{"id":4011,"date":"2026-04-05T15:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/4011\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:48:09","slug":"former-usmnt-coach-jurgen-klinsmann-harsh-criticism-to-italy-lamine-yamal-and-musiala-would-likely-play-in-serie-b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/4011\/","title":{"rendered":"Former USMNT coach J\u00fcrgen Klinsmann harsh criticism to Italy: ‘Lamine Yamal and Musiala would likely play in Serie B’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following their non-qualification to the 2026 World Cup, Italy<\/a> have come under fire, as they have now failed to qualify for three consecutive tournaments. In light of this, the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) is preparing for a \u201crestructuring,\u201d seeking to realign the project. Reflecting on this failure, former USMNT<\/a> coach J\u00fcrgen Klinsmann explained the reason for the poor results, citing Lamine Yamal and Jamal Musiala.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are paying the price for a lack of leaders, players with solid technique, and trust in young talent. In Italy, Lamine Yamal<\/a> and Musiala would probably be playing in Serie B to gain experience. And that simply cannot be\u2026 Tactical culture is also an obstacle. Many coaches, even today, operate with the aim of not losing rather than wanting to win at all costs. And these are the results,\u201d Klinsmann<\/a> said, via RAI.<\/p>\n

Far from being a criticism of Lamine or Musiala<\/a>, J\u00fcrgen Klinsmann points to the lack of development of young players, as few Italian coaches give them real prominence on the pitch. Because of this, they continue to lack \u2018difference-making\u2019 talent as in previous eras, losing a great deal of potential in players like Pietro Comuzzo, Giorgio Scalvini, and Michael Olabode Kayode that remain absent in the national team.<\/p>\n

Klinsmann experienced the \u2018prime\u2019 of Italian soccer firsthand. After shining at VfB Stuttgart, the German was transferred to Inter Milan in 1989, where he went on to play 123 matches. There, he scored 40 goals and won the 1990\u201391 UEFA Cup. Because of this, J\u00fcrgen has lived through that golden era firsthand, pointing to the lack of a solid structure at the youth level as a main cause behind the national team\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

\"2014<\/p>\n

2014 Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann of the United States.<\/p>\n

Osasuna\u2019s Alessio Lisci joins Klinsmann on Italy youth criticism<\/p>\n

While J\u00fcrgen Klinsmann decided to deliver a harsh critique on Italy\u2019s work, CD Osasuna coach Alessio Lisci has joined the strong criticism of the Azzurri. Pointing to the handling of young talent and the lack of structure for player development, the coach delivered a harsh assessment of the national team. Moreover, he highlighted the tactical system as a main cause behind this historic failure.<\/p>\n

\"Legend<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

Legend Buffon joins Italy FA exodus after 2026 World Cup failure as Pep Guardiola reportedly emerges as option<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026It\u2019s evident that the Italian league has a high level, but among the top-5, it\u2019s the one with the most foreigners. The youth academies also have lots of foreigners, especially the top ones\u2026There are no reserve teams, which is another problem. Then the playing system that most teams use is 3-5-2, and this has led to wingers not existing and there being no players who can do one-on-one,\u201d Lisci said, via Diario AS.<\/p>\n

If they truly want to definitively solve their problems, the FIGC may begin to implement radical changes at the youth level across all its teams, seeking to prioritize domestic talent over the arrival of foreign players. Additionally, they could adopt a system similar to Germany\u2019s, in which all youth teams maintain a consistent style of play, ensuring an easier adaptation when players join the national team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following their non-qualification to the 2026 World Cup, Italy have come under fire, as they have now failed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5,3094,3095,1783,1871],"class_list":{"0":"post-4011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-italy","8":"tag-italy","9":"tag-jamal-musiala","10":"tag-jurgen-klinsmann","11":"tag-lamine-yamal","12":"tag-usmnt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}