Mar
10
Balotelli heading for World Cup?
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As Italy manager Marcello Lippi gets ready to decide his squad for the 2010 World Cup, a big question is whether he will pick controversial Inter Milan player Mario Balotelli. To be fair, perhaps it is not very correct to call the young striker “controversial”, as all that he has done is try to play football. The fact that he is black and his parents come from Ghana, however, has stirred up many negative emotions in Serie A, where racism is still quite prevalent.
Since making his debut for Inter and becoming the first black Italian player picked for the national squad, Balotelli has been the subject of jeers and taunts almost everywhere he plays in Italy. Juventus fans in particular got so out of hand, that the club was fined and ordered to play one of their home games without any supporters.
It is a reminder that Europe is still quite divided on some issues, and unfortunately it is not just Italy that still holds strong racist feelings. Things can sometimes get bad in the Spanish league too, but Italy is perhaps the biggest country where this sentiment is still rife amongst many of the people.
Credit to Balotelli, however, because he has not allowed the jeers to put him off his game, and he has concentrated on his football as best he can. He probably deserves to be included on the plane to South Africa, where he can add some much needed firepower that has been missing recently from Italy’s forward line.