“Jamaica has lost its competitiveness.” That’s the opinion of newly elected president of the Global Services Association of Jamaica, Yoni Epstein.
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Three more difficult headlines for Gianni Infantino in the Telegraph, Le Monde and NZZ am Sontag. It’s relentless. Infantino remains defiant, “strongly” denying allegations, spending time with his allies, shoring up his support - and he has plenty of support in Africa, Asia and elsewhere like Mexico and Argentina. But the criticism emanating from Europe, home to the strongest confederation, doesn’t stop. Day after day.
Is there a point when FIFA’s management board, Council or his friends and family advise enough is enough? Because the clock ticks louder. In 26 days, the FIFA women’s Under-20s World Cup kicks off. It could be boycotted by UEFA nations unless Infantino stands down.
Six of the 24 teams involved are European: England, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. The hosts are European: Poland. The tournament can’t go on without Europe. 504 young players have worked so hard to get there. Their dreams risk being sacrificed on the altar of football politics. UEFA shows no sign of backing down. The storm of headlines shows no sign of abating. For the good of the game - and the games - Infantino has to go.
🇮🇹 MALDINI REVEALS ALL.
• Guardiola was already writing down Italy XIs
• Why Pirlo was his choice
• How the project collapsed
• Why he disagreed with bringing back Mancini
Some of the biggest revelations from his first major interview with Corriere dello Sport:
1️⃣ Guardiola was closer than anyone realized
💬 “We spent an entire day with Pep in Barcelona. He was very close to accepting. He was even writing formations on paper.
It’s not true that he asked for €20 million. Money wasn’t even a topic. Pep told us: give me one euro less than the last manager and I’m good.
He ultimately rejected because he was tired. He comes from ten exhausting years in the EPL. He just had back surgery. He wanted to rest.”
2️⃣ Why Pirlo was the choice
💬 “Our idea was focused on the technical side, on attacking play, on changing things.
We wanted a young coach who had a history with the Nazionale.
Along with Pirlo we also thought of De Rossi and Grosso, all world champions.
But Malagò told us one of the conditions from Serie A was that we couldn’t touch their coaches.
Pirlo not being a winner is a personal opinion. Whenever I speak with Pirlo he always seems very prepared.
If he was supported by a technical director, he would be the ideal manager.
What résumé did the last two coaches to win a major international trophy have? Scaloni and De La Fuente.
If you only look at the coach, you’re only thinking of today, not tomorrow.”
3️⃣ Pirlo’s Russian contract
💬 “Pirlo was open to getting out of his contract with the Russian company, he’s a good person that didn’t deserve all this.
If there really was the will to have him as Nazionale manager they would’ve found a way to do it”
4️⃣ On Mancini & Conte
💬 “It’s not like I don’t admire Mancini. Mancini and Conte are two great coaches. It’s not a question of friendship. We simply had a different project.”
5️⃣ The project was bigger than the coach
💬 “Reforming Italian football takes time. Creating talent is a long journey.
We wanted to create a new movement that involved all the federal divisions: Serie A, Serie B, Serie C, amateurs, coaches, referees and players.
We had to prepare for both today and tomorrow.
8-10 years are a lot? This is the only point that Serie A was doubtful about. But that was our estimate based on other nations, not only big nations like England, France, and Spain, but even smaller nations like Switzerland”
6️⃣ The turning point
💬 “The first thing I asked Malagò was who would choose the national team manager. He told us that we would choose the manager and he would back our choice. Then the events happened that led to this changing.”
#Maldini al @Corriere: “Non sono attaccato alla poltrona. Mi sento molto libero nelle mie scelte. Grazie a Dio non ho necessità economiche. Quello che mi porta ad accettare i ruoli è la possibilità di eseguirli, di dare il mio contributo. Mi dispiace che questa cosa sia vista come arroganza o intransigenza. Ma se vengo indicato come responsabile, mi sento in dovere di esserlo”.
“A family in the Middle East booked me for millions, only for 3 people to show up. The daughter made me perform ‘Lonely’ for 2 hours while laughing. That’s when I realized I was just a jester to them.”
— Akon
#Maldini al @Corriere: “Tecnicamente siamo un Paese che non crea più giocatori di talento. Qualcosa non funziona a livello sistemico. I miei figli l'hanno visto nelle giovanili del Milan: si parla solo di tattica; se un ragazzo ha talento, è un problema. Ma questo va contro le regole del calcio moderno. E poi abbiamo stadi fatiscenti, centri sportivi inadeguati. Volevamo coinvolgere tutti per cambiare norme e regolamenti nel minor tempo possibile.
Quali norme? Un Patto per le Nazionali. Regole che spingessero i calciatori italiani a giocare nelle squadre di serie A, B e C. Investimenti obbligatori nel settore giovanile. Qui non sappiamo più difendere e non sappiamo più attaccare; siamo lenti; e gli arbitri fischiano troppo.
Bisogna formare in modo più moderno gli allenatori.
Oggi un allenatore che segue i ragazzini tra i 10 e i 14 anni prende mille euro al mese, deve avere un secondo lavoro. Bisogna aiutarli, perché quella è l'età decisiva.
Ho un cruccio che mi porterò dentro. Avevo assunto un impegno gravoso che nei giorni era diventato quasi un sogno: fare qualcosa per le prossime generazioni, per costruire un'Italia competitiva. Un sogno interrotto ma bellissimo, anche per le tante persone che avevo trovato disposte a lavorare. Sa di cosa ci ha parlato a lungo Guardiola?
Dell'impatto che Cruijff ebbe sul calcio spagnolo. Per due anni fu combattuto da tutti. Ma se oggi la Spagna crea talenti, è grazie alle indicazioni di Cruijff. Non vogliamo paragonarci a lui. Ma la strada era quella. Difficile, lunga; ma avrebbe cambiato l'identità del calcio italiano.
È un peccato. Un vero peccato”