Plagued By Paranoia

On the evidence of their first 30 minutes at this World Cup, Italy looked unstoppable, a certainty to be among the contenders for this year's title. With Christian Vieri and Francesco Totti in form and the Italian defence and midfield functioning well as a unit, World Cup debutants Ecuador were disposed of in comfortable fashion.

But from there, it all went downhill. A loss to Croatia left Giovanni Trapattoni's team in trouble. Only a late equaliser from Alessandro Del Piero against Mexico saved the team blushes.

That goal, however, only delayed the inevitable. Faced with the vociferous backing of the Korean people when they played the co-hosts in Daejon, Italy wilted under the pressure, Ahn Jung-hwan scoring a golden goal to give Guus Hiddink's side a historic 2-1 win. "Unfortunately, Italy has not been very lucky at the World Cup," said Trapattoni. "In this game, we went downhill."

A total of four disallowed goals in four games had the Italians talking of a conspiracy. Paranoia is endemic when Italian football teams fail. The real reasons for Italy's failure, however, lie in the declining standards of the national game, coupled with injuries to key players.

Alessandro Nesta, generally regarded as the world's leading central defender, missed more than half of the team's playing time due to a foot injury. Fabio Cannavaro, his central partner, was suspended for the match against Korea. Without these two, Italy struggled.

But a deeper look at the nation's problems shows that Italy's elimination was not that much of a shock. Clubs from Serie A have failed to reach the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League for the last two seasons while a league season which went right down to the wire left many key players jaded or injured.

Needless to say, in a nation so passionate about the game, defeat is not accepted lightly and if blame can be apportioned elsewhere, so be it. But if the Italians want to step back on to the right track, the real problems need to be addressed. That should be their main goal.