Marco Tardelli believes Italy are starting to recover from the difficulties they have created for themselves and says Sandro Tonali has the qualities required to strengthen their midfield.
The 1982 World Cup winner was speaking at the Festival dello Sport in Trento, where he was asked about the players currently operating in the centre of the pitch.
“They are players with a certain personality,” Tardelli said, with quotes reported by TuttoMercatoWeb. “Tonali has what’s needed in midfield. I believe that bit by bit we’ll manage to come out of the tunnel.”
Tardelli was also asked about Roberto Mancini’s prediction that Italy could win a trophy within four years.
“I want to believe it, because Mancini is the national team coach and the national team belongs to all of us,” he said. “I think the second game was an important key to being able to go far. I believe in it.”
Giovanni Carnevali has made a similar prediction about Luciano Spalletti at Juventus, but Tardelli said the two situations should not be confused.
“Those are private problems. The national team is public. Juventus is private,” he said.
Tardelli scored in the 1982 World Cup final, and his emotional celebration remains one of the most recognisable images in Italian football. He wants the achievements of that team to be remembered for more than winning the trophy.
“Thank goodness nobody forgets me and my team-mates,” he said. “I hope it’s remembered as something very important for an Italy that at that moment was in difficulty. And not only in football terms.”
Italy’s success in 1982 came four years after the team had finished fourth at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Tardelli believes the two squads were linked by the quality of their football and that the earlier campaign helped lay the foundations for the later triumph.
“In 1982 we had sparkling football and we won the World Cup,” he said. “In 1978 we had sparkling football and we prepared ourselves for the victory of 1982.”
When asked who he would like to see lead FIFA, Tardelli chose not to name a candidate.
“I don’t have a name but a great fear, guess what it is,” he said.