As England slunk home in ignominy on Tuesday morning, you would be forgiven for thinking they were the only so called 'big' team which drastically underperformed at this summer's spectacular in South Africa. You would be mistaken for thinking that. For the first time in World Cup history, the two finalists from four years earlier - Italy and France - failed to make it past the group stage. And, even more dismally, both finished bottom of what looked pretty presentable groups, with no wins, three points, and five goals between them. Don't worry, I will pick through what went wrong with a fine toothcomb in good time. But this raised an interesting question - who are the worst defending champions in World Cup history. Is Italy's case this summer more forceful than France's class of 2002, who left the Far East withoutn even having as much as a goal to celebrate?
In many ways, Italy's disgraceful performance this summer was worse than their French counterparts, as they failed to progress past the phase for the first time since 1974. They were hardly in the group of death - Paraguay are steady, if unspectacular performers, who until Tuesday, had not reached the quarter-final of a World Cup; Slovakia were playing in their first tournament as an independent nation; and New Zealand don't even have a professional league! A 1-1 draw with Paraguay in their opening game was not the end of the world, as the South Americans scored with their only shot on target. But things went rapidly downhill with a shock repeat scoreline against minnows New Zealand. The Italians again fell behind, and only drew thanks to a debateable penalty decision. The Antipodeans even had two excellent chances to win the game, and pile even more anxiety on coach Marcello Lippi. And the figure of Lippi on the touchline, the coach at the helm of their glorious victory in Germany 2006, makes their struggle in South Africa all the more bemusing. But the nadir came in their final match against Slovakia. While it could be contended they were unlucky in their opening two encounter, against the Slovaks, they exited the tournament in disgrace. They were deservedly beaten by the first time World Cup participants, 3-2 after an end-to-end game. As it turned out, one more goal would have sent Italy through to the next round, without winning a game, but instead they finished bottom of their group.
But why did they struggle so much. It is certainly true that their team had aged considerably since 2006. This was very much the case with France in 2002, and in some respects, the current England squad. There is a dearth of emerging talent coming through, and this showed in some lethargic performances in South Africa. The up-and-coming star of Italian football at the moment is Antonio di Natale. He is 32 years old, hardly a spring chicken. The likes of Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon, so influential in Germany, suffered niggles throughtout the tournament, and the reserves who took their places (Simone Pepe, Riccardo Montolivo and Federico Marchetti) proved not up to the task of defending the trophy. But no-one looked more weary than the great Fabio Cannavaro, the imperious captain from four years previously. He looked anything but imperious against Slovakia, as the Italian defence shipped three goals. He was not the only one at fault - Daniele de Rossi's awful pass led to the first, and slack marking from Giorgio Chiellini led to the second. But he looked slow and pedestrian, and as Kamil Kopunek raced past him to latch onto a long throw to clinch the win for Slovakia, he almost looked like he had given up the ghost.
Cannavaro has hardly had a stellar season in a desperately disappointing Juventus side, as shown by his summer move to Al-Ahli in Dubai, where he will presumably wind down his career. Which suggests another problem which Lippi has brought upon himself to an extent - a large portion of his squad was drawn from that very same Juventus side. While no-one is suggesting Buffon should have been given an early summer holiday, did the likes of Mauro Camoranesi, Chiellini, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Claudio Marchisio and Leonardo Bonnuci really deserve seats on the planes. Which begs the question - was the volume of players from Juventus a display of misguided loyalty, or a statement of the lack of emerging talent. In my opinion, the likes of Giampaolo Pazzini and Fabio Quagliarella (who was sensationally when he came on against Slovakia, and scored one of the goals of the tournament), were not given enough game time, and they are the future of Italian football. The answer to the above question will go a long way to determining Italy's immediate international football future. One thing is for sure though - no-one can take away the glorious summer of 2006, where Italy's players and coach went from zero's to heroes in a month. But those who also appeared in South Africa this summer, and Lippi and Cannavaro especially will have that success forever tainted on their records.
Many of the difficulties which the Azzurri have experienced this summer, were felt by France in 2002. The circumstances were slightly different - the coach Roger Lemerre was not the World Cup winning manager, but he had won Euro 2000 two years earlier, so he was not exactly averse to success. The French were not quite as 'experienced' as their Italian counterparts, but many of their key players had passed the wrong side of 30 - Fabien Barthez, Lilian Thuram, Frank Lebouef, Bixente Lizarazu, Marcel Desailly and Emmanuel Petit among them. But there were other mitigating circumstances - Thierry Henry's controversial red card in the second game, a goalless draw with Uruguay, which subsequently ruled the star striker out for the rest of the tournament; and niggling injuries for talisman Zinedine Zidane. The great playmaker missed the first two games with these injuries, and was rushed back prematurely despite clearly not being fit for the final, must-win game against Denmark. Sound familiar? (Andrea Pirlo against Slovakia).
I think though, despite France's elimination without scoring a goal Italy's humiliation was worse, as their opponents were significantly weaker compared to France's. Senegal were the surprise package of the tournament, also knocking out Sweden before losing narrowly to Turkey in the quarter-finals. Denmark were at their peak with star players Jon Dahl Tomasson, Dennis Rommedahl and Martin Jorgensen pulling the strings, while a strong Uruguay missed out on qualifying for the second round by one goal after they couldn't quite complete an extraordinary comeback against Senegal. Italy, on the other hand, were given what looked like an easy group. New Zealand and Slovakia both performed far above expectations, as did Paraguay, who have reached the quarter-finals largely due to their favourable second round tie, meeting a Japanese side who also had the weight of history on their shoulders.
One thing is for sure though - both these examples, and especially the French this summer, show that it doesn't matter what you've done before. Reputations are there to be shot at, and what matters is the here and now.
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