Football, Buffon: “World Cup qualification is the goal, it would be magic for the country”

Rome, Dec. 13 (LaPresse) – “Our goal is the World Cup. My good fortune was not so much experiencing it as a protagonist, but as a fan. I miss when I was a fan as a young boy and followed Italy at the World Cups.” This was said by Gianluigi Buffon, head of delegation of the Azzurri, during the Atreju panel ‘When sport becomes community: the role of oratories in the education of young people’. “Those were emotions I enjoyed because as a protagonist you enjoy them less. Going to the World Cup would be magic for the entire country and Italy would become a great oratory where everything is shared. I have rediscovered this magic in very few events, and the football World Cup is one of them,” Buffon explained. “We have gone through several moments of crisis with the national team. It is important to have an idea, a vision, to know which path to take and avoid reliving sad and low moments in terms of results,” he added. “When there is a crisis of talent, one must not think about the immediate term. Talent is something you cannot forge or create in the space of one or two years; there is a path behind it, a vision that starts 10–15, even 20 years earlier. If in 10–15 years we want to return to having a certain type of talent, we must work on the most delicate areas where talent is discovered and forged. That is the grassroots age: 6–13 years and 7–14 years. These are the years in which one can unleash and make one’s talent available to others. Clearly, it must be identified and shaped, and today we may be identifying it a bit less since, fortunately, there are many sports (tennis first and foremost) that are attracting the attention of new generations. In football we must be good and capable, also by using different methodologies, so that these youngsters can unleash their nature and the desire to be champions. Lands like ours—as well as Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Croatia—have a football DNA and there will always be talent. The important thing is to know how to see it and not stifle it.”