Remember when Udinese were the darlings of Serie A? They could do no wrong. At the time it seemed no matter which Calcio club they supported, people secretly wanted the Little Zebras to do well.
Those days are now in the past.
Perhaps the love lost for Udinese comes from the fact that they had everything going for them, and didn’t bother trying to do anything with it. Twice they qualified for the Champions League; twice they came up short in nail-biting qualification matches, only to fizzle out unremarkably in Europa League. It seemed there was constant excitement, for nothing.
Last November, they were top-of-the-table contenders. On par with Juventus’ undefeated streak, Udinese—for a brief moment—were in first place at the beginning of November 2011. This November, they have been hovering around 12th spot.
This past Sunday saw Udinese travelled to the fellow northern Italian city of Verona as the Little Zebras took on the Flying Donkeys. While the rest of Italy watched the Derby della Capitale, the less popular Derby del Equidae was being bitterly fought.
This particular game was reflective of Udinese’s season struggle, where anything that can go wrong has. The tragedy of Udinese is almost unbelievable: they could not create this much bad luck if they tried.
Having just lost a Europa Cup match to BSC Young Boys, and now sitting last in Group A, Udinese were looking to channel their focus on the domestic league. However, things did not prove easier back in Italy. According to Messaggero Veneto – Giornale del Friuli, before the Chievo match up, Udinese’s Mathias Ranegie was left behind in Udine when he failed to show up for the team bus. The Swedish forward claimed he had not made the trip as he thought the match was being played at home.
In retrospect, he may have been better off staying in Udine.
While the game ended in a 2-2 draw, it was ridden with controversy. Chievo was awarded two penalty kicks against Udinese (one missed, the other scored), one for which both coach Francesco Guidolin and captain Antonio Di Natale were fined for protesting. Defender Danilo was expelled from the game after a second yellow card and even Udinese’s travelling fans were fined for apparent racist chants.
Ranegie himself was also awarded a yellow.
This is a far cry from the Udinese Italy has been used to seeing in the past two years. And, to make matters worse, this season’s struggling side keeps getting reminders of “what could have been.” The day before the Chievo Catastrophe, Juventus beat Pescara in a 6-1 goal fest, with ex-Udinese players Fabio Quagliarella and Kwadwo Asamoah scoring four goals between them (Quagliarella finished the game with a hat trick). The day of the Chievo game saw, former Udinese striker German Denis with two goals for his new team, Atalanta, 3-2 win over Inter.
It wasn’t just ex-Udinese players scoring over the weekend, but current players out on loan as well. The English Championship team Watford, owned by Udinese owner Giampaolo Pozzo, also saw its fair share of goals—its 6–1 defeat of Leeds United included tallies from Zebrette loanees Matej Vydra, Almen Abdi, and Joel Ekstrand.
Even Granada CF—another club owned by Pozzo—saw an Udinese-on-loan goal, with Gabriel Torje scoring in the 8th minute to see the Spanish club to a victory over Real Betis.
With this in mind, one has to beg the question: if Udinese have been so successful in the past, why isn’t Pozzo focusing on his Italian club, instead of stretching himself out?
Unfortunately, the answer is in the question: Udinese is the past and Pozzo is looking towards a new future.
According to The Watford Observer, Pozzo is set on moving to England. There, he can focus on and cultivate his English side in the hope that the Championship team reaches the Premier League (Watford currently sit 14th).
Many Udinese fans in Friulano forums are blaming Pozzo’s son, Gino, for the focus on England, believing that the seduction of English soccer is being favoured over the Italian side. Some hold that the allure of English television revenue is proving too much for the Pozzo family to resist, which, in turn, costs Udinese their attention.
Which is a shame, as Pozzo was once a hero in Udine.
During a troubling run throughout the mid-to-late 1980s, Udinese bounced back and forward between Serie A and B, often surrounded by scandal. Pozzo arrived as a saviour when bought the club in 1986; it only took a few seasons after that to secure a constant first division spot. He was focused on aiding the team, and he financed and groomed players such as Oliver Bierhoff, Sulley Muntari, and Vincenzo Iaquinta. He continued the growth of the side with the likes of Samir Handanovic, Alexis Sánchez, and Fabio Quagliarella—players who have since moved on to “bigger clubs” (Inter, Barcelona, and Juventus).
Despite his constant selling of players, Pozzo’s Udinese has had some success in the last few seasons. This is part due to the re-hiring of Guidolin as coach and in part to the renaissance of captain Di Natale. They were the Holy Trinity of Udine: Pozzo paid for players, Guidolin developed their style, and Di Natale guided them on the pitch; everything the Trinity did seemed like magic.
Arguably, at times, even unbelievable.
However, after making a Champions League qualifying spot but failing to qualify for the second year in a row, the cracks in the team began to show. First, Pozzo started sending Udinese’s best and up-and-coming players to his other teams; currently, Udinese has 16 players—some of them previous starters—spread across his English and Spanish squads (that’s not including players on loan to other non-Pozzo owned clubs). That, coupled with the players he sold, such as Handanovic, has left Udinese stretched rather thin this season.
Tension at the club is undeniable. Tempers flare on and off the pitch and the fighting between Guidolin and Di Natale has been made public. Press conferences have the coach constantly apologizing for performances and rumours seem to be whispered whenever Di Natale doesn’t start. The last Serie A home game saw an attendance of only 19,000 in the 30,000-capacity stadium; fans do not want to support a team that does not receive the revenue.
The Zebrette have a challenging season—and future—ahead of them. Still, there are glimmers of hope.
A few weeks ago they managed to beat Roma, in Rome, with a last-second goal; late, and important, strikes from Udinese players seem to be done with constant ease. However, there is only so much that can be saved on the pitch, and it will be the decisions made by the Pozzo family behind closed doors that will truly determine the future of Udinese.
