Calcio Debate: Is This The Worst Defensive Era In History?

Football is a game of opinions, but one thing that cannot be argued is that over the years Italy have been the most prolific producer of world class defenders.

Now when we talk about great stoppers, usually the focus is on central defenders. While there have been, and are, some outstanding full backs, this article will focus on the purer and more important central area of the backline.

Until recently, almost every international tournament that Italy have contested over the past 50 years, they have always been blessed with an abundance of great centre halves. During the 1982 World Cup triumph in Spain for example, Franco Baresi and Pietro Vierchowod didn’t see a minute of action due to the presence of the legendary Gateano Scirea, Claudio Gentile, Fulvio Collovati and an 18-year-old Giuseppe Bergomi.

Eight years later at Italia ’90, the centre back options for coach Azeglio Vicini included Baresi, Bergomi, Vierchowod, Riccardo Ferri, Paolo Maldini and Ciro Ferrara. The incredible strength in depth for the Azzurri can be proven by the fact that Milan duo Mauro Tassotti (who could play in the centre) and Alessandro Costacurta, who were part of what many now consider the greatest club defence of all time, could not even make Vicini’s selection.

In recent years, the famed supply line of world class Italian defenders has slowly dried up, and after Maldini retired from internationals in 2002, it was only really Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta upholding the tradition. Nesta last year also retired from the Azzurri, while Cannavaro is now 35. Italian football is looking around and wondering where the next defensive phenomenon is going to come from.

"Time passes for everyone and it's been two years since we lifted the World Cup," said Cannavaro yesterday. "We are waiting for new faces to come in, but it's not like we have an emergency in defence."

Marcello Lippi’s analysis was much less positive. “The situation at the back is a little concerning because we have no central defenders who can mark players,” he said prior to the 2-0 win over Georgia on Wednesday.

“Only two are here with La Nazionale, one is Cannavaro who plays tonight and the other is Ciro Ferrara, my assistant on the bench.”

Of the centre backs who travelled to Austria and Switzerland for Euro 2008, only Giorgio Chiellini represents a real hope for the future, and indeed the Juventus hardman’s performance against Spain in the quarter final was a throwback to some of the famous defensive displays from the past.

But aside from Chiellini, where are the others? Alessandro Gamberini and Andrea Barzagli hardly set the pulses racing, nor do Daniele Bonera or Nicola Legrottaglie, the latter who will be nearly 34 come South Africa 2010.

The shambolic defensive display by the Italy Olympic team in their 3-2 quarter final defeat to Belgium in Beijing last month was the most un-Italian defending you are ever likely to see. From the Under-21s upwards, only Chiellini, and Napoli’s Fabiano Santacroce look like real world class centre back possibilities for the future, even if the latter still has to prove himself having only played around a dozen times in Serie A.

This is all a far cry from 1982, when Italy had five or six world class centre halves in their World Cup squad, or 1990 when the Azzurri had as many as eight at their disposal, two of whom didn’t even make the selection.

Is this the worst ever-era for Italian defenders? If we are talking about the last 50 years, then yes it is certainly a possibility.

However, this defensive dilemma is not exclusively an Italian problem. Take your minds back to Euro 2008 and try to recall how many genuine top class centre backs there were who really impressed. There weren’t many. Indeed I would possibly put forward only Carles Puyol of Spain and Chiellini of Italy.

Take the German squad for example. Somehow the Mannschaft made it all the way to the final, despite possessing arguably the worst defence in their recent history. The centre back pair of Christoph Metzelder and Per Mertesacker looks painfully out of place when put next to some of the greats of yesteryear – the likes of Beckenbauer, Schnellinger, Kohler, Augenthaler and Sammer. Not a single German defender from Euro 2008 would have got into any of their tournament teams from at least 1966 to 1996, when the German decline probably began.

Without trying to sound like an old grump, the truth is that the defenders from the past generations were far, far superior to the current breed. In fact the disparity at present, both inside and outside of Italy, is quite frankly embarrassing.

What are your views on this topic? Is this the worst ever era for defenders? Should Italy be worried about the lack of centre backs coming through, especially when compared to the abundance of talent from years gone by? What about the world in general? Were the defenders in the past much better than those today? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think…


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