Thursday March 15, 2007

Francesco Totti. I’m a fan, and have been ever since the first game I saw him play – a Roma - Barcelona friendly way back when, and the 16-year-old Francesco thumped in an absolute cracker. Being a follower of Er Pupone hasn’t always been easy, for aside from the dinky chips, drives and other delights there’s also been the short temper, petulance and god-awful goal celebrations. Still, I’ve persisted, and been proud to do so.

These days though I’m having my biggest crisis of faith ever, and the reason is simple – Totti’s bizarre relationship with the Azzurri. Basically, the Giallorossi skipper went to the world Cup with a dodgy ankle, didn’t play particularly well and then announced he’d not be available for selection until he felt better, sometime in 2007. He wasn’t retiring from international duty, mind, just taking a sabbatical. This week brought an update – put together by his press people in collaboration with the Italy press office, for this has become a major story nationally. The release makes clear that Totti won’t now be available ‘til September because he wants to make sure his foot gets 100% better, but that when he does feel up to donning the Azzurro again there’ll be a place waiting for him. In the meantime he sends his ‘best wishes’. Troppo buono, capo, as the Italians say – bless.

Here’s my problem with this though. First off, right now Totti is on track to record his greatest season ever with Roma, and is the top scorer in Serie A. That doesn’t sound like a player struggling with injury to me. Secondly, it’s up to Francesco whether he plays for Italy or not – but how on earth can he expect to come back in the autumn having looked the other way last winter, when Italy’s qualification looked seriously compromised. Other players dug the Azzurri out of the hole back then, and come September you can hardly expect them to just rewind to accommodate the Roman star. Particularly since his last few showings were anything but exceptional.

People in the UK may berate the inflated egos of certain England stars, but while they may miss the odd friendly through fixture congestion I can’t imagine the likes of Frank Lampard, Joe Cole or Wayne Rooney pulling a stunt like this, still less it being tolerated. The same should go for Totti. He may be the most influential Italian player since Roberto Baggio, but if they have to do without him now then that’s the way it should stay.