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[juventino_italiano]

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[RomaShield27]

Italy Camp Focus - Lippi heads for altitude before naming his final World Cup 23
– By Steve Mitchell – Thursday 13 May 2010

The beautiful ski resort of Sestriere will be the base for Marcelo Lippi and his Italy squad as final preparations get under way for the defence of their trophy. By the time the squad arrives for altitude training on May 23, the initial count of 30 players will be shortened to 27 - the final squad plus four named reserves - before the definitive 23 are submitted on June 1.

Lippi’s opening choices have contained few surprises with the spine of the team displaying Lippi’s loyalty to the players that brought the trophy home from Berlin four years ago. His squad selections have not been well received back in the peninsula, but closer examination does give all Italian fans cause for optimism. In defence, it seems that Fabio Grosso’s and Gianluca Zambrotta’s places are in most danger. The inclusion of young Bari defender Leonardo Bonucci and Genoa’s Dominic Criscito will have made the two veterans rest a little uneasy in their beds. Bonucci has had a wonderful season with the Serie A newcomers and is a versatile defender comfortably slotting in at full-back as well as in the centre of defence. Criscito has been used as part of a three man defence in Genoa this season but can also play as a wide midfielder in 3-5-2 formation. Napoli’s Christian Maggio, after missing long periods of the season through injury, has had an exceptional end to the campaign and like Criscito, can slot into defence or midfield.

The Juventus central defensive partnership of Giorgio Chiellini and Fabio Cannavaro looks a certainty for South Africa so Genoa and Under-21 stalwart Salvatore Bocchetti looks set for disappointment. In the central area, Daniele De Rossi will play the anchor role with Andrea Pirlo playing at the tip of the midfield diamond formation. Gennaro Gattuso’s powers are on the wane and after Angelo Palombo’s wonderful season with Sampdoria, Lippi may opt for him to partner De Rossi in the holding role. Mauro Camoranesi has had an indifferent season with Juventus and his position could well be in danger from teammates Antonio Candreva and Claudio Marchisio. Fiorentina’s Riccardo Montolivo is also challenging for a starting berth after taking over the captaincy at the Artemio Franchi this season.

In attack is where all the focus has been during the build up to the tournament. Lippi then completed the set of overlooked forward players by ignoring Roma’s Francesco Totti and Luca Toni, and recently naturalised Italian Amauri from Juventus - the latter will be feeling particularly aggrieved as one of his main reasons for getting Italian citizenship was too be included in this World Cup party. Out of the attackers to have made the cut, it seems Lippi will opt for five forwards. Alberto Gilardino and Giampaolo Pazzini formed a credible partnership at Fiorentina but can Lippi seriously overlook Serie A’s top marksman Antonio Di Natale, who seems more at home in a three pronged attack. Add to this the end of season form of Napoli’s Fabio Quagliarella, returning Juventus hot shot Vicenzo Iaquinta and Milan’s Marco Borriello and Lippi has a nice puzzle to have to solve.

The aforementioned strikers have 92 goals between them this season and there is one more name to possibly add to the list. In 1982 it was Paolo Rossi, in 1990 it was Toto Schillaci, in 2010 could it be Giuseppe Rossi who gatecrashes into the squad and becomes the hero of a nation. The little man from Villarreal is in a rich vein of form right now and may yet get a seat on the plane at the expense of one from Borriello and Iaquinta. Lippi has also added another new member to his World Cup party with the appointment of Roma fitness trainer Paolo Bertelli, as he takes the place of Vito Scala. The lessons of a disastrous Confederations Cup are already being addressed with the trip to altitude and in the middle of this are two friendly games, the first is in Brussels against Mexico, the second is against the Swiss in Geneva. June 8 is the day the squad finally leaves for the finals. Whilst Lippi will spend the next few weeks breaking hearts as he cuts the squad, a whole nation will hope that Lippi’s does not overrule his head.

[Messinterista]

Blog: Lessons from ‘86

James Horncastle questions the wisdom of Marcello Lippi’s decision to select a squad based on the players who won the World Cup in 2006

In 1986, Italy boss Enzo Bearzot decided to include 10 players in his World Cup squad who had won the trophy with him four years earlier. The Italian media savaged him for it, especially as the Azzurri had failed to qualify for the European Championship in 1984 after relying on pretty much the same group of players.

Embarrassingly, Italy could only conjure one win in the group stages in Mexico, needing an 82nd minute own goal from Cho Kwang-Rae to defeat South Korea, neighbours of the team that was already a by-word for the Azzurri’s shortcomings and their most famous humiliation in 1966.

Somehow Bearzot’s side did manage to qualify to the latter stages of the competition only to receive a thorough beating from Michel Platini’s France in the last 16. It was a disaster foretold, a lesson for future generations, the warning from history that Marcello Lippi could have heeded but ultimately didn’t when naming his preliminary 30-man squad.

Lippi, like Bearzot before him, has kept faith with 10 of the players who lifted the World Cup four years ago, even though it’s clear to many after last summer’s abject performance in the Confederations Cup that some of them, particularly Fabio Cannavaro, are already past their best.

The reasoning behind Lippi’s selection process is simple. He has often spoken about the need for continuity and spirit within the group, more or less keeping the same players together to make the national team feel like a club side. That partly explains Gennaro Gattuso’s inclusion after a below par season for Milan, as his importance lies in the dressing room.

Lippi could have appeased the public by calling up Antonio Cassano and Fabrizio Miccoli, but that is not his way. In light of Bearzot’s experiences, it remains a gamble, but sticking with the same core group of players also reveals something else about Italian football – Serie A’s inability to offer valid alternatives.

As one journalist wrote in this morning’s La Gazzetta dello Sport: “Lippi has done well in this ‘technical desert’ to launch Bonucci, Candreva and Cossu, and to re-call Montolivo.â€

[RomaShield27]

Did anyone the performance of Iaquinta and Camoranesi for Juve in the match against Milan? It may have been a meaningless game in theory, but you would think these two would of been out to make their mark and impress in what was a fairly high-profile (if nevertheless meaningless) game. But no, the two of them were fucking awful, Iaquinta missed about three sitters and done nothing else, while Camoranesi was simply a pile of smelly moany shit when he came on, and done absolutely nothing. And yet they're likely to be on the plane to South Africa, while the likes of Cassano and Miccoli (Iaquinta) and Perrotta and Mesto (Camoranesi) sit at home.

[juventino_italiano]

[red]

I thought Iaquinta did try very hard to impress to start with, but he then missed a couple of chances and gave up, just like the rest of the team.

[Bagg10]

Yeah, I think Iaquinta was more worried about looking better than Borriello than actually playing the game. Juve shouldve went up 1-0 with that 1 on 1 he had.

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[juventino_italiano]

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