The Don Speaks

By: Martha | September 28th, 2007

Say what now? Apart from when he sagely announced that it could be “a problem” for Antonio Di Natale if the striker didn’t leave Udinese (Seriously? What, he wouldn’t take an actual, productive striker because he wasn’t playing in Europe? Give me a break.) for a bigger club, Roberto Donadoni has been quiet lately, just glorying in the fact that no one is calling for him to be fired this minute.

Now that silence is over, though, and The Don is — verbally, at least — taking a hard(ish) line with Alex Del Piero and his demands to only be played at the top of the Azzurri formation. When asked about Del Piero’s statement, Donadoni insisted he’s willing to take the aging Juve man as a striker, but quickly added that “the more flexible a player is, the more chance he has of playing.” Know what that means, Alex? He’s going to pick you and then leave you in the stand for both games, this time, rather than just the second one.

Or not. According to The Don, this round of matches might just be the time for experimentation, and the inclusion of some youth (apart from the Roman kids who are already in the team) is a possibility. Of course, by saying names like Montolivo and Rosina, Donadoni isn’t exactly going out on a limb, is he? It’s hard to imagine anyone would suggest those haven’t earned a chances with the full national team and, though it may be a bit early for Don’s other examples, Guiseppe Rossi and Marco Borriello, the former is certainly on everyone’s Azzurri radar. Borriello? Well, he’s had a good start, at least.

Qualifiers aren’t exactly the best place for messing about, but given the upcoming opponents (Georgia ~~and the Faroes Scotland~~)* and how uninspiring things have been for the past several months, throwing some kids who can play into the mix might not be the worst idea. Of course, if The Don actually does that and it backfires, all of Italy will want his head on a platter for having the nerve to turn away from the old guard — never mind that the old guard were being destroyed in the press about a month ago.

Oh, and also: Gianluca Zambrotta has an ankle injury and is probably going to miss the Georgia. Super.

*Thanks to Francesco for sorting me out on the schedule thing once and for all.

Some Related Serie A Posts:

Category: Azzurri, Rumors & News, Serie A, Udinese

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Taib

Tessa: Nah, that dubious honour goes to Trappatoni...man, he sucked. And what sense does it make to fire a coach almost at the end of a qualifying campaign? None. We are stuck wih Donadoni.
Ian

Ah ... Francesco's right. I'm personally glad this one's in November, so even if we blow it (as Scotland has blown so many promising campaigns in the past), we still keep the high WC qualifying rank.
Martha

ARG! Going to check again and will fix it once and for all. How on earth are we all seeing different calendars?!
Francesco

We are not playing Scotland in October. Scotland-Italy will be played on November 17th. In October our only matches are home to Georgia on the 13th in Genoa and then on the 17th a friendly vs. South Africa in Siena.
Martha

God damn. I wrote that post at about 1030am, so it had only been three or four by that time. (Fixed, thanks.)
Francesco

Marco Borriello has always been a decent striker at best. Just because he scored a hat trick against Udinese he gets mentioned by Donadoni.
Tessa

Please fire Donadoni, he's probably the worst coach of the past ten years!
Ian

If Donadoni doesn't take Scotland seriously by this point, he's more of an idiot than I thought. He has a better team, and as a die hard Tartan Army fan that hurts to say, but Scotland has been playing tough, motivated football, and Italy, not so much. If he doesn't send his best to Glasgow, we'll make him pay for it.
chris

I can totally see Donadoni starting kids against Scotland in Glasgow and getting pissed when they don't win. Which would be utterly fucking idiotic. But that's his MO.
Martha

Oh for god's sake. No, I can't read a calendar -- thanks, Joe, I'll go fix it.
Joe

Martha: The next qualifiers are hosting Georgia on Saturday the 13 and then traveling to Scotland on Wednesday the 17th. The Faroe match is the last one on the calendar.

The Scotland match is the key tie of the qualification campaign. No time for effing around.