Touch of Brazil in Italy

Football : The presence of Eder Martins in the Azzurri ranks has triggered a debate among fans and critics

The moment has passed, but it still feels strange that Éder is the scorer who helped seal Italy’s qualification for the 2016 European championship. It is not that Italy called up a Brazilian to lead its attack, but rather that it needed to in the first place.

It is neither illegal nor exceptional anymore for national teams to field players born outside their country. Éder Citadin Martins, though born in Brazil, qualified for Italy on two grounds, both by residency (he has lived in Italy long enough) and family heritage (he is a dual citizen of both countries).

But what is shocking to some Italians is that given the country’s history of wonderful strikers — like Luigi Riva, Paolo Rossi, Alessandro Del Piero and even Christian Vieri and Salvatore Schillaci, known by his nickname Totò — it had to borrow a player who was born and raised in another culture.

Éder, who turns 29 next month, cannot understand the fuss about his selection. He was never asked by Brazil to play for its national team and has played for clubs in Italy since 2006. In March, he was called up for the first time by Italy’s coach, Antonio Conte.

His goal against Azerbaijan last weekend was typical of the form that fans of Sampdoria have grown to know and love. Sensing the space behind Azerbaijan’s defense, Éder ran ahead of the play. Once the pass from Marco Verratti found him, Éder simply gave the goalkeeper no chance with his shot.

Small and slightly chunky, swift and uncomplicated in his play, Éder is a true finisher. He senses hesitation in defenders, is quite direct and can finish seemingly any way that pleases him, especially with his right foot.

Like Brazilians of old, he can impart swerve on long free kicks. He rarely seems to finish with anger, preferring to guide the ball, to caress it, beyond the keeper.

“Éder?” said Brazil’s national team manager, Dunga, when asked by La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper earlier this year. “He was on my list of players to watch in Europe. I’ve seen some film of him playing for Sampdoria; he has great touches, really Brazilian.

“Conte picked him? Well, these days football is a global game, and footballers take the best offer they get. The Azzurri have pulled off a good stroke. Éder is a guy who can score goals.”

Sound familiar? Before the 2014 World Cup, Spain selected Diego Costa to lead its attack, and Brazil’s then-coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, said something similar.

Brazil, the World Cup host last year, was embarrassed at the tournament in part because once Neymar  was injured, it had no striker worthy of the name.

Costa — so far — hasn’t looked the part for Spain, either. He was dropped from the current roster for two reasons. First, he hasn’t fit in with the team’s style, scoring just once in nine games. In addition, Vicente Del Bosque, Spain’s coach, explained last week that he did not approve of Costa’s foul tactics when he played for his club, Chelsea, against Arsenal last month.

Now that Spain has convincingly qualified without him, it will be interesting to see if Costa gets another game with La Roja.

Éder seems a better fit with Italy, even if some Italians find it hard to swallow. Back in March, Conte acknowledged there is a shortage of top Italian players by selecting both Éder and Franco Vázquez, a midfielder who was born in Argentina. It was a move that generated plenty of discussion.

“The Italian teams should be Italian,” insisted Roberto Mancini, the former striker who now coaches Inter Milan. “Someone who was not born in Italy, even if they have relatives, I don’t think deserve to.”

Mancini then mistakenly said that every player who played for Germany was born in Germany. Not so. Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski both were born in Poland and won World Cups with Germany — and Klose is now Germany’s all-time leading scorer.

The world today is more mobile, and more global, than ever. And the proud soccer nations of Italy and Spain have always adopted foreigners if they are available and have the right soccer skills.

Éder is apparently the eighth Italian-Brazilian, and the 43rd “oriundo” (a player born outside Italy) to wear the Azzurri jersey.

He follows Mauro Camoranesi, who was born in Argentina but won a World Cup with Italy in 2006 after he qualified because his great-grandfather was an Italian who moved to Argentina.

Going even further back, two of the greatest strikers ever, Alfredo di Stéfano and José Altafini made similar transitions from South America to Europe. Di Stéfano, whose grandfather moved from Sicily to Argentina, represented Argentina in 1947 and then Colombia two years later. After joining Real Madrid in 1953, he later played for the Spanish national team from 1957 to 1961.

Altafini switched sides from Brazil to Italy in the early 1960s and remains a television voice respected by Italians. “It wasn’t me who left Brazil. It was Brazil that left me,” Altafini memorably said of the fact that once he left his homeland for Milan, Brazil would not pick him again.

Footnote to Americans: Joe Gaetjens, who scored the goal for the United States team that upset England in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, was a Haitian who was never awarded American citizenship.