While Inter’s Champions League triumph was a major boost to Serie A, the Nerazzurri’s continued domination of Calcio does nothing but hurt the Italian national team. Inter guaranteed Italy’s clubs will have four spots to fight over for the opportunity to play in the Champions League yet during their quest to achieve European glory the Nerazzurri barely had any Italian starters. Mario Balotelli was often clashing with former coach Jose Mourinho and saw his playing time limited towards the end of last season while Davide Santon was out injured.

While Inter did not rely on players from the peninsula, Juventus often fielded several Italian players in their starting lineup but they failed miserably last season. The problem was the reliance on aging veterans such as Mauro Camoranesi, Fabio Grosso and Fabio Cannavaro who were already past their best. Former Italy boss Marcello Lippi had 9 Bianconeri players in his initial squad before he cut Grosso, Nicola Legrottaglie and Antonio Candreva. There is no doubt Lippi made some mistakes, but he cannot be blamed for everything, in particular when Inter, as Serie A and European champions, did not start a single Italian while the struggling Bianconeri had a number of key players such as Gianluigi Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini.

Fast forward to Euro 2012 qualifiers which are looming in early September and one can notice the choices made by Cesare Prandelli in principle were not conflicting with those of Lippi. Prandelli has rightfully opted for younger players but he is still relying on a Bianconeri core. Prandelli’s most debatable decision so far has been calling up Amauri in a surprise and perhaps wrong move. Amauri is already too old to play in World Cup 2014 and is too static to present a threat against experienced and fast opponents. Prandelli should have called Sampdoria’s Giampaolo Pazzini but obviously the Azzurri boss has issues with the striker and did not hide it in a recent statement. Against the Ivory Coast, Prandelli was missing Juve’s Buffon but he still picked Marco Motta, Leonardo Bonucci and Chiellini who play for the Bianconeri while the mediocre Cristiano Molinaro, who was offloaded by Juve in 2010, started on the left side. Simone Pepe was also in the starting lineup while Amauri led the charge and Claudio Marchisio came on in the second-half. This means there were six Juventus starters, another who came off the bench not to mention a guaranteed starter in Buffon who was missing due to injury.

If Juve do sign Salvatore Bocchetti and Antonio Di Natale then the number of internationals with a connection to the club will increase further. For the Azzurri to succeed, the Bianconeri must achieve positive results and compete on all fronts in order for the players to be mentally and physically prepared. If Juventus struggle like last season, then Italy’s chances will be harmed. Amid all the hoopla surrounding the inclusion of Mario Balotelli and Antonio Cassano, in what could be Prandelli’s biggest adjustment from the Lippi era so far, the backbone of Italy is still composed of Juventus players.

All fans, including Milan and Inter supporters, cannot deny the significant role played by Juve in feeding the Azzurri, with the successful campaign of Germany 2006 perhaps summing the situation best. Starting with Lippi who coached the Bianconeri during two successfull spells and ending with Buffon, the Azzurri were clearly reliant on Juventus. Despite the Calciopoli scandal which forced Juve to sell many of the stars, the final against France featured many players with Juventus connection such as France’s Zinedine Zidane and David Trezguet as well as Gianluca Zambrotta (left that summer for Barcelona) and Cannavaro (departed to Real Madrid that summer). Simply put, Italy’s fortunes are linked with those of Juventus and coach Prandelli will hope the Bianconeri can have a solid season in order to help revive the Azzurri’s fortunes.