Italy, France far from the teams they were last year

Mauro Camoranesi (16) and Italy escaped Ukraine with a 2-1 victory; France wasn't so lucky, falling at home against Scotland. AP

MAILBAG Gabriele Marcotti will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Some people love watching national teams play. I don't.

Most of the time, there is little at stake in the official matches, let alone the friendlies. What's more, you learn almost nothing about the actual state of the team, as games take place weeks and weeks apart, often against opponents of wildly differing standards.

It's great to play for your country, but, with very few exceptions, it really only matters for a month or so every other year, plus the odd meaningful qualifying game.

All that being said, this past week offered the chance to reflect on the state of the 2006 World Cup finalists and where they stand some 14 months after that night in Berlin.

Italy and France played to a rather dull scoreless draw in Milan last Saturday. The Azzurri then traveled to Ukraine, where they sneaked a rather lucky (but crucial) away win, whereas Les Bleus stumbled to a shock defeat at the hands of Scotland at the Stade de France.

When the dust settled, Italy and France were a surprising second and third behind Alex McLeish's Scotland, the feel-good story of the qualifying campaign thus far. With all due respect to the Scots, it's rather unbecoming for two World Cup finalists to be struggling to qualify for Euro 2008. So how did they fall so far so fast?

One obvious point is that 14 months can be a very long time in this game. Fabien Barthez, Zinédine Zidane, Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti have all retired, either from the game entirely or from the international scene. Some cynics may suggest that Alessandro Del Piero (32), Claude Makélélé (34), Fabio Cannavaro (34) and Lilian Thuram (35) probably should have done the same. The likes of Marco Materazzi, Willy Sagnol, Luca Toni and William Gallas -- all of whom were starters in Berlin -- are all out with injuries of varying degrees of seriousness.

But perhaps the enduring point you're left with is that the versions of France and Italy we saw over the past week simply aren't very good. Both countries seem to have lost their way entirely in the final third of the pitch.

Thierry Henry looked completely out of it in Milan last Saturday. David Trézéguet, who came in for him in the Scotland game, looked even worse. And the less said of Nicolas Anelka, who started both games, the better. Franck Ribéry, so devastating at the club level this season, was practically ethereal. Even the usually consistent Florent Malouda looked badly out of form.

Italy appeared even more at sea. Del Piero produced not a single spark of creativity. Pippo Inzaghi was so isolated he might as well have been on Pitcairn Island hanging out with Fletcher Christian.

Vincenzo Iaquinta was second to every ball. Italy's savior turned out to be Antonio Di Natale -- who is gifted but something of a head case and maddeningly inconsistent -- hardly the type of player around whom you build your future.

To be fair, neither national-team coach inspires much confidence, either. France coach Raymond Domenech seemed to Forrest Gump his way to the World Cup final. Now, he looks a man devoid of ideas: Playing two target men like Trézéguet and Anelka against the big burly Scottish defense was not exactly a stroke of genius, particularly when the French had quick, creative types like Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema on the bench.

As for Italy coach Roberto Donadoni, his sides are the polar opposite of what Donadoni was like as a player: predictable, dull, insecure and unwilling to take chances. He has rotated his squad at every occasion, with little or no success. And while he can take credit for Italy still being in the running, there is no escaping the fact that if the Azzurri had a mere mortal in goal (rather than Gigi Buffon), they probably would be sitting in fourth place right now.

So is it time to panic? Should Donadoni and Domenech pack their bags? Not just yet. They deserve a chance to complete the job (though if either fails to qualify, the chop should be immediate). It's just that last summer seems very, very far away right now. And, if France and Italy continue to stumble, Euro '08 will look very far away as well.

Mailbag

With the book coming out and all, I wondered if now that what the Matrix said is no longer "open to debate," have you sent Mr. Zidane your apology? Well, OK, Materazzi doesn't admit to the mother part, so I guess you're right -- it's only normal footie talk. Funny, I've played the game every week for 38 years and no one has ever told me they "prefer the whore who is my sister." Guess we haunt different pitches. Hope you don't have a sister.
-- Scott Kraft, Los Angeles

OK, so in a column dealing with France and Italy it seems only fair to delay with this issue for the billionth time. For those who don't know, here's a recap:

Materazzi and Zidane tussle during the World Cup final. Materazzi says something to Zidane. Zidane headbutts him and gets sent off. Media speculate that Materazzi said something racist to Zidane. Zidane denies this (Materazzi does, too). Materazzi offers up a reconciliation, Zidane refuses. Materazzi finally reveals what he said to Zidane: "I prefer your sister the whore."

And still, people like Scott Kraft believe that Zidane is somehow justified. I'm not sure why I should apologize to Zidane. For a start, I don't think Zizou particularly cares what I think.

But beyond that, all I said was that he lost his cool and, by getting sent off, possibly cost his team the World Cup. And, given that Zidane has 14 red cards in his career, it's not the first time he lost his cool. And it's a shame that one of the greatest players of the past 20 years should bow out like this.

The people who should in fact apologize are all the lip-readers, charlatans and assorted rabble-rousers who accused Materazzi of racism. That was totally unfounded (Zidane himself said so from the very beginning) and, frankly, Materazzi should probably sue them.

What you're left with is this simple question: If somebody calls your sister a whore, is it appropriate to head-butt them? Mr. Kraft, who "in 38 years of playing the game," has never heard anyone insult anyone's sister in such a vile way, presumably thinks it's justifiable because the insult is so horrible.

I haven't played the game for that long, but I've heard plenty such insults and far worse -- in my opinion, none justifies a headbutt.