The Official Azzurri thread

[Messinterista]

[vtec]

[RomaShield27]

Funny blog from the Guardian, from a British point of view:

His name is Luca, he has a vague idea how to score
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk – Harry Pearson – June 20, 2008 12:12 AM

There was something genuinely heroic in Luca Toni's persistence against France

"No shortage of British interest here," John Motson warbled, as Switzerland and the Czech Republic marched on to the field for the opening match of Euro 2008. Listening to Motty and his comrades in the commentary boxes, you would be hard-pressed to argue.

Not content with attaching the names of their Premiershit clubs to players so obsessively that any newcomer to football will go away convinced that "Liverpoolsfernando" is a Spanish Christian name, we have also been treated to a whole range of other links to what Arthur Daly called our "septic isle": "Carles Puyol is learning English, we are told"; "Simone Perrotta was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, coincidentally the birthplace of another World Cup winner, Sir Geoff Hurst". And so forth.

There has also been a barrage of "they-call-hims". Valon Behrami - "They call him the Swiss David Beckham". Dimitri Sychev - "They call him the Russian Michael Owen". Andreas Ivanschitz - "They call him the Austrian David Beckham". All we really needed was for the mysterious "they" to offer up a Greek Frank Lampard and a Swedish Paul Robinson and we would have been well on our way to a lurching feeling of impending disappointment.

Do they do this in other countries? In Germany two years ago, did Polish pundits inform viewers that "They call Wayne Rooney 'The English Ebi Smolarek' "? Do the citizens of Tokyo think that the British regard Steven Gerrard as a slightly inferior, home-grown version of Hidetoshi Nakata?

The cranking up of British interest has been so intense I am surprised BBC and ITV have not taken to flashing British interest fact-nuggets on the screen. "Andrei Arshavin - Owns a West Highland Terrier"; "Raymond Domenech - Believes Millets is très chic". That type of thing.

All of it is completely unnecessary, of course. It is ages since I enjoyed a match as much as Tuesday night's encounter between Italy and France. This was largely because Roberto Donadoni (a sort of Hollywood version of Sir Alan Sugar - damn, now they've got me at it) has chosen to couple Antonio Cassano, a man so hot-headed he probably has to spray his hair with fire retardant every morning, with the Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni, who looks like the sort of big-hearted lunk who would work a double shift digging in a coprolite pit so his best pal could go off and impregnate his girlfriend. It is a pairing that brings back happy memories of the Bulgarian forward partnership of the late 1990s, Hristo Stoichkov and Luboslav Penev.

Stoichkov was a player who spent most of his career alternating between sulphurous outbursts of rage and standing in the centre circle, smouldering like a tyre on a bonfire. He was fast, skilful and so bullishly powerful he could knock opposing defenders over with any part of his body, including his earlobes. During breaks in play he would stand yelling at his team-mates, chest puffed out, jaw thrust upwards, waving his arms about like Benito Mussolini beating wasps from a picnic plate.

Penev, by contrast, was as large, lumbering and mild-mannered as a dairy cow. Motson best summed up Lubo's style during Euro '96. Against France at St James' Park the big forward made his only decisive intervention of the tournament, heading into his own goal from the corner of the six-yard box. As the ball ricocheted into the net Motty squawked: "Oh my word! And it's gone in off the post!" How right he was.

Penev played in Spain for Compostela. By all accounts he was a striker to be reckoned with in La Liga. Toni is also an unstoppable force at club level. In international football he looks more like the immovable object. Last season he scored 39 times for Bayern. If his Germany 2006 and Euro 2008 conversion rate applies, he must have had a shot at goal every 27 seconds.

In the first half against France the big fellow missed four chances in a row, sending each a yard wide of Grégory Coupet's right-hand post. Such was the pedantic accuracy of these misses it was hard to avoid the conclusion that Toni was not actually aiming at the goal at all, but at a photographer he suspected of winking at his girlfriend.

There was something genuinely heroic in his persistence. Any player can fluff one chance and then go into hiding, as Mario Gómez did on Monday. It takes real guts to go on and on and on. As the game wore on, the more the man rose in my estimation - by the end I was cheering his every bumbling touch. Yet as he thrashed shots past the post, failed to quite get on to the end of through-balls or headed straight at the keeper, I couldn't help noticing Motson and Mark Lawrenson singularly failing to bring in the obvious British angle: "And Luca Toni, very much in the mould of the old-style English centre-forward."

If the quarter-final against Spain passes by without anyone claiming that "they" call Toni "The Italian Billy Whitehurst", I'll write in.

[RomaShield27]

Spain's Torres has respect for Italy but no fear
http://uk.reuters.com – Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:58pm – By Simon Baskett

NEUSTIFT, Austria (Reuters) - Spain hold Italy in high esteem but Luis Aragones's side are not intimidated by the prospect of taking on the world champions in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 in Vienna on Sunday.

"Italy won the last World Cup and you don't achieve that by accident," Spain striker Fernando Torres told a news conference on Friday. "They are a team we should respect and given their past record they are the favourites.

"But although they may be favourites on paper we have absolutely no fear of them. We beat them in a recent friendly and now we've got the chance to do the same in a competitive game," he added referring to a 1-0 win in Elche in March.

Spain have been impressive in the group stage, crushing Russia 4-1 in their opener before overcoming Sweden 2-1 and then coming from a goal down to beat 2004 champions Greece 2-1 with a team composed almost entirely of second string players.

"Spain are playing well, we are winning easily and we have a lot of alternatives," said Torres. "We expect to have the ball for long periods against Italy but we will have to be patient against them."

Torres said the absence of suspended midfielder Andrea Pirlo would weaken the Italians particularly at set pieces, but he added that there was no danger of that undermining Roberto Donadoni's side despite their poor form in the group stage.

"They haven't been brilliant in the group but it was the same story at the World Cup and they ended up winning it," he said. "In the group you can afford to have a bad day, but if that happens now you go home."

Spain, who have never beaten Italy in a major international competition outside the Olympics, finished top of Group D while Italy scraped into the last eight with four points having been thrashed 3-0 by Netherlands in their Group C opener.

[p_maldini_3]

haha

[p_maldini_3]

http://www.mcalcio.com/france-vs-italy-in-30-pictures/

[marco]

how can you not love the italian pitbull? he probably has the most efficient words-to-slag ratio of all professional footballers. i love the last line regarding real madrid's trophies:

GATTUSO: ´ARAGONES? FOSSI IN LUI NON MI FAREI PRETE, HA UNA CERTA ETÀ´

pubblicata venerdì 20 giugno 2008

La risposta di Gattuso alle parole di Aragones "se Gattuso è fondamentale io mi faccio prete": "Ha ragione Aragones quando dice che non sono fondamentale, ma facendo così non ha fatto altro che esaltare le mie caratteristiche, io sono un gregario. Pirlo, lui sì che è fondamentale. Fossi in lui non mi farei prete, ha già una certa età, si goda il resto della vita normalmente. Il Real Madrid? Io gioco nel Milan che negli ultimi 20 anni ha vinto di più. Il Real ha vinto più coppe? Le coppe le ha vinte quando mia nonna teneva 20 anni".

forza rino

[Bagg10]

you can see the interview here glad http://www.figc.it/

[marco]

thanks

[Italiamia]

GiallorossAzzurri
Could Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso’s bans stumble upon a new Roma-shaped direction for Italy? Susy Campanale thinks so



First up, full disclosure that I follow Milan. Yet even I think Italy should be taking on the Roma model and scrapping the disastrous all-Rossoneri midfield that was torn apart by Holland. Leaving out Daniele De Rossi in that debut was undoubtedly Roberto Donadoni’s worst mistake, but he has not gone far enough to rectify it. The fact Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso are suspended for the quarter-final with Spain could be a blessing in disguise.

Why on earth did Donadoni employ the same Milan midfield that has struggled so badly in Serie A this year? A national Coach should take his cue from what is happening in the game, although naturally he couldn’t possibly get any help on picking an Italy side from Scudetto winners Inter.


The standout side in recent seasons has been Roma, playing wonderful free-flowing football that is becoming more and more effective. The 4-2-3-1 system drawn up by Luciano Spalletti allows De Rossi and Alberto Aquilani – or Simone Perrotta – to protect the defence while the front four fan out going both forward and back, depending on possession.


There’s no reason why Pirlo couldn’t slot in there somewhere in the future, either deep in midfield to partner De Rossi or in the supporting trio, as he did begin his career as a Trequartista.


The only thing Roma lack is a true centre-forward, which the Azzurri do have in Luca Toni. Yes the Bayern Munich striker is misfiring badly in Euro 2008 so far, but it’s hardly a surprise considering how isolated he is up there. Unable to knock the ball down for players supporting him, Toni is forced to go it alone every time and that takes its toll on someone who has featured in so many club matches this term.


Imagine Toni leading the Roma line, only replace Amantino Mancini and Rodrigo Taddei with anyone from Antonio Di Natale to Antonio Cassano to Fabio Quagliarella to Alessandro The Waterboy. Mouth-watering, no? So why don’t we use it!?


Spain’s defence is not the strongest in the world and we have already seen recently that Italian clubs have the better record against the Liga sides, especially Roma’s double victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League. Now is the perfect time to create a new generation – the GiallorossAzzurri.

[Alfio]

hit the nail on the head.

[vtec]

[Bagg10]

[Bagg10]

[RomaShield27]

Tactical preview of Spain v Italy
http://uk.reuters.com – Sat Jun 21, 2008

VIENNA, June 21 (Reuters) - A look at the likely formations, strengths and weaknesses of Spain and Italy who meet in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 at Ernst Happel Stadium on Sunday (1845 GMT):

FORMATIONS
Before the tournament Spain coach Luis Aragones experimented with 4-1-4-1 in an attempt to squeeze all his midfield talent on to the pitch but has settled on 4-1-3-2 here and it has paid off.

Italy, despite injuries and poor performances, look poised to stick with 4-4-2 having started the finals with 4-3-3.

STRENGTHS
Spain have an embarrassment of riches in midfield with half a dozen fast-moving, neat-passing players who are virtually interchangeable. In David Villa, who has four goals from two games, and Fernando Torres they have a mobile front duo who compliment each other perfectly.

Italy's biggest asset is faith in their own ability and system, a confidence they are one of the game's superpowers who get it right when they need to. They also have a good goalkeeper in Gianluigi Buffon and a high-quality midfield.

WEAKNESSES

Not much of a 'plan B' to the Spanish attack and if an opposing defence gets a grip on their probing runners they can be left short of ideas and there will never be much return from lobbing high balls into the box. At the back too there is little height and they look vulnerable in the air.

Italy looked hopelessly disorganised at the back in their opening defeat by Netherlands and though coach Roberto Donadoni has made changes, the absence of Fabio Cannavaro, and his organisational talent, is being felt.

DEFENCE
Keeper Iker Casillas sets the tone for a well-drilled unit where Carles Puyol is the inspirational presence. He is a great reader of the game and massively committed but he and partner Carlos Marchena can expect an aerial examination from Luca Toni.

After years with few changes to their back four, Italy's defence has been all over the place here. Sunday's likely centre backs Christian Panucci and Giorgio Chiellini are still a new pairing while Gianluca Zambrotta has been caught out badly at right back. Fabio Grosso's overlapping runs on the left remain a threat though.

MIDFIELD
Marcos Senna is a crafty holding midfielder for Spain who offers a mobile screen in front of the back four, though Xabi Alonso is pressing for a place after an excellent display against Greece.

The loss of suspended Gennaro Gattuso is impossible to cover for Italy but Mauro Camoranesi and Massimo Ambrosini, likely to come in for him and the banned Andrea Pirlo, are happier to push beyond the halfway line. Much depends on Daniele De Rossi, who needs to stamp his authority on the game.

ATTACK
Villa and Torres play off each other really well. Torres is the athlete who passes defenders with ease and can hit the byline like a winger. Villa is more of a predator but also dangerous with free kicks.

Toni is strong in the air and a handful for any defender but Antonio Cassano is a trickier proposition and this is the ideal stage for him to make a name for himself. Alessandro The Waterboy brings a classy presence to the bench but has looked below his best in his limited appearances so far.

[RomaShield27]

System switch to foil Spain?
http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_ ... un21e.html ≠ Saturday 21 June, 2008

Alberto Aquilani is the new favourite to start against Spain, but there are reports Italy could switch to a 4-1-4-1 system without Antonio Cassano. Coach Roberto Donadoni is forced to reshuffle his squad for Sunday’s quarter-final due to the bans for Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso. Different options are open to him and initially many expected to stick with the system used in the 2-0 victory over France, with Massimo Ambrosini stepping in for Gattuso and either Aquilani or Mauro Camoranesi replacing Pirlo.

In that case, the odds of seeing Aquilani complete a Roma-style Italy have shortened over the past few hours, as Camoranesi has been in poor form in Euro 2008. Simone Perrotta would add to the Giallorossi flavour by starting in a Trequartista role behind Luca Toni and Cassano.

However, a new theory is emerging from Donadoni’s play-book in a bid to halt Spain’s stars from passing the ball around quickly. He could be considering a 4-1-4-1 formation with De Rossi protecting the defence and a midfield line-up of Camoranesi, Aquilani, Ambrosini and Udinese’s Antonio Di Natale. This would exclude former Real Madrid man Cassano from the starting XI and once again leave Alessandro The Waterboy on the bench.

[The MAN]

[Amedio]

I like that formation already, MAN. Nonetheless I see that such a starting eleven lacks a ball distributor, a skill and a vision which Aquilani can perfectly provide. I prefer Aquilani to Perrotta.

[Bagg10]

[morra10]