From: marco@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu (Marco Petroni)
Subject: Re: Baresi leaves the national team !
Organization: McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines, Montreal, Canada
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 22:37:49 GMT

In article <Ien6lFi00WB9N5sHJ_@andrew.cmu.edu> sc4n+@andrew.cmu.edu (Saverio Cittadini) writes:
>
> [stuff deleted].
>
>Now, I think this deserves some comments. Of course, Baresi should be
>free not to play for Italy if he doesn't want to, but...
>Isn't the motivation pathetic ? Yes, it's true that Baresi is getting
>old and that he is not as good as he was a few years ago.

When I first heard this yesterday evening, I was surprised, to say
the least. Seeing a great champion getting on in years is always sad,
but what came to mind was 1) the timing of his decision, and 2) why
he would retire *only* from the national team, and not from his club
team, Milan, and came up with the following, which I hope will get some
comments from those of you out there. I would have added it to my
post yesterday, but it only dawned on me later... :-)

Ok. Baresi is 32, as you mentioned, Saverio, in the portion of your post
that I deleted. Therefore, in two years, when the World Cup will be
played, he will be 34, which is getting to be rather old for your average
national team player (Cameroon's Roger Milla excluded). Italy is about to
start their qualifying campaign in just under 2 weeks, when they will
play Switzerland. No one doubts that Baresi is still a great player,
and can still handle the best forwards, but could we still say this
in two years? Some will claim that Baresi will still be the best
libero in two years, but only Baresi knows his state of physical
fitness. Assume that Baresi would still play with the Azzurri, and
let's also assume that they would be one of the teams to qualify
for the 1994 World Cup. It is now 1994, a bit before the World Cup
starts. Baresi, now 34, is having problems playing at the same pace
at which he played two years or even the year earlier. Now the search
is on for a replacement libero. True, there are many good liberos
in Italy, but none of them have played for long stretches with
Maldini and Tassotti in the back. So some time is required for the back
three to get familiar and comfortable with each other's style of play.
Since the World Cup is fast approaching, the Azzurri must get their
act together soon, in order to not have a shaky defense, and we all
know that Sacchi's style of play starts with a solid back three.

With Baresi's decision, as announced yesterday, the Italians have
theoretically 2 years to find a libero to fit in the Maldini and
Tassotti, which gives them a chance to get used to each other
during the qualifying games, which allow a little bit more slack
than the World Cup finals. So, IMO, I believe that Baresi's decision
is a very sound one, and a sign that he cares more for the continued
success of the Italian team, than to continue seeing his name in
lights now, and possibly leaving the team in a bad situation in
the future...

>And it's true that in Italy there are other good liberos (e.g. Parma's
>Minotti). Nevertheless, not only Sacchi, but practically all Italian
>football fans consider Baresi to be still the best, and by far. In my
>opinion, the real reason is different: Baresi is not going to leave
>Milan, where he earns a lot of money, but something he clearly considers
>much less important... after all it's just the national team, there are
>others that can make his job, you know...

I've never seen Baresi to be a player who is greedy for money; perhaps
I am mistaken. Baresi is seen as a player of class, both in and outside
Italy. One example of this was a "France Football" issue that had
Baresi on the cover with the caption "Franco la classe," leading me to
believe that his motivation was partly based on what I wrote above, and
I invite comments on this...

>Now, I've never been too "patriotic", even with respect to the football
>national team. But this, in my opinion, is really too much. A champion
>like Baresi cannot disappoint all the Italian fans this way: it's just
>*shameful* !!!

Well, it may be "shameful", but better this today than to be forced
to retire in different and more delicate circumstances in the future...

> And I think that, if Baresi deserves a lot of respect for
>what he does on the pitch (I mean, when he plays football, not when he
>tries to break the opponent's legs with nasty fouls), morally he doesn't
>anymore, having lost - still IMHO - his dignity.

I don't see why. In fact, I feel the opposite way, but perhaps this
is because I cheer for Milan, although I've tried to never let my
"colors" cloud my appreciation of good players or good soccer...


Regards,

Marco...
--
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- Marco Petroni - VE2VTN - "Forza Milan! En ROUGE et BLACK." "Forza Ancona!"
	-- McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines (McRCIM), 
                         McGill University, Montreal, Canada.  
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