Exported Talent

I just glanced through the provisional Italian squad. It struck me that every single player plays in Italy. How often does this happen? Even the qualified African teams usually have one or two players who play in Europe somewhere. Why doesn’t Italy export their star players in the same way that other countries do?

Are there any other countries who have a phenomenon like this? England maybe? Outside of Beckham and Hargreaves (isn’t Woodgate still injured?) all of their players play in England. Does it have any affect on performance? Just for curiousity’s sake here is a list of how many Dutch players played in the Netherlands and then the final finished position in the tournament.

‘74 19/22 - 2nd
‘78 17/22 - 2nd
‘82 DNQ
‘86 DNQ
‘90 14/22 - 2nd Round
‘94 14/22 - Quarters
‘98 10/22 - 4th
‘02 DNQ
‘06 20/33 - Qualified

What about Brazil? Just for kicks I peaked at the Brazil squad. Of the 24 players listed there only 2 play in Brazil.