Azzurrini ready to kick-off in Beijing

By: Francesco | August 6th, 2008

For all those people that since June 22, 2008 have been anxiously waiting to see the Azzurri back in action, those weeks of anticipation are finally over. Granted, this isn’t the Nazionale (we’ll have to wait until August 20th for that), but the Azzurrini are always a fun bunch to watch, as we have so many talented young talents and this Beijing Olympics should be very interesting. At the last Summer Olympics in Athens in 2004, Claudio Gentile’s U-21 side (along with Andrea Pirlo playing as a fantasista and Alberto Gilardino when he actually scored goals) put up a diligent fight, falling to a strong Argentina team in the semi-final and then defeating Iraq in the Bronze Medal game to win a Olympic medal in soccer for the first time since the early 1900’s.

Four years have passed, and much has changed. Gentile’s contract was not renewed in the summer of 2006 (a little unfairly to be honest) and young new manager Pierluigi Casiraghi was brought in. Casiraghi did well to put together an exciting, attacking side (Gentile was VERY defensive) with lots of good talented players and managed to qualify for this summer’s Olympic games.

Our squad is very talented and has all that it takes to win a Gold Medal. We may not have such high profile players as other nations (Riquelme, Messi, Mascherano, Ronaldinho, etc.), but we have players that are skilled enough to beat anyone on any given day. Up front in attack we have our own Messi, his name is Sebastian Giovinco, and if you don’t know him by now I would advise you to keep a close eye on the 5 foot 3 fantasista who can change the game at any moment. When Giovinco accelerates past a defender, the only way to stop him is to foul him. He is also very dangerous on set pieces. Then there’s Giuseppe Rossi. Everyone should know who Giuseppe Rossi by now. The little Italian-American wonderkid is arguably our most talented player, and everyone is expecting him to put in high quality performances. Marcello Lippi will be watching, as he has been praising Rossi in the press, meaning that a full Nazionale future is near.

Our lone over-age player is Tommaso Rocchi. OK so he’s not the best choice, but many teams were very reluctant to give up their stars, and therefore we have Tommaso Rocchi. That’s not saying he’s a bad player, because he’s not. Rocchi has always been a consistent performer over the past few seasons and has shown he is a proven goalscorer in Serie A. He also brings experience and leadership to the squad, and we need that to succeed.

Our other striker is Robert Acquafresca, who impressed everyone last season, scoring 10 goals for Cagliari. He also put in good performances for the Azzurrini and is the first choice striker, but with Rocchi in the mix he’ll start from the bench. He could be a good supersub though.

We now move to our midfield, where the casual fan may look at it and not recognize one name. Well that doesn’t matter, because our midfield is all quality. Antonio Nocerino is our captain and a very good player. He brings lots of work rate to the midfield (which is why he’s compared to Gattuso) but he also has very good technical ability. Luca Cigarini is quite simply the Azzurrini version of Andrea Pirlo. He holds the midfield together and directs the play from in front of the defense. If you ever watch a U-21 game, count how many times Cigarini is given the ball and you’ll see how important he is to this team. Claudio Marchisio and Daniele Dessena are two great up and coming young midfielders. Both players are very reminiscent of Marco Tardelli. They can do it all: pass, tackle, defend, attack, score goals, beat defenders. They are truly complete midfielders. They are also very good in getting into open spaces and making good runs, especially Dessena. Ignazio Abate is an attacking winger that has awesome speed and very good technical ability. He provides a good spark off the bench. Our star midfield player is of course Riccardo Montolivo. Montolivo has always been called “the new Pirlo”, but the fact of the matter is that Montolivo is not like Pirlo at all. If you have to compare Montolivo to any player, it would be Steven Gerrard (although Montolivo hasn’t refined the defensive part of his game yet). He has a laser beam of a shot and great vision. If he is playing well, Italy will be playing well.

And now we go to defense. Italy has always been known to produce great defenders but in recent times many have pondered whether Italy had any good prospects in defense. Well we don’t have any Cannavaro’s or Nesta’s, those players come only once every 20 years, but we have good prospects. Our full backs are very strong. Juventus defender Paolo De Ceglie is an attacking left back who is very good at getting forward and crossing. Marco Motta is the captain of the U21 squad and a very hardworking fullback and who goes up and down the wing with ease. Lorenzo De Silvestri is the youngest of the bunch (20 years old), but probably the most promising. De Silvestri has all the qualities to be a world class player, and resembles Zambrotta a lot. In the center, there’s Domenico Criscito (who I still think is better at left-back then in the center) who is owned by Juventus and very good at reading the game. Then there’s Andrea Coda who is a tough center back who is good in the air, and Salvatore Bocchetti, a versatile player who is excellent at anticipating the play.

Italy always has a great goalkeeping tradition, and in goal there are two good prospects. Emiliano Viviano is a excellent goalkeeper with great positioning sense and good reflexes. It’s a shame that all Italian clubs buy foreign goalkeepers, because Viviano is really a talented keeper and should not be playing in Serie B. If you saw Andrea Consigli on the street you probably wouldn’t think he’s a goalkeeper. He isn’t as tall as other goalkeepers and he’s rather lanky. But Consigli has excellent reflexes and at times makes amazing saves.

The predicted formation for tomorrow is:

4-3-2-1
Viviano; Motta, Coda, Criscito, De Ceglie; Nocerino, Cigarini, Montolivo; Rossi, Giovinco; Rocchi

Our Opponents: Honduras. I would be lying if I said I knew anything about them besides the fact that David Suazo and Edgar Alvarez are from there. And I definitely don’t know much about there U-23 players. I do however know that Carlos Pavon (played in MLS recently and played in Italy in the past) is their overage player, and will most probably be their main threat up front. However we can’t underestimate the Central American side, and the Azzurrini have to play to their full potential.

TV: The game will be live on Spanish channel Telemundo at 5 AM EST, and the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel (for those that have it) will be showing it delayed at 10:30 AM EST. You can also watch the game on the NBC Olympics website. Streams will be here.