SO Sacchi finally jumped. No one could say that Arrigo Sacchi's resignation as Italy's coach came as a shock but the fact that he has resigned to immediately climb back onto the managerial tightrope at his old hunting ground of AC Milan certainly prompts intriguing speculation.
As Sacchi leads out Milan in a potentially difficult Champions League home tie against Norwegian side Rosenborg tomorrow night, he knows only too well that he has, to some extent, gone back to square one. Was he a failure with Italy? Did his four successful seasons with AC Milan (one league title and two Champions Cups between 1987 and 1991) owe more to the brilliance of the talented Dutch trio of Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gull it and Frank Rijkaard than to his innovative methods? All the old questions are up for the asking again.
Five months behind schedule, the Sacchi/Italy saga is finally over. For five months, Sacchi has been receiving nationwide encouragement to jump before he got pushed. For five months following Italy's ignominious first round elimination from the European Championship finals, fans and media critics alike have been urging him to pack his bags and head west.
Sacchi's stubborn self belief and a $1 .2 million annual contract not due to expire until December 1998 rather blocked that plan. Sacchi rejects the widespread view that his Italy has never been either consistently impressive or entertaining. Fans and critics might point to some dreadful performances over the last five years but the coach himself points to a 1994 World Cup final defeat by Brazil, in a penalty shoot out at that.
Two recent unimpressive World Cup wins against Moldova and Georgia followed by a 2-1 friendly defeat by Bosnia in Sarajevo last month seemed definitively to seal Sacchi's fate. Onerous contract notwithstanding, it was widely believed that he would have been sacked at a Football Federation meeting next week when a new president, Luciano Nizzola, will be elected.
Now that Sacchi has jumped, how will he fare on his return to a much changed and currently demoralised Milan? Secondly, who will replace him as national coach and how will the new man set about preparing for Italy's next fixture, nothing less than a World Cup qualifier against England at Wembley in February?
Sacchi's return to Milan, of course, was made possible by the resignation offer on, Sunday from the club's Uruguayan coach Oscar Washington Tabarez, hours after the club had been beaten 3-2 by Piacenza in what was Milan's seventh defeat in 22 competitive outings this season. Tabarez, who joined Milan in July, doubtless did not expect his resignation to be accepted.
After all, for weeks now the Milan acting president, Adriano Galliani, has been repeating ad nauseam that Milan does not sack a coach in mid season and that Tabarez had the full confidence of the club and would stay at his post until at least next June.
Sunday's reverse seems to have been one setback too many. This fourth league defeat of the season (the others were against Sampdoria, AS Roma and Fiorentina) came just four days after the club had been knocked out of the Italian Cup by Vicenza, the current surprise leaders of Serie A.
If Sacchi was looking for an opportunity prove, once and for all, that he really AC Milan certainly provides it. Occasionally disgruntled stars such as Croat Zvonimir Boban (played out of position), Roberto Baggio and Marco Simone (in contention for the same place) allied to off form or injured stars such as Paolo Maldini, Demetrio Albertini, Montenegrin Dejan Savicevic and Franco Baresi have deprived Milan of its normal competitive bite.
Sacchi will have to regalvanise the squad, sort out his player options and, very probably, kick a deal of highly expensive ass.
Furthermore, for his first game back in charge since he left the club in 1991 to take over as national coach, Sacchi will be without three important players in Liberian striker George Weah, French midfielder Marcel Desailly and Stefano Eranio, all suspended.
Milan need only a draw against Rosenborg to qualify for an all Italian Champions League quarter final tie with newly crowned World Club champions Juventus. Picking up the draw should be well within Milan's reach but beating Juventus in the next round will be a different matter. Of course, the tact that Milan can at best only finish second in Group D behind Portuguese champions Porto is a further weighty inheritance from the shortlived Tabarez era, since Milan have already lost to both Porto and IFK Gothenburg in the European League.
The task now facing Sacchi at Milan is not easy and if he manages to turn around the club's season, if he manages to get them back into the championship race or indeed seriously threaten Juventus in that probable Champions League quarter final tie next March, then he will have gone a long way to silencing a nationwide army of critics.
As regards Sacchi's successor at national level, the highly successful under 21 coach Cesare Maldini is favourite to take the post, with 1982 World Cup winning captain and goalkeeper Dino Zoff a close contender. Maldini, already familiar with the inner workings of the Italian federation, may get, the nod at that meeting next week.
