The Official Azzurri thread

[morra10]

I hope ribery eats his fucking words. France will probably qualify just because of who they play, so it's really between us and scotland. If we tie or lose to scotland we'll need a lot of help to qualify.

[Frenchesco]

Even being french, I have to admit I hate what our players are doing. Diarra, then Ribery....I do not understand why they always have to open their fucking mouth and be so confident. There are still 3 games to play and it is not sure at all we ll qualify.
I could understand him saying France will qualify and things like that but here he's saying that Italy won't qualify.
Whay is he trying to do??? How can u be so confident??? Bastard!!!!
I hope this fucking face shows a great performance, if not I'm really gonna hate him.

[vtec]

[RomaShield27]

On Saturday evening the Azzurri go into their must-win Euro 2008 qualifier against Georgia with both Fabio Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi, Italy’s first choice central defenders, missing. Carlo Garganese asks who should take their place…

It is universally accepted that no country in the world has produced more world-class defenders than Italy. Seemingly every year since records began, the Azzurri have boasted an abundance of absolutely outstanding stoppers. Sadly this production line seems to have dried up recently and there is a worrying shortage of young defensive prospects.

Roberto Donadoni's first choice backline consists of Gianluca Zambrotta (30), Massimo Oddo (31) and Fabio Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi, who are both 34.

On Saturday Italy face Georgia in a crucial Euro 2008 qualifier. Roberto Donadoni’s men know one thing – they absolutely must win – or else their hopes of travelling to Austria and Switzerland next summer could be in tatters.

The Azzurri are in the midst of a defensive crisis. Captain Cannavaro is suspended, while Marco Materazzi and Gianluca Zambrotta are out injured. This means Donadoni will have to replace three-quarters of his backline for the match in Genoa.

So who comes in as their replacements? Well it seems that Palermo stopper Andrea Barzagli is almost guaranteed to start in one of the centre-back positions after two excellent displays against France and Ukraine last month. However who will play alongside him at the heart of the Azzurri defence?

Will Donadoni go for the experience of Roma veteran Christian Panucci? The 34-year-old recently returned to the Italy setup after more than three years in the international wilderness and had a solid game during the victory in the Ukraine. His experience next to the relatively young Barzagli could be vital, however the ex-Inter man has been struggling with injury in recent weeks.

Another option is Juventus left-back Giorgio Chiellini. I have been saying for years that the player has all the attributes to develop into an outstanding centre-half. Bianconeri Coach Claudio Ranieri seems to have heeded my advice and played the 23-year-old alongside Nicola Legrottaglie in the recent games with Torino and Fiorentina.

Chiellini was an absolute colossus in both games and is a definite candidate to partner Barzagli on Saturday. The worry for Donadoni will be the player’s age and especially his temperament. The defender was lucky not to be sent off in the week two match against Cagliari after verbally assaulting the referee after the Sardinans were awarded a penalty.

Once again on Sunday, Chiellini was involved in a scrapping match with Fiorentina striker Christian Vieri. Donadoni will want cool heads against Georgia and it would be a complete disaster if someone was to be sent off early in the match for a moment of indiscipline.

The decision who partners Barzagli could rest on who plays at left-back instead of the injured Zambrotta. There are probably only two candidates for the role; Chiellini and Lyon wing-back Fabio Grosso.

Grosso has been in poor form this season for the French champions and was exposed badly during the embarrassing 3-0 Champions League defeat to Rangers last week.

This means that Donadoni is likely to select the Juventus man, which thus leaves a straight scrap between Panucci, Fiorentina’s Alessandro Gamberini and Milan’s Daniele Bonera for the vacant centre-back position.

Gamberini, despite his outstanding club form this season, is yet to play for Italy, while Bonera, despite improvements at Milan, is surely the last choice for the role.

Therefore it seems likely, to me anyway, that Donadoni will plump for the experience of Christian Panucci, alongside Andrea Barzagli, with Giorgio Chiellini and Massimo Oddo taking up the full-back positions.

Most will argue that Italy should be able to beat a team of the calibre of Georgia, regardless of who they pick in defence, but in international football nothing is certain and Donadoni certainly has some big choices to make.

What do YOU think? Who should Donadoni pick in the centre-back positions for Saturday’s vital Euro 2008 qualifier?

Here is the list of defenders in Roberto Donadoni’s squad:

Barzagli (Palermo), Bonera (Milan), Chiellini (Juventus), Gamberini (Fiorentina), Grosso (Olympique Lyon), Oddo (Milan), Panucci (Roma)

[morra10]

[quote="vtec"]Domenech: Trezeguet Is Nothing Special

France Coach Raymond Domenech has further intensified his recent spat with David Trezeguet by claiming that Karim Benzema is better than the Juventus star and that there are a host of other strikers just as good as him.

Domenech shocked all those that have been watching football this season by dropping Trezeguet from his squad to face the Faroe Islands and Lithuania.

The Bianconeri hitman has been in murderous form this campaign and is currently top-scorer in Serie A with seven goals from as many games. Trezegol also boasts a virtual one-in-two international goal-scoring ratio with 34 strikes in 69 appearances for Les Bleus.

Despite this Domenech instead chose to pick Bolton's Nicolas Anelka, Karim Benzema and Sidney Govou of Lyon, Barcelona's Thierry Henry and Louis Saha of Manchester United.

Now, with Louis Saha pulling out due to injury, Domenech has once again refused to summon Trezeguet.

"I'm happy the players who have shown up already, and I appreciate their value," Domenech pointed out at France’s training camp in Clairefontaine.

“I didn’t choose Trezeguet because there are other players who are just as good.â€

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