In Italy's Dark Football Moment, There Is Hope on the Horizon

It shouldn't have come to this. As referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz blew the full-time whistle, Italy's players slumped to the San Siro turf, the harsh reality of the result already beginning to sink in.

For the first time in 60 years, the Azzurri had failed to secure a place at the FIFA World Cup after a qualifying campaign that saw this once-dominant side look frail and listless. That they did so was due almost exclusively to the ineptitude of Gian Piero Ventura, with the coach failing to make any noteworthy positive change in his two years at the helm.

The 69-year-old replaced Antonio Conte in July 2016, and he promised to build on what the Chelsea boss achieved at that summer's European Championship, insisting at a press conference that he was overseeing "a historic moment" because "so many youngsters are blossoming."

While Ventura's suitability was always in doubt because of his lack of experience at the highest level, his work at Torino showed he could develop such talent while gaining excellent results, bringing a generation of homegrown players into the Granata first team.

Yet when it mattered, he fell back on the same old names. Every member of the starting XI for Monday night's second-leg play-off with Sweden was at least 25, while six of those players were 30 or over.

As kickoff approached and with Italy trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Ventura knew they needed a goal. His best chance of getting one undoubtedly came from Lorenzo Insigne, the Napoli winger whose recent contributions to the national team perhaps summarise Ventura's approach best of all.

The pace, invention and skill he provides are evident every week in Serie A, where he leads all players in both shots (57) and shots assisted (38), according to Michael Caley of FiveThirtyEight, while his 8.9 expected goals plus assists are second in the league.

In the first leg against Sweden, he played just 15 minutes, sent on not as a wide attacking player but in central midfield. In the return fixture, AS Roma man Daniele De Rossi vented his frustration when the coaching staff told him to warm up, demanding Insigne be sent on, as seen in the tweet below:

But this is not just about Insigne. Much has already been said about Italy's pool of players, with Ternana boss Sandro Pochesci certainly the most vocal.

"We've all become wimps," he said at a recent press conference. "By bringing so many foreign players to the Italian league, we no longer have good old-fashioned Italian strongmen. We go to Sweden, and they beat us up instead. Italian football is finished."

Yet as much as Pochesci and Ventura tried to ignore it, the reality is different. FourFourTwo's recent analysis of the world's best teenage players ranked three Italians in the top 10; Gianluigi Donnarumma finished first, Federico Chiesa fifth and Manuel Locatelli 10th.

None have played a competitive minute for the national team, while second-placed Kylian Mbappe has nine caps for France, Marcus Rashford (third) has made 14 appearances for England and Christian Pulisic (fourth) has played 20 times for the USA.

Instead of fielding them, Italy's World Cup qualifying campaign ended with the team scrambling for a goal but with three central defenders and the ineffective Marco Parolo on the field. That one of those at the back was Andrea Barzagli is further evidence of Ventura's failure. The 36-year-old was talked out of international retirement two years ago rather than allowing Daniele Rugani, Alessio Romagnoli or Mattia Caldara to take his place.

It should be no surprise that immediately following Itay's elimination, Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini and Daniele De Rossi joined Gigi Buffon in announcing they will no longer represent the Azzurri, per ESPN FC. As seen in the image above, the end of his international career left the goalkeeper in tears, but perhaps the fact he is stepping away in this darkest of moments can help to usher in a bright new dawn.

He made his debut way back in an October 1997 playoff against Russia, providing an ironic symmetry as Donnarumma now looks to replace him. There is no word yet on Ventura's own future. But his position is surely untenable, and the next coach must do more with the talent at his disposal.

The nation's press made their feelings clear.

"It will take a refoundation, a breath of fresh air, a national team with an identity, which we inexplicably renounced during the qualifiers," Patrizio Cacciari of Corriere dello Sport wrote (h/t Football Italia). La Gazzetta dello Sport labelled it "The End," with Tuesday morning's headline shown in the tweet below:

But supporters who have followed the Azzurri still believe in the players and coaches available to them.

"Struggling made Germany better. Not winning made Spain smarter," one fan told Bleacher Report. "We can fall back on Coverciano and the managerial facilities which these countries just don't have. We're better-placed. It's a moment for Italian football to not blame foreigners in the game because we have a football identity. We just had the wrong coach. It's about mentality, and mark my words, when qualifying for Euro 2020 begins, we'll be ready!"

Even in the crushing disappointment of elimination, there were signs of hope. Jorginho—whose absence from the team was lamented in this previous post—finally made his full debut and showcased his passing and vision, while Stephan El Shaarawy looked sharp after his own second-half introduction.

Another of Italy's bright young hopes, Juventus' Federico Bernardeschi, comes from Buffon's hometown of Carrara, and Buffon had complimentary words for the 23-year-old: 

Bernardeschi was aptly the one to speak for an entire generation as an era ended, per Rai Sport (h/t Football Italia):

"Today a piece of Italian football history is leaving, important champions who wrote their names in stone for both Calcio and the sport worldwide. I thank them with all my heart, and now it's up to us youngsters to take on their example and bring as many victories as possible to this Nazionale. We begin again with our heads held high, proud to be Italian and to take these colours to the top."

They have the potential to do just that and must now be allowed to do so. It will be a long road back, but Buffon's tears must not be in vain. The black mark that this failure brings should not overshadow a promising future and a generation of talent that is ready but has yet to be given a chance to prove themselves.

There is no lack of talent in Italy, no need for the "root and branch" restructuring so often called for when such a nation fails to reach major tournament. The problem here will not be solved with a systematic overhaul, but instead by playing the men who should have already been pulling on those famous blue shirts for quite some time.

Playing for the Azzurri will always be difficult and demanding, but with the right coach in charge and this crop of youngsters eager to get going, the journey might be a lot more fun for those who witnessed Monday night's debacle.