Resurgent AC Milan host Real Madrid in the Champions League later having beaten the Galacticos 3-2 at the Bernabeu two weeks ago.

Meanwhile Inter Milan are seven points clear in Serie A after just 11 games. All would seem to be rosy in one of Europe’s greatest soccer cities, but in reality Italian football is in the doldrums.

Mark Meadows discusses.

The coaches of the three biggest Serie A clubs recently indulged in what has always been one of the favourite pastimes of the older and wiser — picking fault with today’s youngsters.

Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho kicked things off when he criticised 19-year-old forward Mario Balotelli’s approach in training and suggested that footballers of his age were more interested in Ferraris and Bentleys than getting on with the job.

“It’s probably a generational problem,” Mourinho said. “At the moment it’s very difficult to find a player who’s 19 or 20 and thinks like a man.”

Reporters asked Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara what he thought, but if they hoped to stir up another Mourinho-versus-the-rest-of-Italy row, they were disappointed.

“I agree. It’s a problem of values,” Ferrara said. “Things have changed a lot and the purely sporting side often drops down to a secondary level.

“A young player becomes a star after just a few matches in Serie A. Million-euro contracts arrive and thoughts immediately go to the national team. It’s difficult for them to keep their feet on the ground.”

AC Milan boss Leonardo agreed too.

“I understand what Mourinho is saying. It’s difficult to teach certain values to youngsters,” he told reporters, adding that he believed it was a problem for society as a whole, not just soccer.

Maybe the managers have a point and all the money pouring into football has corrupted the game’s budding talent.

I’m not so sure. Football has always had its share of prima donnas and players who, let’s say, gave great importance to the economic side of the profession.

Moreover, those wondering why young players find it harder to get a chance to shine in Serie A than in other top flights, might have be given a clue to the riddle.

PHOTO: Inter Milan’s coach Jose Mourinho (L) argues with his player Mario Balotelli during their Serie A match against Siena at San Siro, May 17, 2009. REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito

It had long been decided that Italy's rugby team would host world champions South Africa in Florence on Saturday Nov. 21.

Then soccer got in the way. Fiorentina, who use Florence's only big stadium the Stadio Franchi, were due to play Parma at home on the 22nd but when they were drawn to play at home on Tuesday Nov. 24 against Olympique Lyon in the Champions League, the Parma game was moved to the 21st.

Suddenly there was a big problem and now the rugby match will take place in Udine instead despite tickets already having gone on sale.

Is this a case of soccer taking undue precedence over rugby or is it just a tale of ineptitude?

Even if Fiorentina's game against Parma had been kept on the Sunday, that still would have meant two soccer matches and a rugby game on the same already-weathered pitch within four days.

Places such as England don't have these problems because there are generally separate stadiums for rugby and soccer.

The Italians are used to such switches though. Quite often match dates are changed only a few days before or fans are told they can't attend games for security reasons with little notice. La Dolce Vita, it is not.

PHOTO: Italy's Sergio Parisse (C) runs into New Zealand's defence during their rugby test match in Christchurch June 27, 2009. REUTERS/Simon Baker

Brazil-born Juventus striker Amauri failed to get an Italian passport in time for Italy’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Bulgaria but he hopes the documentation will come through soon.

Azzurri coach Marcello Lippi has indicated he will then consider Amauri for international duty but said he did not want the situation to be repeated.

This seems to have ended any chance of Inter Milan midfielder Thiago Motta following Amauri’s lead. The former Barcelona and Atletico Madrid player could qualify for Italy if FIFA decided his two Brazil appearances in the CONCACAF Gold Cup did not count as full caps because it was a under-23 team.

After Diego’s classy brace in his second game for Juventus, many Italians became excited when they realised the playmaker has Italian lineage. However, they forgot the basic rule that Diego had played competitively for Brazil and therefore was not eligible for Italy.

Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva plays for Croatia despite being born in Brazil while the London club’s uncapped Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia has often been talked about as a potential England candidate.

Is the situation out of hand? I’m just old enough to remember when domestic clubs had a majority of players from the local town. Now few top sides have players from the same country.

Is international football going the same way? Why not have Premier League v Serie A rather than England v Italy?

Liverpool’s Alberto Aquilani and Andrea Dossena may feel a bit torn.

PHOTO: Juventus forward Amauri warms up during a training session at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin March 9, 2009.REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

Jose Mourinho is no stranger to run-ins with rival club managers, but this week the Portuguese raised his aim and had a swipe at Italian national team boss Marcello Lippi.

The Inter Milan coach had taken exception to Lippi tipping Juventus for this year’s Serie A title.
He accused him of lacking respect, arguing a national team coach should be seen to be impartial even if deep down he wants Juve to win (Lippi had two glorious stints at the Turin club split by a dismal, short one at Inter).

Mourinho even added mysteriously that “this makes me think a great deal”.

Lippi responded by saying it was just a prediction: “Mourinho seemed an intelligent person to me, I’m sorry he’s interpreted things differently. You can’t say half a word”.

The Inter boss’s reaction struck me as a little thin skinned too. It’s not as if Lippi said he was rooting for Juve or would be lending a hand to their new boss Ciro Ferrara, his former assistant in the Italy backroom staff.

But I was surprised to see in a survey on La Gazzetta dello Sport’s website that, while most people were on Lippi’s side, a sizeable minority of around 40 percent believed Mourinho had grounds to grumble.

What do you think? Is Mourinho overreacting, possibly in an attempt to instil a siege mentality into his players for the upcoming campaign? Or should Lippi keep his predictions to himself in future?

PHOTO: Inter Milan’s coach Jose Mourinho (L) gestures during their Italian Super Cup soccer match against Lazio at the National Olympic Stadium in Beijing August 8, 2009. REUTERS/David Gray

While everyone at AS Roma would probably do the Birdie song standing on their heads if Francesco Totti asked, the Italian capital’s golden boy learned his charms have limits this week.

The striker has been hinting for some time he’d like to come out of international retirement, having quit Italy after being part of Lippi’s 2006 World Cup-winning team.

The most recent come-get-me call was last month, when he said he would “think twice” about returning if Marcello Lippi picked up the phone.

But Lippi is either not getting the signals or he’s turning a deaf ear.

“Francesco is an extraordinary lad and player, but he’s made his decision and I’m not going back on it,” Lippi told reporters at the Azzurri’s training camp for Wednesday’s friendly in Switzerland.

There are two ways the Roma captain can interpret this. Either Lippi wants him back but would like the player to explicitly say he has made a U-turn, so it doesn’t seem like the boss is coming cap in hand for help after Italy’s dreadful Confederations Cup showing.

Or Lippi has no place in his plans for a gifted-yet-injury prone 32-year-old and Totti’s retirement is a good way to sidestep the issue. After all, Lippi already has plenty of people on the wrong side of their prime — what he needs are more players whose best days are in front of them.

I suspect it’s the second option. In which case, Totti would be wise to stop dropping the hints, take Paolo Maldini’s lead and devote his exception talents exclusively to his club in the twilight of his career.

PHOTO: AS Roma’s Francesco Totti celebrates after scoring against Ghent during their UEFA Europa League qualifier at the Otten stadium in Ghent Aug 6, 2009. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Italy’s entire soccer infrastructure needs an overhaul, captain Fabio Cannavaro said after the world champions arrived home from their Confederations Cup nightmare.

Elimination in the group stages after defeats to Egypt and Brazil followed a difficult few weeks for Serie A, with AC Milan’s Kaka sold to Real Madrid and other top players threatening to leave the stuttering league.

“We need reconstruction and not just the national team. Let’s start with the infrastructure, the stadiums, but also the youth teams,” the 35-year-old Juventus defender told reporters.

Pundits have said Italy have too many ageing players and that coach Marcello Lippi is wrong to expect them to repeat their 2006 World Cup success in South Africa next year.

Domestically, Serie A clubs are losing out on revenue because, unlike English sides, they do not own their stadiums.

Milan have also said favourable Spanish tax laws make it difficult to compete in the transfer market with La Liga.

No Italian side reached the Champions League quarter-finals last season and few big name players look likely to head to Serie A for next term.

Promoting young Italians such as Inter Milan’s teenage fullback Davide Santon is the obvious answer but Cannavaro warned that the quality was lacking.

“Enough with this story about the oldies, if I really annoy people then my place is up for grabs but Lippi makes the decisions,” added the defender, who equalled Paolo Maldini’s all-time Italy caps record of 126 against Brazil.

“I don’t see any phenomenons around in Italian football. There are no more Tottis, Baggios or Del Pieros. Today it is enough for a defender to be tall, cute, blonde and a dribbler and they think that makes them a good player.”

AS Roma striker Francesco Totti has retired from international football while fellow World Cup winner Alessandro Del Piero, 34, has been overlooked by Lippi for almost a year.

PHOTOS: Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro (R) challenges Brazil’s Luis Fabiano during their Confederations Cup soccer match at the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria June 21, 2009. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

American soccer fans aren’t noted for their nastiness but the reaction to Giuseppe Rossi, New Jersey native, scoring twice for Italy against the U.S in their 3-1 Confederations Cup defeat on Monday has been surprisingly vitriolic.

What has upset U.S fans is that Rossi was born and bred in the U.S. but chose to play for another country and then — to add insult to injury — celebrated when he scored twice against his country of birth.

Rossi has Italian parents (his father was a soccer coach) also holds Italian citizenship, moved to Parma when he was 12 and was part of the Italian club’s youth scheme before joining Manchester United aged 17. He has represented Italy at youth level before joining the full national side. He now plays in Spain for Villarreal and is the subject of some pretty intense speculation linking him with a move back to one of Italy’s top clubs.

There is now a facebook group with nearly 400 members called ‘We Hate Giuseppe Rossi’ which features a picture of the forward with the word ‘Scum’ superimposed on it. Twitter contributors have labelled Rossi a traitor and there is worse out there.

The word “traitor” is entirely out of place in describing Rossi. In the modern, globalised world it is nothing at all out of the ordinary for players to have dual nationalities. It happens all the time. In fact, if my wife were to give birth to a son here in Miami, he would be eligible to play for four different countries (including, like Rossi, the U.S and Italy). These sort of situations are going to become more and more common in the future.

But it is particularly unfair to attack Rossi for his choice.

First of all, there is the matter of identity. With two Italian parents, Rossi clearly has a strong affinity for Italy.

Secondly, having left the U.S at the age of 12, he has not been part of the U.S youth coaching set-up and so owes nothing to U.S soccer (the bitterness would be more understandable had Rossi benefited from years of American coaching and soccer academies and then as an adult chosen to play for Italy).

Thirdly, he moved to Italy before he was even a teenager and received five years of coaching, schooling and development with Parma and the Italian Football Federation’s coaches, so he owes them much more than he owes U.S Soccer. I mean, he even played for Italy’s Under-16 team.

Often players choose to ‘adopt’ a country in order to gain an easier chance at becoming an international player. But Rossi can hardly be accused of that. As the online magazine American Soccer News puts it:

“In fact, the decision to play for Italy was a big risk if he ever wanted to have a national team career of any sort. Winners of four World Cups (including the most recent edition) and home to one of the best professional leagues on the planet, competition for Italy’s national team spots is fierce. Personnel decisions are analyzed meticulously by the country’s soccer-mad press. The pressure on players fortunate enough to don the national team kit is intense.

“Every mistake is scrutinized at great length in the papers and cafes and grottos and wherever else people gather. Many players’ lives (and those of their families) are ruined as a result. Why would any young man make the decision to expose himself to this maelstrom when he had a far easier, safer choice available to him?

“Rossi would have been all but guaranteed a starting spot for the US, probably for as long as he wanted, where he would not have been subject to anywhere near the same scrutiny.”

Indeed, to add to that, Rossi could find himself, in a year’s time, if his current excellent form deserts him, not making the Italy World Cup squad and be sat at home watching the U.S playing in South Africa and knowing that he would have walked into their team.

So why the bitterness about someone who hasn’t lived in the U.S since he was 12? I think it shows, above all, the deep disappointment among North American fans who have been waiting and waiting for a genuine world class talent to emerge.

While the U.S has produced scores of decent professionals, they really haven’t found anyone who would attract the likes of Manchester United or AC Milan to get their chequebooks out.

The all-time top scorer for the U.S national side, Landon Donovan, has had three tries at a career in the Bundesliga and failed to make the grade on every occasion. Freddy Adu was hailed as the first American global soccer star and although he is still only 20, his career so far in Europe has stuttered along.

Rather than vent fury at Rossi, American fans would do better to ask themselves whether Rossi would be the player he is now if he had chosen to stay in the United States and spend his formative years with a junior club here and then join a Major League Soccer team?

The sad truth is that if Rossi had stayed in the U.S, we probably wouldn’t be arguing about him now — he’d be just another no-name in the MLS, getting the occasional outing in the national side, playing with the anonymous lack of flair and style that is unfortunately typical of players coached in the U.S system.

PHOTO: Italy’s Giuseppe Rossi celebrates after scoring against the U.S during their Confederations Cup match at the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria, June 15, 2009. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

For all their scepticism about South Africa’s potential to host the World Cup, the build-up to the test event, the Confederations Cup, has so far gone without any major hitches.

It is a dream scenario for the home nation and FIFA, still trying to temper the doubters and persuade the world all will be ready by 2010, has added to the chorus of congratulations.

Sepp Blatter devoted a good deal of his traditional pre-tournament news conference on Friday to pouring scorn on the doubters.

Admittedly, there is much last minute activity and privately officials have spoken of the frustration of a society where urgency is not always a priority.

But in a country desperate to prove it can put on an event of the magnitude of the World Cup, South Africa is ahead in the PR race.

The only setback, ironically, has been the weather. It might be winter but on the Highveld, where the four venues for the Confederation Cup are situated, the cold season is normally mildly pleasant.

The air is brisk and after hours it gets cold but the days are usually filled with sunshine. Except for this week. Teams arrived to frigid conditions and unseasonal rain and spent the first days bemused by the weather.

The Italians, in particular, made much of the wet. Their friendly win against New Zealand in Pretoria on Wednesday was played in a constant downpour and the non-playing staff and spectators were bundled up as if on an Artic expedition.

The television pictures beamed back to Italy would certainly have put off a few potential tourists, who had planned to come out for the 2010 tournament.

But on the eve of kick off of the first game, South Africa v Iraq on Sunday, the sunshine has come out. Now the pressure is back on the organisers.

PHOTO: South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma reacts after being given a soccer jersey by the national soccer team before their training session at Orlando stadium in Soweto June 13, 2009. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

After bagging his 300th career goal last month, AC Milan’s Filippo Inzaghi has set his sights on Roberto Baggio’s tally of 318.

The 35-year-old hit a hat-trick in Sunday’s 5-1 thrashing of Torino in Serie A to take his total up to 304 and he looks good to achieve his target next season.

This got me wondering whether reaching a milestone set by a universally recognised great of the modern game will win over those still sceptical about Inzaghi’s talents.

Inzaghi’s goal feats often fail to receive the enthusiastic greeting they get in Italy outside his homeland, especially with British fans and journalists.

“English colleagues have often suggested that ‘SuperPippo’ was nothing more than a ‘poacher’ and a ’six-yard merchant’, with a marked penchant for taking a ‘dive’ to boot,” Irish Times correspondent Paddy Agnew wrote in his book Forza Italia.

Agnew, who has covered Serie A since the 1980s, argues that Inzaghi is no more of a diver than his colleagues who have played in the Premier League “Saint Michael Owen, Ruud Van Nistelrooy or Wayne Rooney included”.

But the accusation that he is little more than a goal-hanger may be harder to shake off. His first goal of the 2007 Champions League final against Liverpool, which he deflected in with his arm, is seen by many as a typical Inzaghi effort.

What critics fail to take account of is that Inzaghi’s knack of being in the right place at the right time is more than just luck, it stems from the understanding he has with his team mates and his superb ability to read the game.

What’s more, you don’t score 300 plus goals just by sticking out random body parts. Indeed, I’d says Inzaghi’s second strike in the 2007 Champions League final, where he rounded the keeper and coolly slotted in from a tight angle, was much more typical than his first.

And while he is not a playmaker forward in the mould of Baggio, scoring goals is not his only contribution, as displayed by the smart lay-off he produced to create Clarence Seedorf’s winner for Milan at Chievo Verona two weekends ago.

Inzaghi has already pulled off many achievements, including being part of Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning squad, so I doubt that one more will dispel the reputation he has gained, in Britain at least, for simply being an expert poacher.

For blogs on other sports than soccer, check out http://blogs.reuters.com/sport

PHOTO: AC Milan’s Filippo Inzaghi celebrates with team mate David Beckham (R) after scoring against Torino during their Serie A match at the San Siro, April 19, 2009. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi