More Penalties at U21s; Azzurrini Into Olympics
By: Martha | June 22nd, 2007
After Wednesday’s outrageous marathon of a shootout between England and Holland, last night’s truncated edition felt like it had hardly gotten started and then, suddenly, Italy won and were through, albeit to a tournament I’m not sure anyone really cares about.
After the first 10 minutes or so, Portugal really had the better of the chances, and always looked (to me, anyway) more likely to win. There were some great moments for the Azzurrini — primary among them Giuseppi Rossi’s awesome, weaving run at the end of the first half — but had Portugal been able to finish, there probably would have been any extra time. When Rossi was sent off for being a whiny little girl late in the second half, the Portuguese stepped up their attack but, thanks to both their dreadful finishing and the work of Man of the Match Emiliano Viviano in the Italy goal, they could never put the ball in the back of the net.
Regarding the PKs, all that really needs to be said is: DIRTY.* That chip by Graziano Pelle was one of the nastiest things I’ve seen all year — you gotta love it when the keeper can actually get up and try to save the ball again before it goes in. Granted, Pelle has now made a mortal enemy of the Portugal keeper, but such is the price of greatness. I guess.
So, the Azzurrini are through to Beijing this summer where they, along with The Netherlands, Belgium and Serbia, will represent Europe. Some of them, anyway — the born-on-date for Olympic qualification is 1/1/1985, so unless they’re among the three over-age players, the Azzurrini will be without Giampaolo Pazzini, Alessandro Rosina and Alberto Aquilani, among others.
*Just so we’re clear, when I say “dirty” I mean it in the best way possible. Because, you know, I’m hip like that.
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C’mon Martha, Helder Postiga did the same against England, in Lisbon 2004 and nobody spoke so much about it… ;-)
I imagine these days, beating England on penalties isn’t a status symbol anymore… ;-)
PT had a clear chance through Djalo and missed – against Italy you pay a high price if you allow yourself going into penalties, which is a dish they made their specialty… Ask “anybody”… ;-) Furthermore, PT was playing against 10 for a long time.
Anyway, quite honestly, usually (there’s a tradition, but you might not be aware – see WC94 qualifying group and the last match, ITA vs PT; and yes, I think it goes back to even before that, maybe even to when the romans could only invade PT – LUSITANIA (not, it’s not just a ship) – after bribing the “seconds in command” of the resistance leader, Viriato) PT vs ITA is balanced, hard and one-way, with super venomous counters the other way, ocasionally (they usually also mean goalscoring).
I was expecting a lot more from the italians, yesterday. There was only one thing you couldn’t do. Get into penalties. Not because they’re better at it (see final of WC94, BRA vs ITA). Because they’re playing for that. So, till then, you wear yourself more than they do, gradually, and suddently you’re on the penalty spot, knowing you should have scored and then suddently you’re gone…
Yesterday, for example, they (ITA) played poorly. But hey, if you don’t score (PT), you end up with the big “L” in your face… ;-)
ps – It was very brave (or stupid, but we’ll never know), the 1st ITA penalty shot. I give you that… ;-)
Posted from
Netherlands
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From this tournament I can see Chiellini and Aquilani being integrated into the senior side come August but no one else for now. Rosina has the potential to be a superstar and has such sublime technique but he has to learn to pass the ball!
Also, Pelle’s “cucchiaio” was great. Physically he reminds me of Luca Toni but he has good feet as well, as he demonstrated with the chip shot. (Imagine Luca Toni performing a chip shot?!?! Highly unlikely)
Posted from
United States
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