International Blues

Much has been said about the quality of Milan players these past few years. And yet through it all, Milan has typically averaged between 10 and 15 players called up for International Duty. We currently have only two players in the Euros, and two players in the Copa America. As if the current state of Milan in general isn’t hard enough for fans, we have to watch other clubs like Juventus, who have 12 players competing in the Euros (six for Italy alone.) It’s enough to give Rossoneri the blues.

Not the players you'd necessarily expect to represent Milan this summer

If you break it down, it’s not quite as bad as it seems. In March, we had 12 players called up for the international break. Four of those were youth players, and the youth teams aren’t currently playing any tournaments right now. Four international quality youth players is an amazing thing to have. Well there is actually a fifth, Rodrigo Ely, who could still make the Brazil Olympic squad for Rio later this summer if he is fit.

Hoping to see him in Rio this summer

We have two more players who would have made Conte’s Italy squad, Montolivo and Antonelli, but both are injured. And Bonaventura, who probably would have made anyone else’s Italy squad, but for the coach. Honda was actually called up for Japan for their Kirin Cup tournament, but was injured before he was able to play. All of the players mentioned were called up as recently as March for national team duty.

Our Colombian contingency has been proudly representing in the Copa America

Between some unfortunate injuries and some exciting youth, Milan fans don’t have a lot of players to watch this summer. De Sciglio will play for Italy, Kucka for Slovakia, and both Bacca and Zapata have been representing in the Copa America so far (they have each scored already.)

Donnarumma and Romagnoli certainly have a future with the Azzurri, hopefully Calabria & Locatelli, too (not pictured)

While we obviously do have some issues with quality, a bit of bad luck impacts our numbers of international players, too. But we can’t get too down about it when we consider that we have five players under the age of 23 with recent international caps, all of whom could represent their countries at Euro or World Cup tournaments in the future. And most of them will be representing in the blues.

This post inspired by the music of Garbage’s new album “Strange Little Birds”

International Matches to watch:

Wales vs. Slovakia (Kucka) today at 18:00 CET (noon EDT)

Colombia (Bacca & Zapata) vs. Costa Rica today at 6pm PDT (9pm EDT)

Belgium vs. Italy (De Sciglio) Monday at 21:00 CET (3pm EDT)