The Official Azzurri thread 2

[juventino_italiano]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_na ... Cup_record

[DavidP]

[DavidP]

[RomaShield27]

Italy have officially qualified for Euro 2012 with a 1-0 win against Slovenia. Pazzini goal:



Review:
http://www.gazzetta.it/Nazionale/06-09- ... 7365.shtml

Match stats:
http://www.tuttonazionali.com/?action=r ... otizia=791

[RomaShield27]

Italy rebuilt from scratch – Europe rates us as "favourites" again
Milano, 07 September 2011
http://english.gazzetta.it/Football/07- ... 3283.shtml?

[juventino_italiano]

I wouldnt call them one of the favourites, but i am glad with the improvement of the team.
I dont really expect much from the Euro, and i hope that no matter the result, FIGC sticks with Prandelli, because this team is a work in progress and could have a great world cup in 2014

[Bagg10]

[Zoff82]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/jfk_ ... 3pAQ3aMgRK

[RomaShield27]

Cool review/insight of every Italia game at WC 2006 from someone who was there:

http://equaliserfootball.com/2011/09/29 ... -d-italia/

[Bagg10]

Sunday 2 October, 2011
Italy: Cigarini and Barzagli recalled



Cesare Prandelli has recalled Andrea Barzagli and Luca Cigarini against Serbia and Northern Ireland.
Italy have already sealed their spot in Euro 2012 by winning the Group, but have two final qualifiers to play.

They travel to Belgrade to face Serbia on Friday October 7, then welcome Northern Ireland to Pescara’s Stadio Adriatico on Tuesday October 11.

Juventus defender Barzagli hadn’t worn the Azzurri jersey since a game with Cyprus in September 2008.

Atalanta midfielder Cigarini has never actually played for the senior Italy side, but was called for two games against Estonia and the Faroe Islands in September 2010.

Mario Balotelli of Manchester City and Milan’s Antonio Cassano are also included along with Parma hitman Sebastian Giovinco, Inter’s Giampaolo Pazzini and Giuseppe Rossi of Villarreal.

Gk: Buffon (Juventus), De Sanctis (Napoli), Sirigu (Paris Saint-Germain);

D: Astori (Cagliari), Balzaretti (Palermo), Barzagli (Juventus), Bonucci (Juventus), Cassani (Fiorentina), Chiellini (Juventus), Criscito (Zenit), Maggio (Napoli);

M: Aquilani (Milan), Cigarini (Atalanta), De Rossi (Roma), Marchisio (Juventus), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Nocerino (Milan), Pirlo (Juventus);

F: Balotelli (Manchester City), Cassano (Milan), Giovinco (Parma), Pazzini (Inter), Rossi (Villarreal).

http://www.football-italia.net/oct2p.html

[Bagg10]

Based on current form I would bench Cassano and Rossi for Giovinco and Balotelli/Pazzini.

----------------------------Buffon

Cassani/Maggio---Barzagli----Chiellini---Criscito

--------------De Rossi-----Pirlo------Marchisio

-------------------------Montolivo
----------------Giovinco----------Balotelli/Pazzini

[RomaShield27]

Pazzini and Criscito out of Italy squad
www.Reuters.com - Yesterday, 20:04

ROME - Italy striker Giampaolo Pazzini and defender Domenico Criscito will miss Friday's Euro 2012 Group C qualifier against Serbia through injury, the country's football federation said on Tuesday.

Pazzini, who fought through the pain to play in Inter Milan's 3-0 defeat by Napoli on Saturday, could be fit for Italy's final qualifier against Northern Ireland on October 11 but left-back Criscito is out of both matches with a groin strain.

"He [Pazzini] is suffering pain again in his heel," national team doctor Enrico Castellacci said on the federation's website.
"We will try to get him ready for one of the two games, that is the one against [Northern] Ireland."

Giuseppe Rossi, who has teamed up in attack alongside Antonio Cassano in Cesare Prandelli's recent line-ups, is also doubtful for the trip to Serbia.

"He's got the same problem he had in Spain," said Castellacci. "It's too early to say if he will be fit for Friday." Mario Balotelli and Sebastian Giovinco, along with Cassano, are the remaining strikers in the Azzurri squad.
Italy, eight points clear in the group, have already qualified for Euro 2012.

[Bagg10]

Nice nocerino avatar shield

[Messinterista]

Italy call up Osvaldo

Roma striker Pablo Daniel Osvaldo has been added to the Italy squad for the Euro 2012 games against Serbia and Northern Ireland.

The uncapped forward has been added to the party for the first time after Mario Balotelli and Giampaolo Pazzini pulled out of the Giro Azzurro today because of injury.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Osvaldo. “I’d like to thank all of the Roma fans for this.”

Osvaldo was actually born in Argentina, but he has opted to play for the Azzurri after scoring twice in 12 caps for the Italian Under-21 side.

Prandelli has also decided to call up Torino stopper Angelo Ogbonna after Domenico Criscito was ruled out of action with injury.

Source: http://www.football-italia.net/oct5p.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zarate has to be next...

[Italiamia]

ROME (AP)—Italy has announced it will face Euro 2012 co-host Poland and Copa America winner Uruguay in friendlies next month. The Azzurri will visit Poland on Nov. 11 in Wroclaw, then host Uruguay at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico four days later. Wroclaw is one of the four cities in Poland that will host matches during next year’s European Championship, which Italy has already qualified for by winning Group C.

The match in Rome will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification. Italy plays its final qualifier against Northern Ireland in Pescara on Tuesday.

[Zoff82]

Can we be excited about this Italy 2012 team??

[juventino_italiano]

[RomaShield27]

Maldini set for Azzurri role
www.footballitaliano.co.uk – Wednesday 12 October 2011 – By Tim Doel

Former Milan defender Paolo Maldini could be set for a role with the Italian national team. After the Azzurri's 3-0 victory over Northern Ireland in Pescara last night, both parties revealed that an agreement shouldn't be too far away.

"Maldini would be welcome in or group", Prandelli told the Gazzetta dello Sport, prompting the former Milan captain to state: "I am ready to listen to any proposals, la Nazionale has always been my home. If there was an opportunity I would say yes."

Maldini, 43, earned 126 caps for Italy, scoring seven goals. It has been reported that he turned down an opportunity to become part of Carlo Ancelotti's coaching staff at Chelsea in 2009.

[RomaShield27]

– Thursday 13 October, 2011

Scott Fleming on the man that flew to Italy’s rescue after being ignored by Marcello Lippi – Antonio Cassano

Some people will tell you that Clark Kent is Superman. Actually, Antonio Cassano is Superman. The evidence is compelling. Exhibit A – the amount of time Cassano spends striding around in his underpants in public. And why else would Mario Ferri, the serial pitch invader that tormented Marcello Lippi with his ‘Cassano in Nazionale’ campaign, have chosen a Superman T-shirt to bear his message?

And when La Nazionale needed a saviour, after a World Cup in which they finished behind Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand, who was it that flew to their rescue?

Qualifying for Euro 2012 in such style, as Group winners, unbeaten, and with the highest points tally ever accrued by an Italian national team, was a collective achievement, and if anyone deserves the lion’s share of the credit it is Cesare Prandelli.

But if you had to single out one superhero in the Azzurri ranks, one player who proved more decisive than any other on the road to Poland and Ukraine, it would be Cassano.

He netted a rare header and supplied a sublime back-heeled assist as Italy came from behind to beat Estonia 2-1 in the curtain raiser last September, his was the pick of the goals in the 5-0 romp over the Faroe Islands four days later, he pulled off another goal and assist combo in June’s return fixture with Estonia, and his winner spared Prandelli’s blushes in the less than convincing victory against the Faroes in Torshavn last month.

In the space of one qualifying campaign Cassano has trebled his haul of international goals, his final tally of six bettered by only four other players in Europe. Impressive stats for a man not known for his net rippling abilities, but it’s not all about goals.

“He gives opponents few reference points, has the skill to link up with Italy's talented midfielders, and has a great understanding with the other pocket-sized striker the Coach is counting on, Giuseppe Rossi,” as the Gazzetta dello Sport put it.

Every time Cassano pulls on a Savoy blue jersey is a cathartic moment for the player and the viewing public, but it would be naive to think all his demons have been exorcised. “I’ve been massacred in the media for 13 years, I’m tired, I’m going to play three more years then retire,” the Milan forward said on Tuesday.

‘The boy that never grew up’ still has some work to do in that regard, as his latest misdemeanour, insulting a journalist at Coverciano, demonstrates. It isn’t easy staying angry at someone that’s so comically self deprecating though. “I’ve been a clown since birth, I’m not capable of being serious!”

On Tuesday in Pescara FantAntonio finished the campaign with a flourish, scoring twice against Northern Ireland – one of them a magnificent David Platt 1990-esque volley – before being substituted to rapturous applause from the Stadio Adriatico crowd.

Coincidentally, Pescara was where Ferri’s campaign to get Cassano back into the national team began, when he interrupted a typically dull 0-0 draw between Lippi’s team and the Netherlands at the Adriatico almost exactly two years ago. Therefore it was somewhat fitting that Italy’s campaign, and Cassano’s road to redemption, ended there.

[Italiamia]

Rottura a legamenti del ginocchio destro per l'attaccante del Villarreal, che si è infortunato mercoledì sera al Bernabeu contro il Real Madrid. Rischia seriamente di saltare l'Europeo

Brutta tegola per Giuseppe Rossi. L’attaccante del Villarreal si è infortunato mercoledì sera al Bernabeu, mentre con il suo Submarino Amarillo affrontava il Real Madrid di José Mourinho.

Oltre al danno (il 3-0 patito per mano “merengue”), si è aggiunta la beffa. Pepito si è fatto male al ginocchio destro, riportando la rottura del legamento crociato.

Un infortunio che costringerà l'italiano all'intervento chirurgico e a uno stop che può andare dai 4 ai 6 mesi. Una notizia delle peggiori.

Considerando non solo il momento del Villarreal, impelagato nei bassifondi della Liga, ma anche la situazione della Nazionale di Cesare Prandelli, che ormai aveva puntato su di lui per una maglia da titolare in attacco.

D’ora in avanti sarà quindi una lotta contro il tempo per il 24enne, che rischia seriamente di restare fuori dalla lista dei 23 azzurri che andranno alla fase finale dell’Europeo in Polonia e Ucraina.

Una corsa per accorciare i tempi di recupero e sperare di convincere nuovamente Prandelli a inserirlo tra i convocati. Qualcosa di molto difficile, che diventerebbe per Rossi una vera e propria maledizione. Basta pensare a quello che accadde due anni fa, quando Marcello Lippi lo escluse in extremis dopo un’annata difficile, coincisa con la morte del padre e una serie di problemi psicologici che ne avevano affetto il rendimento.

Ora il problema è soltanto fisico. Ma non per questo pare più facilmente risolvibile. In bocca al lupo, Pepito...