan, Benfica and the Azzurri.

But this is what clinches the choice for me !

Walter Zenga is out of a job, Luigi “Gigi” De Canio just started at QPR and Gianni De Biasi is coaching a team with 14 losses out of 18 games.

For no valid reason, Fabio Capello doesn’t count in this category

Goalies : The Goalkeeper position is probably the best represented abroad. Carlo Cudicini, Flavio Roma, Morgan De Sanctis, Chrisitian Abbiati and Ivan Pelizzoli have all worn the Azzurri shirt at one time in their careers.

I know that Flavio Roma can boast a Ligue 1 Title and a Champions League Final with Monaco but Carlo Cudicini is nonetheless my first choice goalie. He’s probably the best GK in Europe who doesn’t have a starting shirt. (That’s right, I know the top 2 GKs of every team in Europe)

GK:
Carlo Cudicini

Defence:

Only 4 defenders play outside of Italy. I was even willing to add Bruno Cirillo (the guy Marco Materazzi loves to punch ) as a CB and push up GL Zambrotta to midfield and get a 4-4-2 going, but he just came back to the boot with Reggina. Joseph Oshadogan is a CB in Poland but I know nothing about the 31 year old .

Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro, Emiliano Moretti, Fabio Grosso

This is the logical choice. 3 of these 4 defenders have won the World Cup. Not to mention, Moretti is a decent and versatile defender, he was the winner of Italian Survivor: Valencia Island. He outlasted Bernardo Corradi, Stefano Fiore, Marco Di Vaio, Francesco Tavano and Claudio Ranieri at Valencia.

Back 4 :

Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro, Emiliano Moretti, Fabio Grosso

Midfield:

Only 3 midfielders, get their money from a non-Italian league; Damiano Tomassi , Massimo Donati and Enzo Maresca. Maresca is by far the most talented of the bunch. He has helped Sevilla to 2 UEFA Cups, playing a primordial role in the first conquest. The Ex-Fiorentina and Juventus player seems to be enjoying his time in Spain. However, I get the feeling a spot on the Azzurri squad won’t come if he stays in Spain, unless he moves to one of the two big boys

Damiano Tomassi is past his prime but this guy has always been a true gladiator. He was an important member of both AS Roma and the Azzurri during his best years. Damiano hasn’t been the same since his injury but Tomassi is the kind of guy that will accept a 1500$ a month contract to play football. He’s what you can call a genuine class act

Massimo Donati is one of the many talented prospects to come out of the fruitful Atalanta youth system. He was highly regarded as a youngster, enough so to see AC Milan snap up his contract. After a series of unsuccessful spells in Italy with Parma, Torino, Sampdoria, Messina, former U21 international Donati is now bumping heads in Scotland with Celtic. The kid is quite talented and gets the opportunity to play in the Champions league. He has thanked the Glasgow outfit by scoring 3 goals this season

3 man midfield

Tomassi-Donati-Maresca

Strikers:

I like Giuseppe Rossi as a fantasista. His great ball control and dribbling skills have held up against Italian, English and now Spanish defences. The Jersey born Parma youth product had an amazing year in 2007 scoring 16 goals in 29 games during the year, that’s mora than a goal every 2 games! Plus the fact that he’s a fantasista/seconda punta makes the tally all the more impressive. He’d have licence to roam free behind the 2 strikers and wreak havoc for opposing defences.

I chose Graziano Pellè because he could learn a lot playing alongside Luca-Late Blooming-Toni and I also wanted to write AZ Alkmaar at least once
As for Lucarelli well he’s back in Italy. Rolando Bianchi, although he’s still in Baby Blue, he’s a Laziale now so he’s out . Anyways, He looks useless outside the 5-yard box.

Luca Toni is an obvious choice up front; he’s been ripping nets open with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and the UEFA Cup. He’d be able to finish all those nice little Beppe Rossi passes easily. Not that much to say about Luca, he’s the best centre forward in all of football. Ruud Van Schnizelroy you say? Who’s that?

Attackers:

Luca Toni and Graziano Pellè

Fortunately enough, Marco (with a name like that, for sure he has some smart parents) over at mcalcio.com follows our Italians abroad on a weekly basis giving you performances and statistics, head on over there for all your Emigration needs !

*Note ; I purposely left out Paolo Di Canio…

List of Italians abroad:

Antonio Cabrini ( NT Coach)

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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