Bonimba and the National Team: “Spalletti the wrong man. We need a young coach”
Rome, 9 June 2025 – “ On a human level, I’m sorry, but there were no alternatives: Spalletti was the wrong man for the role of coach. After that, I fear that the historic crisis of Italian football will not be resolved by changing yet another coach. Because here the problem is socio-cultural…” Roberto Boninsegna, known as Bonimba, belongs to the best history of the national team. With Paolo Rossi (1982) and Colaussi (1938), he boasts a record: he scored in the semi-final and final of the World Cup. Which we will perhaps watch on television another time. “I managed to do it in 1970 – sighs the Inter and Juve centre-forward –. I scored against Germany in the legendary 4-3 and also against Pelé’s Brazil in the match that was worth the Cup. Unfortunately, it ended badly”.
At least his generation played in the World Cup.
“And also that of Totti, Del Piero, Cannavaro, the champions of 2006”.
Now instead…
“Look, we have a long conversation to have here.”
Let's do it.
“I was the son of a blacksmith. More or less all my classmates at the time came from humble families, from people who had known the dark side of life. For those of us who kicked a ball in the street, the blue jersey was everything. It was the dream that inspired us since we were children”.
Isn't that the case today?
"I don't know and in any case I refuse to believe it. Then of course the world changed, but I, Rivera, Mazzola, Facchetti, Riva, well, for the national team we were willing to do anything."
Boninsegna, his friend Zoff claims that paradoxically in Italy no more champions are born because the orators have disappeared.
“Emotionally Dino is right, once upon a time for a brat playing football, even in the street or in church courtyards, was the only entertainment. But there is more, trust me”.
What?
“We have to get technical here.”
Let's go.
“Aside from the moral aspects I mentioned, it is clear that in our country there are no champions at present. I could get away with saying that it is the mothers’ fault, that they no longer produce champions. But that is not enough”.
Let's hear the sequel.
"We need to question ourselves about the quality of our teachers, the instructors who dedicate themselves to the football training of the very young. I'm old now, I don't want to be a professor, but I ask myself a few questions."
Otherwise we return to the exclusive fault of the mothers who no longer produce a Totti or a Rivera.
“Exactly. Then there’s another topic. Did you hear what my peer Fabio Capello said?”
He said that Serie A should make it mandatory to have at least three players eligible for national team call-up from the first minute of every single match.
“And it is an intelligent provocation. Like Capello, I know that laws and regulations do not allow it, yet it is essential to push coaches to enhance the Italianness of the players. Otherwise we will not get out of this. It is a question of mentality. In Spain or Germany they teach dribbling to kids and then throw them into the fray, at the top”.
Not with us.
“Because people prefer to go for safe second-hand goods, which are almost always foreign.”
Boninsegna, but will we qualify for the 2026 World Cup or will we stay at home for the third time in a row?
“Next question?”
Always the same, sorry.
"We are in a bad way, but we are not done for. The embarrassing performance against Norway, which is not Pelé's Brazil or Messi's Argentina, was embarrassing. Removing Spalletti, as I said at the beginning, was painfully necessary."
And who would you want in his place?
“I would bet on a young man, for all the things we have told each other. I would call De Zerbi, the former Sassuolo coach who now coaches in France and has already worked in England. We need a cultural change. In the name of love for the blue jersey. Which belongs to everyone, you know?”
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