“We have achieved incredible results in the last year. We are vice world champions under 20, reigning European champions under 19 and fresh European champions under 17. It means that there is talent and quality. Then there is it’s too big a leap between the Primavera and the first team. And many times it’s also our fault as we work in the youth sectors, in the sense that we don’t give the first teams technically valid players.” So to the microphones of Radio Anch’io Sport on Rai Radio 1 Maurizio Viscidicoordinator of the men’s national youth teams of FIGCon the little space our young people find in Italy.
“The results of the National A team are the result of the results of the youth teams 5-6 years later. It’s a bit like a tsunami: the moment there is an earthquake, you know that a wave will arrive, but it’s not immediate 5-6 years ago we were in difficulty with Spain and now we are still in difficulty. As a football school, Spain is superior to us in possession and in duels it is a sport of passing and duels we train them badly then we pay the consequences. We will find these results achieved in the last year, but it still takes 4-5 years to see them materialize in the first team. And if they don’t materialize, then the problem will no longer be technical but of another nature, that is, that relating to the inclusion and playing time of young people”.
In Spain Yamal plays as a starter, here Camarda has only played a few minutes in Seria A. Little courage with our young players? “Last year Yamal competed in the Under 17 European Championship against us and was already a talented player. Why does Yamal play as a starter for Spain? In terms of individual quality, he has a devastating one-on-one. If we don’t work on these qualities, becomes a problem. Camarda he has already made his debut at Milan, they have already given him an important path, Milan believes in him a lot. He changed the balance at the Under 17 European Championship, but not just him: also Mosconi, Liberali, very talented people. We have to give them the chance to play. If you play proactive technical football, you will see that young people manage to play. But many times Italian coaches are evaluated only for the points in the standings and not for the valorization of their assets, they often feel like they are on the gridiron, they fear dismissal and therefore they rely on expert players. The entire programming needs to be reviewed.”
What can be done to encourage greater employment of young people? “There are two fundamental aspects, one technical and one let’s call it political. The first is to ensure that young people work much more on technique, because we have had a fearful technical impoverishment. If we think about the talents we had in ’82, it was impressive the quality of the players. We have responsibilities, we have not been able to respond to this social change. The players no longer form spontaneously on the street, they no longer touch the ball many times, we no longer have talent in the youth sectors more technique and let the talent express itself individually. We are trying to play football in a too collective way: there are the last 25 meters of the pitch that need individual football and we need to do this so that the youth sectors become an investment and not a cost. We must ensure that clubs see the youth sector as a resource and that first team coaches have incentives, including professional ones, for the development of young people. In my opinion, even the second teams can help young people integrate into the first team. And above all we have to play technical and not speculative football, because the young players don’t know how to play it. We also have to review our way of playing football.”
Many have doubts about the second teams: “The leap from the Primavera to the first team is excessive. We need to create a bridge. Juve Under 23 has managed to make the most of many players, from Miretti to Soulé. From a technical point of view, for me the second teams are valid.”
What does it take to recover the individual talent lost over the years? “Re-propose street football during training. We need to create more one-on-one situations, more two-on-two, three-on-three games, like we used to do in the past. Only in this way can we recover the talent. If we don’t do it, we will continue to build theoretical players, without creating players who can shift the balance. In Favo’s Under 17 national team, the various Mosconis and Liberals had the obligation to target the man in the last 25 meters. This is the strong message that must be conveyed to the coaches to youth sector players: football is not a sport of passing, but also of duels.”
