Football is undoubtedly a game of opinions. One coach will prefer defending, whilst another insists on attacking. Both can be considered equally right as much as they might be equally wrong.
And much can be said about players. Whilst one is hated and despised, that same player is held in adulation and esteem by others.
And so we come to Mario Balotelli. And whilst you might be thinking right now, “Not another article about Mario…”, we beg that you give this one a moment of your time and reflect upon why Italy needs ‘Super Mario’ spearheading their line of attack, now more than ever before.
No matter how contradictory that phrase might just sound, whilst the Liverpool man is in probably the worst sporting moment of his entire career, Italy need him… Desperately.
The blunt and frankly embarrassing performance of Antonio Conte’s attack against first Croatia and then Albania highlighted the problems La Nazionale has, not only in scoring goals, but how they are currently perceived on the international stage.
So why Mario?
Well, it’s not that he is in great scoring form because he isn’t.
It’s not because he is a technically better striker than Ciro Immobile, Simone Zaza, Graziano Pelle or Stefano Okaka, because he isn’t.
And it’s not because his application and dedication to his chosen profession is second to none, because it certainly is not.
There is one reason why now, more than ever, the Azzurri need Mario. Because of the one thing that the majority of us probably think he shouldn’t be in the team.
His reputation.
In years gone by, opposition defences have watched players such as Luigi Riva, Roberto Baggio, Paolo Rossi, Alessandro Del Piero, Francesco Totti and Andrea Pirlo trot out onto the field of play. Players that have a background, a history and footballing notoriety (good or bad) that make coaches and their defences think about how they need to stop Italy.
In short, these players and their reputations made Italy great at times when they were as good as they were bad regardless of Baggio’s World Cup ’94 penalty miss, Totti’s spitting in Euro 2004, Rossi’s betting scandal pre-World Cup ’82 and Del Piero’s criminal misses in the final of Euro 2000.
The current crop of strikers fail to raise any such tactical eyebrows. They don’t force foreign coaches into studying endless videos and furiously drawing arrows and lines along chalk boards with their players watching anxiously.
But, like him or loathe him, that’s exactly what Balotelli does do.
He is the only Italy player that has a pan-global reputation. And let us not forget we are discussing Italy, the four times World Champions, a team that itself has a reputation to protect.
Thinking back to the European Championships in 2012, a mere two years ago, why did we all proudly pull on our replica blue Italy shirts? Who did children all over Italy and beyond pretend to emulate with ‘that pose’ after he scored a great goal against the Germans?
And who did we all believe was to become our next Azzurri hero?
Mario Balotelli.
But right now, we are happy to disregard the only Italian player, who on his day we can truly apply the term, ‘world class’.
And there is your paradox.
So whilst Brazil feed off the reputation of Neymar, Argentina revel in the great Lionel Messi, the Germans strike fear into opponents with Thomas Mueller and the Uruguayans hold on to their beloved Luis Suarez, the Italians wheel out the likes of Sebastian Giovinco and Mattia Destro, who failed to make a dent in a net guarded by the Albanians.
How did it ever get to this?
Let us all draw a line under what has happened and bring back the man who just might save us from becoming a ‘fallen giant’, a team that ‘once was’, a country ‘in decline’.
Come back Mario, we have changed our minds… We really do love you.
