ROME: Following seven games without a win, no victories in 2010 and their dismal showing at the World Cup, Daniele De Rossi admitted that Italian football is in crisis.
A new-look Italy began the Cesare Prandelli era with a 1-0 defeat to Ivory Coast in London on Tuesday night as the new boss began where the previous coach -- Marcello Lippi -- had left off, with defeat.
There were five debutants in Prandelli`s first Italy selection including Mario Balotelli, then a teenager but who turned 20 on Thursday.
Prandelli`s formation was seen by many as an anti-Lippi team with the former Fiorentina coach going for an attacking line-up full of youth and energy, having consigned most of the remaining veterans from Italy`s 2006 World Cup victory to the scrap heap.
But while the then-holders` World Cup campaign -- in which they finished bottom of a group containing New Zealand, Slovakia and Paraguay -- did not provoke any talk of crisis, this latest set-back finally has.
"Now we`re all saying it, Italian football is in crisis," said De Rossi. "It`s hard (to imagine) that (good) Italian footballers are finished but we have to look for them, find them, wait for them and not criticise them after the first mistake."
De Rossi`s sentiments at least confirm what Lippi had denied in South Africa, even following the humiliating 0-0 draw with part-timers New Zealand and ahead of the humbling 3-2 defeat to Slovakia.
"There`s no crisis and there`s no need for a crisis," had said Lippi before his team limped meekly out of the competition.
The stats, however, don`t lie and this is one of the worst ever series of results by an Italian national team.
Seven games without a win, and none of those precious victories in 2010, only once have Italy had to wait longer to end such a run.
Between 1958 and 1959, the only time when Italy missed out on World Cup qualification, the team went eight games without a success: three defeats and five draws.
The current team have lost three and drawn four of their last seven, matching the winless streak of 1910-11.
But De Rossi believes it`s not all doom and gloom and said that there is still hope ahead of the European Championships in 2012.
"Yes, it`s been a horrible year," added De Rossi. "Losing always hurts and even more so if it comes after other defeats, likewise for the criticisms.
"But the defeats in June were of another kind, this time it went badly against a team that was physically intimidating and we did some good things.
"It`s too early to make a drama, we all need to understand that this is just the `good morning` of a new era. There`s two more years before a judgement should be made."
De Rossi also insisted that the players need a bit more time to get up to full match fitness and bluntly pointed out that given their early group games in Euro qualification, there is little to get worried about.
"I`m not despairing, our condition will improve and also, even if we`re not at 100 percent, it should be enough given our opponents," he said.
De Rossi may have a point there given their first three opponents are Estonia, Faroe Islands and Northern Ireland, three teams they should be able to beat with their reserves.
But many would have said that of New Zealand as well. In fact, Northern Ireland are only five places below the All Whites in the official FIFA standings, and that only because New Zealand moved up a long way following their three draws in three group games with higher ranked teams in South Africa.
Having acknowledged the country`s crisis, it would be foolhardy to forget so soon and revert to the nonchalance that cost Italy so dear at the World Cup.
BDST: 1435HRS, August 12, 2010
