The Official Azzurri thread 2

[Lombardiamia]

[juventino_italiano]

A NEW PL SEASON IS UPON US.....SEE IF YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE BETTER THAN NOSTRADINOS

MAKE YOUR MATCHDAY 1 PICKS ASAP:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=602

[Bagg10]

Italy: Balotelli out of Euro qualifiers
Saturday 28 August, 2010
Cesare Prandelli has named his Italy squad for Euro 2012 qualifiers against Estonia and the Faroe Islands, but Mario Balotelli didn't make it.

There were fears the Manchester City striker would be out of action after struggling with a knee injury over the past week.

The 20-year-old has not been included in the side for Prandelli's first competitive match in charge of the Azzurri.

Antonio Cassano is still present, joined by Giampaolo Pazzini, Alberto Gilardino, Giuseppe Rossi, Simone Pepe and new Juventus signing Fabio Quagliarella.

Federico Marchetti is left out after his transfer dispute with Cagliari, which could see him join Benfica this weekend. It's likely Salvatore Sirigu of Palermo will start instead.

There are many changes in defence, where the new guard is coming through with Luca Antonelli, Cesare Bovo, Lorenzo De Silvestri and Daniele Gastaldello.

Cagliari's Andrea Lazzari also gets a recall for the midfield.

Italy travel to Estonia for their Euro 2012 qualifying opener on September 3 and welcome the Faroe Islands to Prandelli's old hunting ground, the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, on September 7.

Goalkeepers: Mirante (Parma), Sirigu (Palermo), Viviano (Bologna)

Defenders: Antonelli (Parma), Bonucci (Juventus), Bovo (Palermo), Cassani (Palermo), Chiellini (Juventus), De Silvestri (Fiorentina), Gastaldello (Sampdoria), Molinaro (VfB Stuttgart)

Midfielders: De Rossi (Roma), Lazzari (Cagliari), Marchisio (Juventus), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Palombo (Sampdoria), Pirlo (Milan)

Forwards: Cassano (Sampdoria), Gilardino (Fiorentina), Pazzini (Sampdoria), Pepe (Juventus), Quagliarella (Juventus), Rossi (Villarreal)

http://www.football-italia.net/aug28r.html

[RomaShield27]

Cesare Bovo got a call-up? Thats a bit of a shocker.

[juventino_italiano]

[RomaShield27]

Cigarini replaces Marchisio in Italy squad
Reuters, Monday August 30 2010

MILAN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Sevilla midfielder Luca Cigarini received his first Italy callup on Monday after the injured Claudio Marchisio pulled out of the squad to face Estonia and the Faroe Islands in Euro 2012 qualifiers.

The Italian soccer federation said in a statement the 24-year-old Cigarini, on loan to the Spanish club from Napoli, would replace Marchisio after the Juventus player suffered a leg injury in the 1-0 loss at Bari in Sunday's Serie A opener.

Antonio Cassano has a back injury but coach Cesare Prandelli said he hoped the Sampdoria playmaker could be fit to face Estonia in Tallinn on Friday or play in their second Group C game at home to Faroe Islands in Florence on Sept. 7.

[juventino_italiano]

I'd like Cigarini to play....i really do like what he has to offer as a player...such potential

[RomaShield27]

Prandelli unfazed by anti-Italy chants

6 hours, 49 minutes ago

ROME (AFP) - Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has said he is not worried about the possibility of being jeered by his former Fiorentina fans when he leads the national team out against the Faroe Islands next Tuesday. Prandelli is just beginning his career as Italy coach following five successful years with the Florence club. And following Friday's Group C opener away to Estonia in Tallinn, Italy will tackle the Faroes in Florence.

During Sunday's Serie A match between Fiorentina and Napoli, some home fans at the Stadio Artemio Franchi took part in anti-Italy chants, showing their displeasure at losing their popular coach to the national team at the end of last season. However, Prandelli insisted that such actions won't be repeated next Tuesday.

"Those will be the last, as of now everyone will be supporting Italy. I am sure that against the Faroe Islands the Florentine response will be excellent," he said.

Prandelli was also at pains to play down the animosity that developed between himself and the Della Valle family that owns Fiorentina over the manner of his departure.

Club president Diego Della Valle had accused him of a lack of respect when he left.

"I had an extraordinary relationship with the Della Valles over the past few years," said Prandelli.

"Over the last few months there have been some misunderstandings due to things said by third parties. "Soon we'll be able to have a couple of chats face-to-face while looking each other in the eyes."

Prandelli also had a word to say about the imfamous 'ultra' fans that are the scourge of Italian football. England coach Fabio Capello recently claimed Italy was being held hostage by just such fans, and Prandelli agrees.

"The majority of fans are against violence in any form, when something happens it's embarrassing to continue talking about the same things for the last 40 years," he said.

"When Capello said that football was in the ultras hands he wasn't entirely wrong. "There's a type of psychological violence that can affect everyone within the game."

Looking ahead to the two matches against Estonia and Faroe Islands, Prandelli insisted he would be taking neither team for granted.

While on paper they are the two weakest teams in the group, ranked respectively 94 and 118 in the world, Prandelli said this is not the time to start trying out players.

He has picked a relatively young and untested squad at international level but he will be sticking to those who've produced the goods before. "We want to be prepared for the next game, we have new players who I hope will have a future (with Italy)," he said.

"We're playing for points so we won't be experimenting. We're at the beginning of a cycle and we want to win points right away.

"But our idea is to look to play well to get the result. We'll start by trying to find the right tactical balance, order and most of all get results.

"Having had more days to prepare we want to do better than we did against Ivory Coast (a 1-0 friendly defeat). "It won't be a stroll in the park against Estonia, they're a tight outfit, we'll have to be careful."

[Carlo Romano]

I think we all know Cassano was expected to have to miss both these upcoming matches but the medical staff are determined to have him able to at least play next week if not this week end...

Prandelli, "here's looking at you, kid. Pay no attention to the Viola ultras, just bring in all six points!"

[vtec]

Pirlo: Italian football suffering from lack of quality
By Soccernet staff

September 1, 2010

Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo has blamed his country's disappointing World Cup performance on a lack of quality and insisted the Azzurri must "start playing football" if they are to challenge for major honours again at Euro 2012.


Pirlo was out injured for the majority of Italy's disastrous campaign in South Africa, making just a fleeting appearance in the final group game against Slovakia, a 3-2 defeat that saw Marcello Lippi's side exit the competition.

It was an embarassing display at the finals by the then-reigning champions and Pirlo believes that the Azzurri must dramatically improve as they prepare to take on Estonia in their first Euro 2012 qualifier, new coach Cesare Prandelli's first game in charge.

"We need to start playing football," he said. "We have to learn how to play with the ball on the ground and make quick exchanges of play.

"Italian football's problem is that we all have less quality: the players, the fans and the stadiums."

[Carlo Romano]

[Messinterista]

The FIGC/LEGA CALCIO only care about the moneys...Get more revenue out of the TV deals and forget about the crowds. It is a shame what the Serie A has become but I don't see it improving anytime soon. We should take a more of a bundesliga approach and follow their model/structure. First thing, change to 18 team competition.

[p_maldini_3]

how does an 18 team competition help?

[Bagg10]

Less packed schedule, clubs do better in Euopean competitions, and players wouldn't be as fatigued or injured for national team games. All of this is hypothetical though, we'd have to impliment it to see if it works. We could also look at the years that we had less teams in serie a and see if it had an effect on Italian club's European performances.

[Messinterista]

Like Bagg said.
Not only that, with 18 teams, two weaker teams are out of the roster and making the competition slightly stronger.

[p_maldini_3]

well, considering an italian [sic] team won the cl last season, i'm not sure if that is the most convincing argument. also, it would only be 4 games less, not that big of a deal.

[RomaShield27]

Italy's love affair with the No.10
http://fourfourtwo.com – Friday 03 September 2010 09:00

Deep in their heart of hearts Italians accept that football is a brutal game where only the result matters – players put themselves at the disposal of the coach and follow the mister’s orders to the letter. The tactics and style of play can be as ugly as you like, as long as you come out on top. Then again, Italians as a whole love beauty, they also love to feel that they are beyond the rules set out by society so of course they were always going to fall in love with the ‘No 10’.

Even in the most mundane life there needs to be some spark of creativity. There is something of the artist in very Italian, even if, when push comes to shove, pragmatism always wins out. That is why the fantasista has always held a special place in Italian hearts: the genio creating the bella figura while the artisans go about their day’s labour.

The love affair really took off with a Valentino of course: Valentino Mazzola who captained the Grande Torino that dominated the Italian game in the post-war years and who lost his life in the Superga plane crash in 1949. His son Sandro would keep the light burning brightly as the creative force in the Grande Inter of the 60s and then, as we shall see, give an Italy coach endless selection headaches.

Mazzola senior may have created the allure for the position everyone envies but at the same time carries the greatest burden – and when it comes to a time for expediency the artist will be sacrificed for the perceived good of the team. Roberto Baggio’s substitution at USA ’94 after Italy had goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca sent-off is an good example of when the Italian coach – in this case Arrgio Sacchi – understood that he could not afford any luxuries and served up a game plan based on avoiding defeat at any cost.

Sacchi got away with it only because it was Norway, when another Baggio – Dino – scored the only goal of the game. However, the Divine Ponytail returned for the following game and then basically dragged the Azzurri kicking and screaming all the way to the final. There he missed the decisive penalty in the shoot-out against Brazil, but was forgiven because his feet were never made of clay.

Italians are not adverse to a bit of anarchy and Evaristo Beccalossi was the king of the nutmeg and the reason why many a Milanese kid supported Inter in the late-70s. Il Bec never got the opportunity to take his undoubted talents onto the international stage as Enzo Bearzot refused to call him up to the squad for the 1982 World Cup – but then he did have the equally-elegant and more team-orientated Giancarlo Antognoni to call upon although donning the number nine shirt.

When the home-grown talent has failed to bloom such as the in the early 1980s, Italy has imported number 10s with the eye of a wine connoisseur choosing a fine vintage: Michel Platini, Diego Maradona and Zico arrived and uncorked a golden age of sublime skill and invention in Serie A. However, it us the grape off the home vine that is more to Italian liking, so Marcello Lippi left a bitter taste when he refused to take a trequartista to South Africa – leaving both Antonio Cassano and Francesco Totti at home.

It was first time since the 1986 World Cup that Italy were without a natural creator in the advanced role as opposed to the regista in the more withdrawn position – and in the end the cost was more severe than it had been back in Mexico.

Lippi knew he had betrayed a rich legacy and only left himself open to more ridicule when he attempted to employ Claudio Marchisio and Mauro Camoranesi in that gaping hole of magical possibilities even though Antonio Di Natale was wearing the 10 shirt. In the end, it was Fabio Quagliarella who took it upon himself to scatter a little star-dust in the dying moments of the final group game against Slovakia.

However, the Napoli man is a seconda punta – a support striker – a defined role far removed from that of the maverick 10, which demonstrated how far the national team had fallen from the mantra of facci sognare or ‘makes us dream’.

In the past, Italy coaches were spoilt for choice when it came to subtle back-heels, killer passes and unforgettable goals, which reflected the country’s unfailing love for a player who could brighten even the dullest Sunday afternoon with a moment of divinity.

The 1970 World Cup coach Ferruccio Valcareggi could not decide whether Gianni Rivera or Sandro Mazzola’s creative instincts best served the team and devised the staffetta – the relay baton where each man played a half. What a shame Valcareggi could not have built a side around these two Milanese talents who embodied the cool but yet resourceful nature of late 60s and early 70s Italy.

Baggio burst on to the scene at Italia ’90 and had Gianfranco Zola as back-up through the mid-1990s while Alessandro The Waterboy and Francesco Totti vied for the role through the noughties which takes us up to Cassano and his return to the national side under Cesare Prandelli. We can only hope that Fantantonio’s second-coming does not mark the end of a love affair with Italy’s dream positio

[Messinterista]

We were lucky to win the Cl. If it wasn't for the special one being in charge we would have failed in Europe again last season, just like every other italian team has been doing for the past few years.

[Carlo Romano]

The 18 team format worked. Not that it relates to this topic but if we remember, if was actually quite a cut-throat affair given that 4 teams were relegated to B and likewise promoted to A. It made the bottom of Serie A that bit more competetive.

I have to agree with those of you who say less fixtures would have a more positive effect on player fitness because they did have before. Not only was the Serie A four matches shorter but the old European competitions' format had many less games too. In fact it was said that in those days Italian players did not like having the workload of two matches per week even if it was occasional as opposed to the obligatory situation of now. Add those teams who compete in the later stages of the TIM Cup (I still prefer the old term of la Coppa Italia) and players who feature in their respective national team's games, and we see that many players are working almost doubly as hard as before, some more so, playing three games per week...

If we think back to when Uefa dispensed with the second group stage of the CL, that was because even those who only care about money realised there were just too many games to be played. If we also remember, one of the principal reasons the CL came about was in trying to prevent the Berlusconi idea of a European Super League. In defeating one monster however, Uefa created another, then went on to compound the problem by increasing the size of the old Uefa Cup as it then was.

For all certain players will say being called to play in the World Cup for their country should motivate even the tiredest of bodies, the fact remains that because of the heavier club level workload, some European international sides are tending to fade more quickly than those from elsewhere. Despite the outcome of Sth Africa 2010, the final being contested by two European teams, I don't remember ever there being a time when our Azzurri hadn't actually won a match for nearly ten months which is where we now are!

Granted there are several differing reasons for us to have sunk to such a level, our worst since 1958, but the workload is in my opinion partially to blame. That said, let's hope we at least put a stop to our negative results this evening!

[Bagg10]