International week is boring
By: Francesco | September 9th, 2009
International week is boring. There’s really no news from Serie A, and we get a week of Lippi dodging questions about Mourinho and Cassano. Here’s the highlights from today’s game. Italy won 2-0, finally a decent performance. Pirlo excelled as a trequartista, Zambrotta actually ran up and down the wing, De Rossi is the most important part of our midfield, Iaquinta and Gila actually had pretty good chemistry, Grosso is still awesome, Buffon is back to being Buffon, Marchisio put in a good performance, and Simone Pepe still manages to fall over his own two feet. Highlights after the jump.
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Tags: Azzurri, Bulgaria, Calcio, football, Futbol, Italian National Team, Italy, National Team, Nazionale, Players, Results, Serie A, Soccer, World Cup 2010, World Cup QualifyingSubscribe
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beautiful goals, especially the second one…
Posted from
United States
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…and Simone Pepe still manages to fall over his own two feet.
ROFLMAO
Posted from
United States -
Glad none of the 7 (!) juventus starters picked up any injuries….nice goals indeed!
Posted from
United States -
International Breaks extremely boring. Especially when you support the Azzurri these days. Out of 180 minutes they looked good for 45 (35 really).
Lippi complained just before the 1st match that no one was talking about the Azzurri’s important WCQ’s. Well Lippi, that is because:
A – You are expected win easily
B – Ironically you, or the team rather, is not expected to do wellI think they managed that perfection. At the end of the day they got the 6 points they were out to get but I am still not convinced by this squad.
Posted from
United States -
I think Pepe is a joke. Literally.
Lippi keeps selecting this guy just because he thinks it’s hilarious and loves the way the media freaks out. He doesn’t plan to take him to the World Cup at all. It’s all for humour purposes.
Posted from
United States -
OK here goes….
Lippi has got to be straightened out by the FIGC. Anyonwe with half a brain knows that Cassano is the best young natural italian talent on the face of the earth. He is our new Baggio/Zola/ADP etc. With him on the team even Iaquinta could finally score goals (I know it would be a minor miracle…). I almost wish we would have lost today so that the pressure would have mounted on Lippi and we could have possibly brought in Spalletti.
Alas all this is nothing but a dream….no one is going to touch Lippi. He has the seniority and the WC trophy as backing (although if it were not for Buffon in 2006 we never would have won the WC). The FIGC will stay behind and let things take their natural course which will be as follows:
1: We will qualify for S Africa.
2: We will be placed as a Top Seed.
3: We will face some interesting challengers from new regions of the world (asia, middle east, africa).
4: We will scrape by and qualify for the round of 16 by the narrowest of margins.
5: We will draw a tougher opponent because of this.
6: We will loose in the round of 16 because we have a mediocre squad with absolutely no offense at all and cannot possily play counter attacking soccer for 90 minutes every game.
7: Lippi will debate all the missed opportunities, bad calls, injuries and weather as our downfall.
8: He will retire and become a director at Juventus.
9: We will watch Brazil – England in the final and watch a real Italian coach show his mastery…
Questions will remain….
1: Why did we allow Lippi to come back after Donadoni?
2: Why did FIGC not pursue Capello while they held the hammer over Donadoni’s head?
3: Cassano was one of our brighter spots in the Euros and has had two very god seasons back to back since then. What does Lippi not see? What does he have against this kid?
4: Will Italy ever be able to churn out defenders like they once did? Will we have to endure the pain of watching Canna get burned by the speed of brazil or african teams again?
5: Why must we hope and pray for Amauri to come in march only 4 months before the WC? Do we want to be another France or Germany with more naturalized players than true national players? Is this what we stand for now??
Assessment:
Italy will go to the 2010 WC with a mediocre team. Only one true superstar and that is Buffon. The others are capable professionals but no one is a superstar ala Messi, Aguero, Kaka, Lampard, Gerrard, Xavi, Iniesta, etc. that can be a game breaker. Our best hope is to have a revolution and build a team for 2012 Euros with the U21 players. This can only happen with a change at the helm. A change that was needed long ago….Posted from
Canada -
I would play a 4-2-3-1.
Let me explain why.
We do not have two powerful forwards that can play the long ball that Lippi likes to so often do. Even those that we have cannot hold up the ball and wait for support. This makes the 2nd striker virtually useless and uninvolved in much of the play (as was Gila in todays game yet again).
We hav eto play ball to feet and swift movement in ordr to crack teams defense. We have a number of skilled smaller men that can do this very well. (Watch what Spain does with their small lineup. Often they play with 5 midfielders and Torres up top).
1: Defense is always a question until we can replace Canna, but for the other roles it should be a lock with Santon (no Zambro), Chiellini, and Grosso (bring Motta, Gamberini, Marchisio as backups).
2: Two holding midfielders, they being DeRossi and D’Agostino (aquilani as backup), that protect the inadequacies of our defense and allow for the two wingbacks to overlap at will (both Santon and Grosso do this exceptionally well). Both these guys can make great outlet passes and can tackle with the best of them. (BTW – Brazil plays with two holding midfielders in their 4-2-2-2 formation).
3: Three attacking midfielders with creative flair. Here I would play Cassano, Rossi, Pirlo (quags, dinatale, foggia as backups).
4: Striker – Here is my achilles heel but the best option may be Pazzini since he knows and can synch with the midfielders better than any of the other pretenders (retire Iaquinta, Toni, Gila,etc. Bring even Aquafresca).
We need a speedy team. Our traditional pedestrian game is no match for the modern global game. It was evident in the Euros, Conf Cup and always is shown as a huge void lately in Champions League.
Thoughts?Posted from
Canada -
where can i get info about the italian youth team playing in the u-20 world cup; who is their coach? is their any stars? balotelli?
Posted from
United States -
anyone has any idea if Omni Sport online (http://www.omnisport.tv/page/Subscribe) works in Canada & America. they have Serie A season & monthly pass + individual games.
nothing good around these days since seriea.tv
Posted from
United States -
Not so impressive game, please do not forget that Italy played average team Bulgaria. Italy squad needs more fresh call ups and new blood + cassano + pazzini + balloteli if Azzurri is really ambitious to win the world cup. In the other hand; England, Spain and Netherlands have impressed me much in the qualifiers and I think that one of them have the quality to win world cup.
Posted from
United States -
Tamim, I’ll have a post about it within the week. The call-ups were made yesterday. All youth players were called, no stars like Balotelli because they couldn’t be taken away from their Serie A clubs.
Posted from
United States
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