Italy National Soccer Team: Do the Azzurri Rely Too Heavily on Juventus?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: April 27, 2012

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According to the research of ESPNSoccernet's Norman Hubbard, Juventus have supplied more World Cup-winning players than any other team in the world.  The bianconeri have been the club base for 24 players who have had the honor of lifting the Cup.  Of those, 22 of them were Italians—the only two foreigners being Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps of France's triumphant 1998 side.

The 2006 World Cup champions boasted five Juventus players, four of whom were regular starters throughout the tournament, and the other, Alessandro Del Piero, serving in the role of close-game super-sub.

In 2010, six Juve players were on Marcello Lippi's squad—twice as many as any other club that represented on the team.  One of those players, Claudio Marchisio, went unused through the three games of the group-stage debacle.  Two others, Gianluigi Buffon and Mauro Camoranesi, were limited by injuries through most of the tournament, while the remaining three—Vincenzo Iaquinta, Giorgio Chielliini and Fabio Cannavaro—were all regular starters.

The fact that so many Juventus players were representing Italy in 2010 was questioned by ESPN play-by-play man Ian Darke here in the U.S.  Juve had just finished a dismal campaign that had seen them finish in seventh place with a 16-7-15 (W-D-L) record, 28 points off champions Inter, and with a minus-one-goal differential.  Iaquinta in particular had had a terrible season, scoring only seven goals in all competitions.  After such a bad season, why was Juve disproportionately represented on the field during the World Cup?

The trend has actually ticked upwards in recent years.  In Cesare Prandelli's latest squad for the February friendly against the United States, seven of the 23 players were based at the Juventus Stadium.  Add Simone Pepe's call-up late in 2011 and eight Juventus men have played for Italy in the last year.


Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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