MLS editor hits back at Antonio Conte’s words

MLSsoccer.com Editor-in-Chief Simon Borg had some words for Italy manager Antonio Conte.

When Italian national team head coach Antonio Conte spoke out about why he decided to not select a pair of MLS players – Andrea Pirlo and Sebastian Giovinco – for his Euro 2016 selection, the Italian stated that “if you choose to play in MLS, you pay the consequences in footballing terms.”

MLSsoccer.com Editor-in-Chief Simon Borg wrote about why Conte’s words are a tired cliche the league is continuing to get past. Borg went on to explain why the idea of not selecting an Italian legend like Pirlo and the reigning MLS MVP and Golden Boot winner Giovinco was a questionable idea.

When the news broke out on Tuesday that Italy announced their Euro 2016 provisional squad, Conte told the press that he spoke to Pirlo and sent scouts to look at him and Giovinco. “I picked the 30 who I think will give me the most guarantees,” said Conte according to Football Italia.

Borg wrote, “but for Conte to turn what was a personal decision into a statement of fact on Tuesday that ‘if you choose to go and play there then you can pay the consequences in footballing terms’ is an ignorant move, a gratuitous dig and the perpetuation of a tired soccer cliché.”

The idea that Conte didn’t select the two players because they play in MLS, is something that doesn’t reflect what other managers think. Ireland, Albania, and Belgium selected MLS player’s in their Euro squads, and two of those clubs will face-off against Italy in group action.

Borg went on to mention that Italy has struggled against the ‘MLS-heavy’ U.S team in recent years and that it would be interesting to see Ireland’s Robbie Keane score against Italy and prove that MLS players are just as good as other players playing abroad.

What Borg’s is saying makes sense. If Conte think’s players playing abroad hurts their chances with the national team, then why did he call up Giovinco last fall for Euro qualification matches? Why has the Italian media been clamouring over his move to Toronto FC? Conte didn’t have to mention that players playing abroad pay the consequences for not being selected to national teams.

The idea that they would miss important league games if they made the team makes sense, but what Borg see’s from Conte is a cliché that has to stop being associated with MLS anymore.

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