Prandelli has tough job – Cannavaro

(GSM) – Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro thinks the national team may continue to struggle at the international scene. The 36-year-old claimed that the current Italian generation lack in talent in comparison with the talent of his generation.

“I think there are not many changes we can make. At the moment, Italy is not producing players like in my generation when we had great players,” he told a news conference on Friday.

“It’s not just the national team, it’s the clubs. We have good players but not top drawer. I’ve been saying for a while that the system has to change. We have to invest in youth.”

The Azzurri were dumped out of the group stages as they finished in an embarrassing last behind New Zealand, Slovakia and Paraguay. And Cannavaro believes their failure is due to the Italians’ lack of talent.

“There are no phenomenons,” he said eyebrows raised.

“If they were, we would have brought them. I like Antonio but he played in two European Championships and we didn’t win. Mario is a good young player but he has to demonstrate it more.”

The 36-year-old Cannavaro will join Dubai’s Al-Ahli after failing personally in 2010, four years after he guided Italy to the 2006 World Cup

“Sure it would have been easier to quit in 2006 but it didn’t seem right,” he said. “If this shirt is heavy to wear it’s because of what we did in 2006. Sure this is a dark moment but it can’t cancel the great things we did in 2006.”

Marcello Lippi’s successor is Cesare Prandelli who has a major challenge of reviving the Italian squad, according to Cannavaro.

“Lots of Italian players are not at an international level,” he said.