Will Alessandro Del Piero Be Going to Euro 2008?

By: Marco P. | May 13th, 2008

Ahh… what better way to start content on this blog, than asking the most important ADP-related question looming in the air: will Alessandro Del Piero be going to Euro 2008? In fact, let me phrase it in a different way: should Alessandro Del Piero be going to Euro 2008?

Is Alessandro Del Piero Azzurri-Bound?

Now I know what you’ll say… as the author an Alessandro Del Piero blog, I am probably not the best person to answer this question objectively, right? Agreed. However, I’d like to think that despite my ADP-fandom I am smart enough to make an intelligent argument on the issue, present you with the facts, possibly even argue the case both ways, and then let you draw your own conclusions. Here goes.

In true dissertation style (as I was gracefully taught during my high school years in France i.e. “thèse, antithèse, synthèse“), but not forgetting how much net readers love bulleted lists, here are the “ADP in Azzurro” PROs and CONs (by the way, feel free to add to the list in the comments section):

Euro 2008 or Euro-on-TV?

PROs:

1) He’s had a phenomenal season with Juve. 40 matches (36 in Serie A, 4 in Coppa Italia), 22 goals (19 and 3): his second-best goalscoring total in top-flight Italian football since the 1997-98 season (which probably was his best season ever). He is currently leading Serie A’s topscorers list, tied with teammate David Trezeguet and Genoa’s Marco Borriello.

2) He’s a born leader on and off the field. He’s been Juve’s captain for several years now (since the departure of Antonio Conte) and has been an example in behaviour for youngsters all across Italy. He always puts the team effort before personal glory, and almost always respects his manager’s decisions (case in point: his last season with Fabio Capello when he was constantly benched in favor of Trezeguet and Ibrahimovic, but kept his mouth shut despite he had plenty to say -and did, but only after Capello left). Don Fabio tagged him as a “professionista modello” (model professional) and in that sense, he will accept being second choice for Antonio Di Natale (100% sure to be a starter in Donadoni’s 4-3-3 formation) without any problems.

3) He brings an extremely high level of playing experience to the squad. 14 years of Serie A, almost as many of European competitions, and 3 Euro championships (1996, 2000, 2004) and World Cups (1998, 2002, 2006). During the last World Cup in particular, he returned home triumphantly as World Champion, scoring in the Semi-Final vs. Germany and taking one of the decisive kicks in the Final penalty shoot-out vs. France. Experience, but also nerves of steel.

4) Aside from the goalscoring part, the 2007-08 season has highlighted that despite his old age ADP has maintained his technical abilities at the highest level, slowing the game down with his ball control when needed, and skilfully assisting his teammates with pinpoint passing. In this year’s Serie A matches, even when defenders were faster and more agile than him ADP was still dribbling circles around them, using ball control intelligently to make up for his lack of speed.

CONs:

1) He’s old. At 33 years of age he’s not as quick, not as agile, not as reactive as during his prime years.

2) Bringing Del Piero means leaving other talented alternatives at home, above all a certain Antonio Cassano. Despite his volatile character (what I call “a time bomb waiting to explode”), Il Talento di Bari Vecchia has all the technical qualities of Del Piero plus the speed & agility of a 26 year-old. Cassano is, undeniably, the best position-by-position replacement of Antonio Di Natale.

3) One of the risks at bringing Del Piero to Euro, would be the potentially detrimental effect on the team with regards to the press. As long as Italy are doing well, Donadoni will have no problems (whether ADP plays or not). However, should things start to go sour (especially during the group stage, remember Italy are in the “Group of Death”) the Don would inevitably have to face questions of the type “What about ADP?”, “Why didn’t you bring ADP in?“, or “Since Di Natale didn’t play very well last match, are you going to start ADP for the next match?“. A hassle. And much like World Cups 1998 (with Baggio) and 2006 (with Totti, although back then, the problem was incredibly well-contained by the thick psychological barrier & great team spirit built by Marcello Lippi ), this could create a damaging Di Natale-Del Piero rivalry in the team.

4) The 4-3-3 formation used by Roberto Donadoni (with Luca Toni the lone striker supported by Di Natale and Camoranesi on the wings) virtually excludes the participation of ADP in any kind of form. Del Piero said so himself, in a public declaration to the press back in September: “I will not play as a left midfielder” (which prompted The Don to drop him from the roster the following match). Now, that notion might have changed recently and maybe (just maybe) ADP might be willing to “sacrifice” himself in an unfamiliar (and unwanted) role for the good of the team (as he has often done in the past decade). However, one can only agree with Del Piero here in the sense that as a left winger, he is not used to his full potential. To play ADP efficiently, Donadoni would have to revert his formation to a 4-4-2 and use Del Piero as a second striker (alongside Toni). Unfortunately, evidence from the past Euro qualifying campaign suggests the Don is absolutely unwilling to change tactics, not even if his life depended on it.
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ADP Pros and Cons

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Now, the above two lists are undoubtedly non-exhaustive, but I think we have sufficient material to come to a conclusion. I’ll start by addressing some of the CONs I outlined.

Firstly, it must be said that despite his old age and his apparent lack of pace, ADP has made up for it particularly well by adapting his playing style accordingly (see PROs #4). Just like many other slow (and younger) strikers, Del Piero doesn’t need to be fast to play well.

Secondly, with regards to Antonio Cassano well… I think my “time bomb waiting to explode” part said it all. We all wanted to give Cassano another chance early in the season, and it seemed that everthing was going well: he was playing, losing weight, everything was honky dory… Then came the crying incident (as he received the yellow card which suspended him for the Roma match), and his post-red card hysterics vs. Torino a few months later (for which he served a 5-match ban). That, effectively, was the last straw for many of Cassano’s supporters: bringing a player with such a fragile psychological state to Euro 2008 would be like committing hara-kiri. It’s just not worth the risk.

Finally, the risk for an “ADN vs. ADP” rivalry is about the same as that of an “ADN vs. insert name here of whoever gets called instead of Del Piero”. If the team underperforms, all the starters will likely be called into question. Besides, with Del Piero this risk is trumped by the formation problem: ADN and ADP aren’t exactly interchangeable (position-wise), so if Donadoni were to drop ADN from the starting eleven, he just might have to change his formation a tiny bit. And despite the Don’s incredible stubborness in that regard, there’s no telling what compromises he might be willing to make if (God forbid!!) Italy were on the brink of elimination.
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The Verdict

In conclusion, my answer to the question “Should Alessandro Del Piero be going to Euro 2008?” is (would you have guessed otherwise?) a resounding YES!!! Based on his performance this season (and last 3 months in particular) he has more than earned his return to the Azzurri. Should he be a starter over Antonio Di Natale? No. As I mentioned before, ADN’s position is somewhat different and besides, the Udinese striker has done more than enough to deserve his place on the team, no debate on that one.

However, even as a substitute, Alessandro Del Piero can bring undeniable quality to the Azzurri roster (through his technical baggage, his experience, and his qualities as a leader), and provide coach Roberto Donadoni with alternative solutions to his current playing scheme. The Don would be a fool to leave a player in such great form at home, and Italy would lose one of his greatest assets. In my opinion, it really doesn’t get any clearer than this…