Inter walked into Lumen Field like Mark S clocking in at Lumon. They stepped out on the field in much the same way the main character from the TV show Severance gets into the lift at company headquarters and becomes an Innie; Innie Milan, a team that has no knowledge of what’s going on outside of football. Work is their life.
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Saturday’s game in Seattle was Inter’s 61st of the season. They are exhausted, but specific files still need refining. For Cold Harbor and Allentown in the TV show, see Urawa Red Diamonds and River Plate. There was even an Eagan watching over everything—Kevin Egan, the DAZN commentator in the U.S.
The addition of the Club World Cup to the football calendar has brought some of the themes of Severance to the greatest show on turf. Exploitation and capitalism. Autonomy versus control. The meaning of work. Is this still a game?
“If you’re not inside this world, it is hard to understand the sacrifices a player makes,” Inter centre-back Alessandro Bastoni told the podcast Supernova in April. “We play so much that we’re always away from our families.”
The Club World Cup is the fifth competition Inter have participated in this season. This, as Bastoni explained, is like having a Severance chip implanted. Inter have dorms at their training ground in Appiano Gentile. In fairness, it feels like a luxury spa but this reflects a longstanding tradition in Italian football, where teams spend the night before a match together — even for home games — to sharpen focus and prepare more thoroughly for their opponent.
Bastoni has spoken about the realities of life on the road (Photo: Mattia Ozbot – Inter/Inter via Getty Images)
Between the Euros, Serie A, Coppa Italia, Super Cup, Champions League, Nations League, World Cup qualifiers and Club World Cup, football is Lumon.
“The conversation always boils down to ‘eh, but you earn millions’,” Bastoni said. “But for me that’s completely wrong: time is priceless and no one can give it back to you… I sleep at home two or three nights a week.”
Or none at all when a major tournament is going on in some foreign land. Arguably no team has spent more time on the SVR’d Floor of football than Inter this season. And while they are not completely severed from their Outie, they may as well be.
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Inter shine a light on the indifference of the football calendar.
After losing the Champions League final 5-0 to PSG in Munich, the players really needed to get away. Instead, Bastoni, Davide Frattesi and Nicolo Barella reported for international duty in Florence.
A week had not passed and they were in Oslo for a critical World Cup qualifier against Norway. Little of the analysis that followed Italy’s 3-0 defeat factored in the wear and tear, the mental strain. Inter’s players could have used a lie down, some R&R, a cocktail with an umbrella. The distraction of friends and family would have been welcome.
Instead they boarded a flight to Los Angeles for the Club World Cup.
The execs couldn’t rest either. Simone Inzaghi’s decision to leave Inter after their defeat in Munich meant they were without a coach. Reaching the Champions League final had extended their season by a week and rivals with vacancies of their own to fill were able to use that time to take more established coaches like Max Allegri off the board.
Inter were instead stuck in a flow state that became a doom loop. Attempts to hire Cesc Fabregas were complicated by his stake in Como. He would need to sell his shares in order to avoid a conflict of interest. That would take time — time Inter didn’t have — and besides, he was happy by the lake.
Forty-eight hours before taking off for L.A., Inter appointed Cristian Chivu, a member of their treble-winning team in 2010. There was no time to unveil him in Milan. His presentation doubled instead as a pre-Monterrey press conference.
Seven of the players who started against PSG were in Chivu’s first XI at the Rose Bowl. The 3-5-2 was the same as they played under Inzaghi. Inter clocked in again. The lift dinged. They were back on the SVR’d Floor, the Club World Cup logo figuring as a golden hamster wheel.
Inter prepare for another turn around the hamster wheel (Photo: Mattia Ozbot – Inter/Inter via Getty Images)
Perhaps unsurprisingly in this context, Inter fell behind against Monterrey as they did against Urawa Red Diamonds. Games needed to be chased. The tension never eased.
In between these matches, Francesco Acerbi snapped. A fan came to Inter training wearing a PSG shirt and had the cheek make a comment about how he defended against Bradley Barcola. “I’m a serious person,” Acerbi fired back. “I don’t like being made fun of. I come over (to sign an autograph) and that’s OK. But if I turn and hear ‘Acerbi-Barcola’, no. That’s why I’m mad. I’ll fill you in.”
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Inter came back to draw against Monterrey. They came back to beat Urawa Red Diamonds. Lautaro equalised in both games and in both, Inter deserved to win. It was a relief to Chivu. He had overhauled his back three, fielded a trio of left-sided wing-backs simultaneously, and tried to play the kids.
This was no an experiment either. It was something of a necessity. Chivu was reluctant to start Bastoni, Acerbi, and Mkhitaryan again. Marcus Thuram and Davide Frattesi are injured, as is Hakan Calhanoglu, whose father keeps dropping hints about a move to Galatasaray. Mehdi Taremi is stranded in Iran.
All of this has meant Chivu has had to speed up the rejuvenation Inter’s owners wanted to affect this summer. Hired, in part, because of his past in the youth sector, he has played the academy graduates who were either sent out on loan or bought back. He has given minutes to new signings Luis Henrique and Petar Sucic, who arrived in the mini, one-off window FIFA opened ahead of the Club World Cup.
Carboni wins the game (Photo: Mattia Ozbot – Inter/Inter via Getty Images)
It was therefore fitting that one of the next generaton, Valentin Carboni, got the stoppage-time winner against Urawa.
As in Severance (spoiler alert), divergent priorities keep the dramatic tension high with Inter. A 62nd game of the season is due to take place against River Plate at Lumen Field on Thursday. Depending on the outcome, a 63rd, a 64th, 65th and 66th could follow.
On the one hand, Inter desperately need rescuing from more football. And yet, as the season drags on and on, Innie Milan act like they don’t want to leave after all. They want to stay in — for the prize money, out of innate competitiveness, for the shot at redemption the Club World Cup promises.
It is a story about divided selves, conflicting emotions, love of the game and a troubled work-life balance. The next episode — River Plate — will be here before you know it.
It likely won’t be the last.
(Photo: Steph Chambers – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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