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Paul McNamara

World Cup absentees Italy are suffering the consequences of a lack of forward planning that has left them trailing major rivals, according to Marco Materazzi.
After failing to qualify for the 2018 and 2022 finals, Italy somehow contrived to miss out on this year’s expanded 48-team tournament in North America.
A World Cup final scorer and winner in 2006, Materazzi told the South China Morning Post: “We know Italy is not one of the best football countries, because in England, Spain and Germany there are many [quality] stadiums, and they have strong infrastructures. They think about the future. In Italy, it’s not the same.”
Damningly, Materazzi unfavourably compared Italy with Morocco, where he recently visited the Fifa office that is housed inside Rabat’s national football centre.
“I went in and saw 12 pitches, two five-star hotels and four padel courts,” Materazzi said. “I asked what was over in another part of the complex and it was 10 more pitches for the women.
“This is being open-minded for the future.
“In Italy, we have [national team headquarters] Coverciano: four pitches, one hotel that is maybe two stars. That’s the difference.”

Already well known in football circles because of his exploits with Everton and Inter Milan, Materazzi surged to global fame following the World Cup final in Berlin 20 years ago.
He conceded the penalty that Zinedine Zidane converted to give France an early lead, then quickly headed home his team’s equaliser. After being the recipient of the extra-time headbutt that led to French superstar Zidane’s dismissal, Materazzi scored Italy’s second penalty in a shoot-out they won 5-3.
Now 52, Materazzi said that becoming a World Cup winner in no way changed his life, because “I’m humble, I was just a footballer, we have two arms, two legs, two eyes, the same as other people”.
He had “no problem” with living under a fierce spotlight. “I preferred to think about the two goals,” said Materazzi, adding that the penalty qualified as his “best and worst moment”. He swept his left-footed kick snug into the bottom-right corner.
“Walking from the halfway line, the ball felt so heavy,” he said.
“I was thinking about my teacher of football at Roma before I was a professional. He told me that you have to choose one corner and put it ‘behind the post’, then you will have a 99 per cent chance of scoring.
“The walk was my worst moment, scoring was my best.”
“Praying that someone from the opposition would miss”, Materazzi duly watched David Trezeguet slam his kick against the bar.
Amid the celebrations after Fabio Grosso’s winning kick, Materazzi secured the jersey of France striker Thierry Henry. With a personal shirt collection at home numbering between 3,000 and 4,000, Materazzi felt like he was “in Disneyland” when he visited Hong Kong’s Fifa Museum last week.
The exhibition chronicles all previous 22 editions of the World Cup finals, with Materazzi alighting on 1982, when Italy beat West Germany in the Bernabeu Stadium final, as his favourite. “I was nine and we could all safely go to the streets to watch the matches; I loved it and I remember everything,” he said.
In the same Spanish venue 28 years later, Materazzi would win the 2010 Champions League with Inter Milan, managed by Jose Mourinho, who was last week appointed Real Madrid boss for a second time.

“I love him as a person,” Materazzi said. “He was a real man; he told me he didn’t know if I would play many games but that I would be picked if I deserved it. Towards the end of that season, I played when we won the league, the Italian Cup and the Champions League.
“He speaks to players face to face, and he is honest.
“Inter reached two finals recently [2023 and 2025] but for people to remember, you have to win.”
Materazzi recently visited former club Everton’s old Goodison Park home, before watching David Moyes’s side beat Chelsea in their new Hill Dickinson Stadium.
“The stadium is the way to grow step by step towards getting Everton in the Champions League,” said Materazzi.
“I like the manager, Everton can get back to the top.”
Conflicted over whether he would like to return to management, after winning the 2015 Indian Super League in charge of Chennaiyin, given the prevailing hire-and-fire culture, Materazzi said the modern fad of trying to pass opponents to death was “not my mentality”.
“For a defender, the problem is behind you, now they play in front of you,” he said. “If you manage Barcelona, I understand, because you never lose the ball. But Inter won Serie A this year because their first idea is to score. That’s football.”


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Sport

Football

Former defender believes four-time world champions paying for lack of forward planning, recalls high drama of 2006 World Cup final


Former defender believes four-time world champions paying for lack of forward planning, recalls high drama of 2006 World Cup final.


World Cup winner Marco Materazzi on how shortsighted Italy are slipping behind Morocco

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Former defender believes four-time world champions paying for lack of forward planning, recalls high drama of 2006 World Cup final

Former defender believes four-time world champions paying for lack of forward planning, recalls high drama of 2006 World Cup final