The Official Azzurri thread

[San Paolo]

[juventino_italiano]

[juventino_italiano]

[juventino_italiano]

[p_maldini_3]

[RomaShield27]

[Italiamia]

[red]

[red]

[juventino_italiano]

[juventino_italiano]

[Carlo Romano]

We are pinning our goal getting hopes very much on Di Natale, Rossi, and Pazzini. But none of them are going to exactly muscle their way past a massed defence so we are looking at their success largely based on counter attacks. However, I'm glad to see them listed and they ought to make the final 23.

[p_maldini_3]

[p_maldini_3]

[Carlo Romano]

Maldini, we depend on an in form Pirlo.

I've pencilled in my seven names to be struck from Lippi's list, based not on what I'd wish for which is that the younger names be kept...but based on what I'm sure he will do and that is to take a squad of damn pensioners with him to South Africa. This is indeed 1974 and 1986 revisited, almost all the signs are the same! The difference being, at least in 1986 Enzo Bearzot had the grace and the honesty to tell us not to expect a repeat of 1982...

[p_maldini_3]

World Cup 2010 Squad Selector

Giuseppe Rossi

Despite last minute doubts to the contrary, Giuseppe Rossi has sneaked into the preliminary 30-man squad for the World Cup – and stands a good chance of making the final cut too.

A year ago in South Africa, the American-born forward was the only positive to come out of the Azzurri’s Confederations Cup campaign, emerging as a creative force with the potential to influence the rest of the team to raise their game. Marcello Lippi promised a reshuffle of the Italian front-line selection and everyone expected Rossi to establish himself for La Nazionale.

However, struck by niggling injuries and a change of Coach at Villarreal, Rossi has failed to build on his promise and has drifted in and out of the squad over the past 12 months. It has taken half a season and another change in management in Spain for Rossi’s season to improve, with the Italian back fit and looking dangerous in a rejuvenated Yellow Submarine side, playing well in both two and three-man forward lines.

Whilst Giampaolo Pazzini and Marco Borriello have enjoyed consistent runs of scoring through the campaign, what plays in Rossi’s favour is his ability to produce the unknown, and crucially, in different formations. Indeed, in the last eight games, Lippi has used six different formations and Rossi has been involved in three of them, showing glimpses of his potential to adapt and still affect play.

Comfortable running at players from deep, Rossi’s strengths include excellent close control, an ability to score from almost any angle and distance, and a sharp turn of pace and low centre of gravity. He can best be described as a seconda punta, benefiting from playing off a target-man strike partner, picking up knock-downs and lay-offs, but can operate in a 4-3-3 as a wing-based attacker competently.

Rossi’s game has come under scrutiny with his increased involvement in recent Azzurri squads, with his decision-making on the ball still a noticeable weak point. His unpredictability has seen teammates struggle to work alongside him, Vincenzo Iaquinta in particular gelling a lot more fluidly with Alberto Gilardino in a two-man attack than with Rossi.

Ultimately however, Lippi’s quandary is between taking Pazzini as a back-up, in-form striker in the same mold as Gilardino and Iaquinta, packing the forward selection with prima puntas, or taking Rossi as a viable plan B in the seconda punta mold, should La Nazionale come up against a well-organised opponent.

Picked ahead of Pazzini for the 2009 squad, Lippi could make the same decision again based almost entirely but not exclusively on Rossi’s versatility and flair giving the Azzurri attack an alternative option they will otherwise lack in South Africa.

[Bagg10]

Rossi hasn't sneaked onto any list. The only reason he wasn't on the frist one is because he plays in spain, and i doubt villareal would want to let him go to italy for three days for a few practice sessions. And he's been on pretty much every call-up since condereations except for when his father passed away. I think Ultimately the decision comes down to picking 2 of 3 out of Borrielo, Pazzini, and Quagliarella.

[juventino_italiano]

[Italiamia]

[juventino_italiano]