Azzurri v France: Yes, I Know I’m Behind

By: Martha | September 10th, 2007

Sweet, sweet Matrix. The good news is that the defense looked surprisingly solid, Fabio Cannavaro seems to have remembered who he is and had a solid game and a spectacular second half (as much as one can defend spectacularly), and Marco Materazzi’s tshirt completely confirmed his awesomeness. Plus, a point is better than nothing. The bad news is pretty much everything else, from the growing injury list to Italy’s total lack of an attacking threat to the suspension of Rino Gattuso for the Ukraine match.

Despite the deafening whistles that poured down on the San Siro pitch as the game ended, the performance wasn’t a bad one, really, it was just uninspired, and disappointingly conservative. Playing with only one outright striker (and Alex Del Piero out wide in support), it was clear Donadoni sent his squad out to avoid a loss, not chasing a win, and the post-game press conferences bore that out. Apart from Fabio Cannavaro, whose “fury” at the toothless draw was belied by his giddy post-match flirting with Lilian Thuram, everyone from the Azzurri camp who talked to the media very seriously informed them of the importance of not losing. Which, while true, isn’t particularly inspiring — when you’re third in your group, at some point a bit more ambition might be a good thing.

There were a few moments of nice, one-touch, attacking football buried in the Match of Blandness, but apart from a vicious Mauro Camoranesi strike during a short, second half flurry, and a bar-scraping attempt from Pippo Inzaghi (who, if I’m not mistaken, wasn’t offside even once in the match — perhaps that’s why he was so ineffective) in the first, Italy rarely looked dangerous; the result did little to assuage the fears of the Azzurri faithful. That said, though, a whole lot of ills will be cured by a solid victory on Wednesday; it’ll be interesting to see if Donadoni gives in to the pressure of expectations and makes changes for the match — something crazy like playing with two people not named Pippo up top, for example. (My money’s on the gaffer’s beloved Fabio Quagliarella getting a run, but I can’t imagine who he’ll be paired with. Iaquinta, AKA Faux Toni? Lucarelli, just because he’s tall?)

Some Related Serie A Posts:

Category: Azzurri, Rumors & News, Serie A

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Paolo

My Opinion on This whole Del Piero thing...

His time has come and is almost gone. He had a great season in Serie B last season yes, but what does the really equate to? So did about 127 other Juventus players. Good perfromances in Serie B were expected and really were not that surprising. He is not at a level where he could compete at the national level anymore, or at least be a consistent starter in matches where a win is important. Its evident, and not just from this past Saturday's performance. There are better player options that possess better speed, touch and creativity than Del Piero currently does. People really need to stop thinking he is still the superstar he once was because he is not. He is aging and off seasons take a lot more form out of him these days. He was the result of a lot of attacks breaking down on Saturday. I am not saying we could not have won with him, but I feel there are better players available that, given the chance, could have opened it up more up front and produced something more. Del Piero's lack of speed and touch were too easy for the French defence to deal with most of the time. Fine, he started but he should not have played past the 60 minute mark. Italy had a good handle defensively, 30 mins to produce a goal and maybe get 3 points would not have been a bad idea at that point.

The Inzaghi thing... yeah he is a good goal poacher but you need speed, creativity and power to play against a squad like France, not 100 year old chicken legs. You have to create your chances. Easy tap ins are not easy to come by against a team like that. Again, there were better options available than Pippo.

The team played well as a whole, but those two were the weakest links. 4 to go and in 3rd place... it may all come down to the game against in Scotland, where all Scotland might have to do is play for the draw. Not the best of positions to be in. I know Scotland has to play France next but who is to say they can't win? They already did in the first fixture, and you know Ukraine are going to be fighting for their lives. Even if both teams draw tomorrow it won't be good. I wonder what Donadoni has in store for us tomorrow. Hopefully we get the right results.
maven2100

Team Italy was not motivated!!Sad, but true...bring back Lippi or even get Capello. Suddenly, look for Totti to want to come back and perhaps even "ol-man Nesta" may want to return for a last hurrah.....

Lastly, Inzaghi played a good game all things considered, but he should not be played more than 10 minutes /game.
lefutur

Youre basically saying the same thing that Domenech said after the match, that the Azzurri were not REALLY trying to get a win but instead were trying to avoid losing. The media says that he was attacking the Azzurri but I think it was just a pretty straightforward statement.
Francesco

I wouldn't blame Inzaghi at all. What SuperPippo strives on to be successful is good service, and he didn't get that at all. The one time he did get a good pass (from a stellar Pirlo), he hit the crossbar.
Martha

Lisa, it was VERY odd. Clearly there was something off in his brain, because he wasn't at all himself.

Paolo, I almost feel bad for Del Piero -- he had such a great season last year (in Serie B, I know), and looked fantastic in the preseason matches this year, convincingly looking much younger than his age. Then starts for Italy and is worse than useless, not to mention looks every one of his 54 years.
Martha

Bib, Cesare Prandelli is pimping Bobo for an Azzurri spot already, too. Me, I'd rather wait until the guy is fit again, but very little could make me happier than see him suit up for Italy again.
Bib

The one good thing I can say about this game is that Buffon and Carnavarro have rediscovered their world cup form. Barzagli and Oddo looked pretty good. Pirlo and Gattuso played great as ussual and Zambrotta and Cam were showing some glipses of greatness. The only thing we lacked in that lineup was Toni as he would have more than likely secured the win for us. Pippo needs to sit on the bench...where's ianquinta? where's Gila? I'll even take Vieri at this point. There are dosen better forwards than this guy. You can't put a poacher in against France, you need a forward that can move with the ball and take some deadly long range shots. We also needed the likes of Toni and Matarazzi in those set plays. What the hell is shorty Pippo going to do against Viera. The defense will be solid for the Ukraine but I'm just worried that the offence won't take advantage of the large gaps the Ukraine leave up the middle of the pitch. Once again it's do or die boys, make it count!
Paolo

I hate Donadoni. 3 reasons why we didn't win.

1. Del Piero - He WAS a great player. Too many attacks broke down because of his lack of pace and lack of ability to do anything productive with the ball. He was easy pickings for the France defense and the counters just blew past him and there was little he do to interrupt them.

2. Inzaghi - With the amount of better strikers Donadoni could have had (did have)at his disposal there is no way he should have started or played as long as he did. TOOOOO DAMN SLOW for the France defense. He couldn't even run past them to go offside...

3. Donadoni - Starting line up & Poor substituions. Left some players in the game too wayyyyyy too long. Also when it was evedient that the back 4, with the help of some key midfleilders, were not giving France much, he should have put on more speed and fire power. The only thing that kept them off the score sheet was lack of pace in key spots.

Most of the team played really well and there was no reason to not have won. They moved the ball well with some really nice one touch football, found some space, played good defensively and dominated the middle. Screw playing for a tie. Have confidence that your squad can get the job done especially in the San Siro, especially against France who had no head coach and talking smack before the match. A win was needed. 3rd place, 4 Qualifiers to go... did you really want to be sitting 3rd right now? Oh and the ref was brutal too, for both sides.
Lisa

Wait, Pippo not offside even once? Something is clearly not right with the world. (No, I didn't see the game. Apparently I didn't miss much.)