Comments on: Serie A: Falling Behind?

By: GuitarHero

GuitarHero — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:05:37 +0000

I believe the driving force behind the success of the EPL is without a shadow of a doubt the foreign contingent. Just about every “English” club side’s marquee players are of non-British background; they are quite often the difference in matches between EPL and non-EPL sides. Ronaldo against Porto is one classic, recent example. The greatest strength of the EPL, though, is it’s superior marketing. Even before the EPL was a factor internationally, many in the English speaking world, (e.g. Australia) were led to believe that English clubs were the strongest and most successful in the world, ignoring the fact that up until Man U’s extremely lucky victory over Palmeiras in the 1999 Toyota Cup, no English side had EVER tasted success outside of Europe in 100 years of football history. It also pays to mention that their success at European level in the last 100 years has also been miniscule, if compared to the achievements of the Spanish, Italian, German, and even the Dutch clubs. During Serie A’s reign in the 90s, it is interesting to note that the EPL had a stubborn resistance when it came to the issue of importation. There were exceptions like Ardiles, Villa, and Mirandinha, but these were in no way enough to make any real difference to an entire league that was suffering with a lack of technical prowess. Watch Wimbledon vs Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final, it was the most disgusting display of football that I ever witnessed in my life, yet it was typical of the standard of football in the EPL at the time. There is no way the EPL could have continued in this manner unless stimulated, and ultimately changed by imports, and this is what is occurring at this point in time. The “English” league is, in fact, an international league, and more so than any other league in history. Enlgand’s poor record at World Cup, and European Cup level is further proof of it’s average standing as a footballing nation in its own right. Amoungst past winners of world cups, England has the poorest record at both club and national level. I believe that if you were to take the foreigners out of every European league, and return every European player home to their respective domestic leagues, you would quite likely see Serie A or the Spanish League well on top in Europe, with occasional challenges from the Portuguese, German, Dutch, and less so from the French leagues. Internationally, I would say in all confidence, you would see both Argentina and Brazil dominate, as no footballing nations in any part of the world have the depth and raw talent of the two. Whether in Europe or South America, international football success certainly has a very strong Latin flavour, as is the case even in this current environment, e.g. top 3 players in the world- Ronaldo, Messi, Kaka. European champions – Spain, word champions of the last 2 world cups- Italy, Brazil, world champions at under 21 level since I can remember- Argentina. The conclusion, Latin football is light years ahead, but don’t take my word for it, read the record books for yourselves.

By: Soccer Pie

Soccer Pie — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 10:55:35 +0000

There is plenty of reasons for the collapse of Calcio. Calciopolly was an important moment, and everything fallen apart after that.

http://www.soccerpie.com/serie-a/the-collapse-of-italian-football/

By: John

John — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:56:55 +0000

I think firstly there is an element of money and the resulting quality of players. However I also think that in the modern game the English style of closing dow the opposition high up the pitch is much more effective than the Italian way where teams invite the opposition onto them. Look at how easy it was for Man Utd to pass the ball out of their own half compared to Inter who were made fight for every yard

By: Nolan

Nolan — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:01:40 +0000

I first started following football in during the Spanish dominance of the late 90s/early 00s, with the Italian greats in decline and Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona and SuperDepor the stars of the show. I do believe these things go in cycles, for me the Premiership is a distant third when it comes to enjoying the big leagues, and even though the quality is still inconsistent, I still enjoy the slow thoughtful play of Serie A and the technical flair and unpredictability of La Liga over the EPL, which for me seems like a European version of the NFL both in style and substance.

By: Lu

Lu — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:25:32 +0000

The Italian sides where suffering from injuries…shouldn’t that tell you that they take the league more serious. I’ve seen relegation teams fight for dear life so to speak, while in other leagues the teams in last place just give up after mid season. Next year you will see three teams in the final four. Forza Inter!!!!!!!

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:13:50 +0000

So, France isn’t a big footballing nation anymore huh?

By: Ak

Ak — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:30:52 +0000

Wow. Have I stumbled onto goal.com? It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that Serie A is weaker than the Premiership right now: just take a look at the players on display for the top teams. The rest of the English league is probably slightly weaker than Spain’s for sure, and possibly Italy’s too; but there’s an argument that the UEFA cup teams have done pretty well in recent years — at least as well as their Italian counterparts: take a look at Bert Kassies’ club points totals for a simplified look at the comparative performances.

Yes it’s because of the money: when has it ever been different? The English transfer fee records still haven’t surpassed the ones Italian clubs set in the 90s, and what did Real tempt Zidane and Juve with? A year’s supply of Haribo Tangfastics?

Yes there are a ton of foreigners in the English league. I’m not a member of my local far-right party, so I fail to see the problem with this. Will it make the national team crap? Yes, but it’s been crap for 40 years! Foreigners or not.

Not as competitive as Serie A? Definitely, unfortunately. But, wait…winners from ‘91 to ‘98, during Serie A’s peak: Milan – Milan – Milan – Juve – Milan – Juve – Juve – Milan. Wow, how competitive. What about competition from places 2-6? Well, what about the Prem’s competitiveness from positions 4 to below? Yes, I’m twisting the stats, but so are some of you.

You’d think that after being derided for 20 years about how poor and naive English football was, people would understand why some English commentators/fans are excited that the English teams are winning again; but no.

Bitter and blinded.

By: alessio

alessio — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:19:04 +0000

I’ll be satisfied with EPL dominance of the CL…we’ll just keep the international country trophies. :)

By: Helge

Helge — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:13:19 +0000

I doubt we will ever see a quarterfinal without an English team ;)

Italy is losing ground to Germany in my opinion, Spain and England are on top anyway.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:29:40 +0000

@ Duvel- I totally agree. If you go by the International competitions that have recently done well, the Spaniards and Italians are top dogs right now. The Serie A is able to retain an incredible amount of that talent. During WC06 every player on the Italian NT played in the Serie A and since then, many have left and the status of Serie A has declined quite a bit. Also, if you view the Spaniards- a lot of them have taken over in the EPL and dominate headlines there. I put this up to an economical argument that the EPL is getting just ridiculous amounts of money pumped into it right now and the top players go where the money is.