Sergeant Gattuso said yes. But it is a national team always in emergency

In a Milan-Totenham match in 2011, he almost slapped Joe Jordan, the English coach who had reprimanded him from the bench. Another time, he threatened Lippi himself: 'If you don't take me to Germany, I'll make like Fantozzi and tie myself to the Italy bus,' Gattuso blurted out with his usual nerve.

Because of these characteristics, already today or Thursday at the latest (when the Federal Council is scheduled to meet), Gattuso will sign the contract that will bind him to the national team for at least a year with the same salary as Luciano Spalletti. The 5 September debut in Bergamo against Estonia is still a long way off, but the new Azzurri coach knows that after the disaster with Norway, further falls are not allowed.

With the help of Leonardo Bonucci (drawn from the Under-20 side), the priority is of course to qualify for the World Cup, while also trying to build something for the future. Maybe by developing the brightest elements of the Under 21, already qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Championship after the victory (0-1) over Slovakia-.

Everything OK, then? Solution found? Can we go back to waving the tricolour?

Perhaps we have too many illusions. To err is human, but to persevere is diabolical. And to say that after so many beatings, we should be inoculated. Instead, we keep falling into the same mistake. That of putting our hands in our hair and saying that the important thing is to get out of the emergency. And that later, once the emergency is over, that is, once we have reached the World Cup, we will think about the other problems. Which we never solve. In this sense the national team is a perfect photograph of Italy.

And so Gattuso, who as a coach does not have a brilliant CV (last season he coached Hayduk Split), is now being taken to salvage what can be saved.

With Ranieri out of the picture, who but him, Ringhio, can shake up a group without pride and motivation? Who if not him, Gattuso, can give back the sense of the Azzurri shirt to youngsters who, as soon as a muscle creaks, immediately go home?

Agreed: Gattuso is great at pulling the ears of the listless. A perfect sergeant. But is that the only problem with a national team that hasn't got one right since the 2006 World Cup? Is there something deeper going on if once Macedonia and another Norway slap us in the face? What does Buffon, the inspirer of this solution, think about it? And Gravina? All accidents along the way?

Why is it that at big matches our players arrive broken or tired? Whose fault is it if the clubs do nothing to benefit the national team? And where have the young talents gone? How can youngsters grow if in the big clubs the key roles are always filled by foreigners?

Let's take this new Club World Cup where on Wednesday night Inter will play in the USA at the Rose Bowl, against the Mexican side Monterrey. But does that sound like a good idea?

The Nerazzurri came out of the Munich final with broken bones, as if they had been hit by a truck. Four of them then also played in the Azzurri jersey against Norway. And now, after these two brushes, they will have a shock treatment in Los Angeles.

We would not like to be in the shoes of Cristian Chivu, the new Inter coach. That he is good, we saw at Parma. But he is already, even before he starts, facing a difficult test. If it goes badly, fingers crossed, it would not be a good start.

This is our football. Football at the last gasp, where commitments are multiplied in order to multiply the money. And the national team in this merry-go-round is always the last to arrive. And then we cry scandal. Where have Gigi Riva and Paolo Rossi gone?

Better therefore to keep quiet. And do less rhetoric. Hoping that Sergeant Growl will give all our vain little princes a good scolding. That he sets them straight as one does with recruits. Gattuso also says he trusts in the three-man defence, in the promotion of youngsters and that Tonali, Barella and Donnarumma will be the leaders of his national team.

All fine speeches that we have heard many times before, though: with Mancini and then with Spalletti. And before that with Ventura. Now it's Gattuso's turn. We love you, dear Ringhio, but watch out. The first to pay, if things go wrong, you already know who it will be.