Sometimes there can even be victory in defeat.
Italy may have been knocked out by the World Champions, but they will not be forgotten. What Conte has achieved by what many in Italy even, regarded as rejects giving them no hope of even making it past the Second Round, has been truly remarkable. He and his boys should be very proud as they made a very loud and powerful statement about football tactics and strenght in the whole rather than the one.
Just think that this was an Italian team without Pirlo, Giovinco, Veratti. De Rossi was missing, in the match and he had been great and very important for Italy. They had a strike partnership that nobody had really given much thought to. The chips were all stacked against Conte but he managed to find a way of making it work.
Starting from the back, with his Juventus boys that he knows very well, he wanted to build that strong Italian foundation, Being tough to break down and every man, woman and child doing their bit to work hard for the good of the team and ensure that teams must sweat blood to breach them.
But this wasn't just a negative Italy that had no interest in scoring. They were brave in the attack, playing some very entertaining one-touch football combined with nice individual skill and great movement that reminded people that these Italians really know how to play this sport. Conte built a perfect balance and symbiosis of defence, midfield and attack.
A complete football team.
He did this with the most minimal of resources; that can't be stressed enough. A lof of these players would probably not get into many of the first teams of the top clubs. You take a guy like Giacherrini who is in and out of Sunderland, and he's been one of the players of the tournament. That's down to Conte, his coaching and getting the best out of his players, whatever the world may think of them.
You put a prime Vieri, Totti, Del Piero in this team and they win these Euros in their sleep. As simple as that. What Conte built was a unit that could have won this trophy despite not having two or three exceptional attacking players. But if they had managed to be lucky enough to defeat Germany, then I see no team that could have stopped them. This was the really tough game, with the other teams left in it being vastly inferior to them. But alas, it was not to be, and they are heading back home.
Even though they were defeated, football has already changed and Conte has been the catalyst. We may now be entering a new era that puts more focus on creating a team that can do all aspects of the beautiful game well and is more complete. Oh, and a little bit of screaming and shouting as well as kicking balls on the sidelines wouldn't go amiss as well.
Thank you Antonio for your enthusiasm and comedy. True football passion. HH
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