The Azzurri’s Sad Lexicon – 131 years of defence

Date: 13th June 2016 at 11:20am
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Marco Jackson believes the Juventus foursome of Gianluigi Buffon, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chellini will be crucial if Antonio Conte’s Italy squad are to challenge at Euro 2016.

Italy Training & Press Conference - 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

“These are the saddest of possible words, ‘Tinker to Evers to Chance’”.

116 years and a day after that verse first saw publication, Italy will take to the field against Belgium with their own approximation of that great defense looking to stop all of Europe in their tracks.

Their sport is football rather than baseball, but the veterans Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bonucci can have the same dispiriting effect on opponents as the double play combination named in ‘Baseball’s Sad Lexicon’.

Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance are long gone, but the Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908.

When Franklyn Pierce published his poem, the trio had been playing together for eight years, and their play, as it suggests, had become almost a rite – the phrasing becoming celebrated in and of itself long before Pierce put pen to paper.

So it is with Juventus and, latterly, so it is with Italy. The defence is unmoving, the same faces doing the same things, playing the same positions in the same way – just like those three famous baseball players.

The four came together for the first time in February 2011, Robert Acquafresca piercing their nascent relationship to equalise before the Bianconeri frontline put Cagliari to the sword.

Manchester City FC v Juventus - UEFA Champions League

They have been together ever since, playing not every game together, but most. Over those five years, their combination has become as automatic as Tinker, Evers and Chance.

During that time, team-mates have come and gone, but Juventus’ defence remains the rock Antonio Conte could rely on in Turin. As such, he has been increasingly prone to doing the same with the Azzurri and it makes perfect sense.

Increasingly, international teams who enjoy success comprise of players who know one another from club football. Germany’s recent victories have been built on Bayern Munich, following Spain’s trinkets on the coat-tails of Barcelona.

Conte enjoyed a considerable number of triumphs at Juventus with his four-man unit, and Massimiliano Allegri has continued to benefit. That success has not quite transferred to international football yet, but the theory is set to be tested to the limit in France.

Furthermore, even if the usual four are absent, their fellow defenders are almost certain to have their own Juventus stories to tell.

Angelo Ogbonna tried and failed to break them up during a frustrating spell at the Juventus Stadium. Having had no joy in securing a first team spot, he was moved on to West Ham United where he has thrived.

Taking his place with the Bianconeri, Daniele Rugani has assumed the role of first replacement cab off the rank. Always talked about in promising terms, he has seldom been offered the opportunity to demonstrate his strengths by Allegri. Somewhat appropriately, he will likely share the bench with Ogbonna in France.

Italy Training Session & Press Conference

So, looking to leave his mark on a job he is set to leave once the tournament is over, Conte will lead an Italy side into combat with doubts in many positions.

Their forward line is not yet fully formed, and the midfield will be lacking Claudio Marchisio and Marco Verratti, two names who would have undoubtedly have been amongst the first on the teamsheet.

American sports have always been good for a catchphrase, and there is a truism to many of them. ‘Offense wins games but defense wins championships’ is one such idiom, regularly trotted out by those who follow the less expansive gridiron outfits.

The Azzurri have never been reluctant to rely on their defensive strengths in pursuit of glory, and some of their most famous victories have been based on solidity. This summer will be no exception – the only places that Conte’s side is strong and settled is in those celebrated defenders.

Buffon, Barzagli, Bonucci and Chiellini. They are the rocks upon which opponents’ boats are doomed to crash and have been the ‘saddest of possible words’ to Serie A forward lines for some years now.

With their advancing years surely ensuring this will be a final opportunity to demonstrate their strength on an international stage. The saddest words could yet be the happiest ones, and Italy’s 48 year wait could be over.

It would be some parting gift.

 

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