Andrea Pirlo: The most decisive player of all time for the Italian national team

Italy’s success in the new millennium has truly been astonishing. They have created records, won the World Cup and achieved a lot of success in the European Championships. Although, it can be noted that this monumental feat was achieved as Italy had some of their finest players in their history. It is astonishing that Italy’s success is mostly due to the reliance on Pirlo.

He has been their most important player in every competition they have participated in. While Juventus seem to have found a way to get their game going without Pirlo, Italy have never done well without him. However, it would be far-fetched to call their performances as a one man show. Pirlo offers a lot to the team on the field and off the field. He is a player who will bring that extra rush in adrenalin, a player whose ambition to win motivates others in the dressing room.

A player whose creativity has no limits and one who can literally change the game on his own. The most notable feature is that he brings the best out of everyone he plays alongside. Consider the case of Balotelli, a player who wasn’t that much of a threat while playing for Manchester City and hasn’t been that intimidating in a Milan jersey but quite the opposite and very lethal for the national team. Balotelli isn’t the only player to produce such contradicting results. In the striking department, all of Italy’s attackers scored a goal in the 2006 World Cup.

The likes of Toni and Gilardino haven’t been that consistent at club level while the latter seems a different player altogether when he plays for the Azzurri. The surprising case of Roma’s Daniele De Rossi who has been magnificent at international level but has never reached the same levels for the Gialorossi. Montolivo and Giaccherini are other recent notable examples. It is safe to conclude that the presence of Pirlo raises the standard of individuals in the team and his absence will lead to the failing dreadfully.

Some might say Italy’s success in the 2006 world cup was due to the presence of a strong defense which wouldn’t be wrong entirely as they conceded only 2 goals(one of them being an own goal). Maldini’s retirement after the 2002 World Cup didn’t seem to be of too much of a problem looking at their defensive record in 2006. Italy did well to cope up with the loss of a legend such as Paolo Maldini.

As time passed by, Italy would play without the likes of Totti, Del Piero, Cannavaro, Nesta and Gattuso. At the beginning of this decade none of them would be a part of the national team but Italy would continue to succeed. Performances on the road to the major tournaments and in the major tournaments have clearly demonstrated that the Azzuri have succeeded without the fore mentioned legendary figures. There are only 4 players from the team that became the Champions of the world and all the four are very important to the present national team.

While Barzagli and Buffon cannot help the team to score, De Rossi and Pirlo can. It is fair to say that Pirlo is the most precious player of the present Italian line. It is fair to conclude that Pirlo has been the most decisive player of his generation.

Italy have had the privilege of magnificent strikers such as Baggio, Rossi, Riva and Meazza. Baggio had won many games on his own for the national team. The former Ballon D’or winner who blossomed at the end of the 1990 World Cup, truly set up a show in the 1994 World Cup. Having missed the penalty in the final and leaving Juventus a year later, Baggio would never really match the same standards of his game.

Towards the end of the decade, Italy had managed to be successful without him as they had abundance of talent in the attacking department amongst the likes of Inzaghi, Del Piero, Vieri and Totti. Baggio’s predecessor Rossi had been very significant for the Azzurri scoring a hat trick against Brazil and winning the 1982 World Cup. The 1982 Ballon D’or winner was very reliable when he played for his country. There were doubts on his successor and whether Italy could succeed without him. The 4 time World Cup champions reached the semi-finals of the 1988 European Championships and secured 3^rd place while hosting the succeeding world cup.

The likes of Vialli and Baggio had blossomed towards the end of the decade. Luigi Riva is the all-time top scorer of Italy, a record that stands till date. Along with Sandro Mazzola, Luigi Riva would help Italy win the 1968 European Championships and reach the final of the 1970 World Cup before losing to Brazil. However, the succeeding world cup would be his last as Italy were eliminated from the group stages of the tournament. Paolo Rossi would breakthrough towards the end of the decade for Italy.

From the unfortunate Superga air disaster till the revelation of players such as Rivera and Mazzola, Italy struggled a lot in the international stage. Rivera and Mazzola who were later joined by Luigi Riva would be a part of a great Italian team. Sandro Mazzola’s father Valentino Mazzola was one of the members of the Superga air disaster. Valentino Mazzola would play very few games for the national team but would have a successful career with Torino. Going a decade back before the 2^nd World war, the greatest player in the world- Giusseppe Meazza had won back to back World Cups with Italy. The Nerazzurri legend was inspirational in leading the Azzuri to consecutive triumphs scoring 33 goals in his international career.

While the likes of Riva, Rossi and Baggio were truly inspirational in a couple of major tournaments they featured in, Pirlo has been Italy’s most important player into every tournament he has stepped into. As the European Championships came in only later, Meazza could be a part of only the two world cups he featured in, notching close to half the number of appearances Pirlo has had for the national team. On the defensive aspect, Italy have always had two to three world class defenders in their starting line up Right from Sandro Salvadore to Scirea followed by Baresi and Maldini, Italy have never had the shortage of defenders in their team. Notable midfield figures such as Tardelli and Bruno Conti played for a team whose limelight was cast and stolen by the likes of Rossi. With all due respect and in all due fairness, no one has been as consistently decisive as the Juventus midfield general has been, in every tournament starting from the youth championships to the World Cup.