President of AIPS Gianni Merli
Why do you think Italy did not make it to the World Cup?
The federation chose the wrong manager. Gian Piero Ventura is good for medium-level teams in Serie A but he has never had experience with a top-level team. He is good in helping some young players to improve their skills but working with the national team and top players is a different thing. The tactics he used were completely wrong, and the team was not lucky on some occasions, so there are many reasons that led to the failure of qualifying. Some players did not reach their best performances either.
Will the absence of Italy affect the World Cup?
I don’t think so. It happened also to many teams, such as the Netherlands, Chile and the USA. Italian fans will surely be absent and it is known that Italy always have a lot of fans in the stadiums, but I don’t think it will be a problem. Football is an international sport and the teams that have taken Italy’s place have the full merit to be there and their fans will be there, especially from Sweden, who denied our qualification.
Will Italy overcome this stumble in the near future?
Of course, Italy will overcome this tough period. In a few days, there will be new elections in the football federation. One of the biggest effects of this failure was the resignation of the president of the Italian FA, Carlo Tavecchio. So we will have a new president and executive board soon and they will decide who will be the next coach. There are some talks about Carlo Ancelotti, who could be great. However, it might be difficult for him to accept the job, because at the beginning he has to rebuild from scratch and has to look at what kind of material he can have in the team and to see if this new generation can be at the top level so many expect.
Some people accused the Italian media for the national team failure because of their continuous attacks on the players. What’s your comment on this?
There is no reason to accept the idea that the media affected the performance of the national team; it has nothing to do with the failure. The players are professionals and are used to the media. The media is not guilty.
How do you evaluate Serie A?
Serie A is a very good league. In the past, it was at the top; now it is behind the Premier League and La Liga but on the same level as Bundesliga and Ligue 1. There is a room for improvement; there are more top teams in Italy than Spain where you only speak about Real Madrid and Barcelona, and sometimes Atletico. Italy has Juventus, Inter, AC Milan that can come back to top level soon, and AS Roma, Napoli and Lazio, so I think the league has a good level of competition and football.
Are you surprised by any team that made it to the World Cup?
Not really. For example, Egypt is one of the biggest sports nations in Africa so I am not surprised that they made it. Iceland, on the other hand, is a bit surprising regarding the number of players they have, even though they were already at the Euro two years ago. This means that they are working properly and are lucky to have a coach that can put everybody together, especially the players that play outside the country. As for the rest, I don’t see a lot of surprises because the surprise always is more about those who are out and don’t qualify.
Do you follow Egyptian football? And what is your opinion of Mohamed Salah?
I do not follow Egyptian football so much but I admire a lot of players like Mohamed Salah, who is a top player; we have seen his level with AS Roma and I think they are suffering a bit this year after his departure. Roma is among the top five teams in Italy, but with Salah they could have competed for the title. He is quick and full of energy and can make a difference in a number of matches.
What’s your opinion on increasing the number of teams for the 2026 World Cup?
I can understand why FIFA wants to increase the number of the teams and involve more people and nations. They want to reach a bigger audience, if you look to the countries that usually do not make it to the World Cup, especially during the group stages, there will be an increase in the numbers of the audience; it is a marketing system. There might be problems in organisation at the beginning, but in the long term it can work. It also depends on how clubs will react because they are the ones unhappy about the situation.
What’s your say about the nations that are asking to strip Qatar of hosting the 2022 World Cup?
There is no nation that has asked officially to strip Qatar of hosting the World Cup, these are just circulating rumours. But it is not possible to strip it from a country except in the case of a natural disaster, and only the FIFA Congress can take this kind of decision. And as far as I know, there was no official request to strip Qatar of hosting the prestigious tournament and there is no reason also.
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