Eder - An Italian Made in Brazil

Goals have a miraculous tendency for clearing any criticism that had preceded them; they’re the perfect antidote to any negative (and forcefully put forward) observations. Goals have lifted Eder from one club to another as his never faltering strike rate attracted ever bigger clubs until, this season he was asked to prove his worth at the highest stage of Italian football.

And a goal is how he answered his latest round of critics, those who had turned up their noses as Antonio Conte turned to him to help revive Italy’s faltering European Championship hopes. Italy has a long tradition of integrating foreign born players in the national team – oriundi, as they are called – with the prime example being that of Mauro Camoranesi, the Argentine who won the World Cup with the Azzurri in 2006.

Given that history, Conte calling up Eder – a Brazilian – to his squad shouldn’t have caused too much consternation. But instead it did, decried by some as further confirmation of the declining standards of Italian football.

The full article can be read on the Botafogo Star.