Let’s recap. The date is April 1st, and fittingly so. It seemed like a April Fool’s Joke when Pazzini was given a red in the third minute (incidentally, it’s also the last time I think he played for us). Down to ten men, we were still able to grab a lead before the half via Iaquinta. Late in the second half though, Liverpool reject Robbie Keane equalized, and we were left wondering what had just happen. Did we really go down to ten men so early? Did Simone Pepe really play for 55 minutes while Rossi sat on the bench the entire time? And worst of all, did we really choke in the end?

That turned out to be a minor blip in our qualifying campaign. Say what you want about luck or fortune, but the only thing that the table cares about is points. Out of the 53 or so teams trying to qualify from UEFA, only 5 have more points than us: the Netherlands, England, Spain, Germany, and Russia. We have 20 points from 8 games. For comparison’s stake, come the 8th round of Serie A, no team will be able to get 20. After 8 rounds in the EPL, only Chelsea has 20 or more (21). Our record isn’t bad, though the play has been spotty.

A win, a convincing one at that, will finally get us through to South Africa and calm the complaints, if only for a while.

Italy News

Call ups here. Word on the strada is that Lippi is going to field the following formation:

Buffon; Zambrotta, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Grosso; De Rossi, Palombo; Camoranesi, Pirlo, Iaquinta; Gilardino

A 4-2-3-1 a la Spalletti’s Roma. The back four is as strong as we’re going to get with Lippi considering the absence of our captain. De Rossi and Palombo should hopefully be able to direct play and shield the back four well, but there’s no telling whether or not they’ll gel. It’s interesting to see Iaquinta out on the flank when I would put him on top and maybe Rossi behind him, but we all know how Lippi works by now.

It’s a typical Lippi formation. Focus on age and experience, light on creativity. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter who he sends out there, if we can get the win. And we do tend to come out on top in qualifying when we need to- just ask Scotland.

Ireland News

Trappatoni’s call ups are here:

Goalies: Shay Given, Keiren Westwood, Joe Murphy.

Defense: John O’Shea, Kevin Foley, Richard Dunne, Stephen Kelly, Kevin Kilbane, Eddie Nolan, Sean St. Ledger, Paul McShane, Darren O’Dea.

Midfield: Aiden McGeady, Damien Duff, Darron Gibson, Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews, Liam Miller, Stephen Hunt, Andy Keogh, Steven Reid, Liam Lawrence.

Forwards: Caleb Folan, Kevin Doyle, Robbie Keane, Shane Long, Leon Best.

They’re not a bad team by any means. Given is one of the top goalies in the Prem and a major reason why City are doing so well this year. O’Shea and Dunne are quality in the back, and we all remember what Keane did to us. Interestingly, both Italian coaches are too stubborn to call up their nation’s best: while Lippi refuses to call up Cassano, Trap and Stephen Ireland got in a fight and neither seems willing to give in. That can only be good for us.

Prediction: 3-0 win for us. De Rossi, Gila, and Grosso scoring. We need a convincing win and we’ve been waiting for it for too long. Forza Azzurri!

]]> http://italy.worldcupblog.org/group-e/lets-finish-the-job.html/feed 33 http://italy.worldcupblog.org/marcello-lippi/just-a-reminder-gigi-buffon.html http://italy.worldcupblog.org/marcello-lippi/just-a-reminder-gigi-buffon.html#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:10:39 +0000 Julian http://italy.worldcupblog.org/marcello-lippi/just-a-reminder-gigi-buffon.html There is no doubt in my mind as to who the best goalie is world football is today. Not Cech, not Van Der Sar, and not Casillas. Buffon stands alone as the best goalie of the modern era, and maybe even all time.

At the beginning of the year Buffon had problems with injury and struggled to regain his form following the subsequent layoff. But after watching him play these past few weeks, it’s safe to say he’s back to his best. He made some absolutely stunning stops for Juve this past weekend and is a huge reason why they’re leading the table right now. He’s also on fire for the national team.

As they say, form is temporary but class is permanent. Buffon’s form may have been shaky a few months ago but he’s back to show us why he’s our #1. And boy did we miss him.

Basic summary of the game: a very very good performance. Marchisio, Buffon, Pirlo, and DDR especially shined. There was confidence, smooth ball movement, and finally goals- and one from a striker.

Full game summary here.

I’m not going to go into the game too in depth for a few reasons. One, I only saw the first half (which seemed to be the important one, since we scored both times in it). And two, I don’t want to over-react. It was a very good game and all we need now is a point against Ireland to go through as leaders. So I wish we would play like this all the time, but I’m not going to count my chickens. Once we qualify, then I’ll have a really long post dedicated to the entirety of our qualification campaign.

Special note: Gigi Buffon is absolute class and will always be. People doubted him after a somewhat shaky year last year, but like they say, form is temporary and class is permanent. I jumped out of my seat when I saw his save that kept the game from being tied at 1-1. The ball had “Top left” written all over it, and he somehow managed to get there. Iker Casillas my ass.

DDR and Pirlo proved they can be on the pitch at the same time when not near each other, and both put in tremendous shifts. The most impressive player to me though was Marchisio. He’s young but he looks so comfortable in the blue shirt that he’s a natural at it. He should start from here on out imo.

Moving to our backline, it never ceases to amaze me how well Grosso does for us. Him, Canna and GC were great tonight, though Zambrotta was average. The midfield was solid, and thoguh Iaquinta scored, he missed a good 4-5 chances. Him and Gila either need to start scoring or preferably, Rossi should start with Iaquinta.

Overall, a very solid game and a delicious 3 points. Just one more needed…

Italy	7	5	2	0	11	3	+8	17
Republic of Ireland	8	4	4	0	10	6	+4	16
Bulgaria	7	2	5	0	10	5	+5	11
Cyprus	7	1	2	4	7	11	−4	5
Montenegro	7	0	4	3	6	12	−6	4
Georgia	8	0	3	5	4	11	−7	3

We’re first in the group by a single point, though we’ve played one less than Ireland. If we win against Bulgaria, we’ll be 4 points clear of Ireland, which is a nice cushion to have considering our next game is away to them. If we win, we’ll have guaranteed ourselves at least a playoff place. If Bulgaria wins, the group becomes much tighter. They’ll be on 14 points, Ireland on 16 and us on 17. Which means it goes down to the wire. But we all remember that from the Euros, don’t we? Montenegro, Cyprus and Georgia are all non-factors as they can’t go through at this stage anyway. But they can still cause us problems.

In a nutshell, if we win this, and then lose to Ireland, and then beat Cyprus, we go through as group leaders. And I see that as worse case scenario- we definitely should beat Cyprus. So a win here virtually guarantees us a spot as group leaders.

Azzurri News: Lippi tried out the 4-3-3 in training today (#$%&), which means we’ll likely see it in the game. And yes, I also thought we were past that. Likely line up includes Gila, Pepe, and Iaquinta up front, and Pirlo might not play at all if he’s “too hot”. Yup, that is in terms of temperature. We’re becoming quite the joke of a team aren’t we, between our strikers and now the prima donnas?

Bulgaria news: Berbatov will play, as well as the Petrovs and a bunch of guys I don’t know too well. If you’re interested, here are their call ups.

Preview: We drew 0-0 last time but that was away from home. We’re at home this time, and there’s a lot at stake here, and Lippi loves to say that we play our best when we need to. So, giving him the benefit of the doubt, I see us going through 2-0, with goals from Marchisio (cause we know our strikers won’t score), and why not, an own goal from Berba.

Once again the side showed a distinct lack of creativity and Lippi had a novel way of responding to questions over this issue.

“We have a fantasista between the posts! A great goalkeeper like Buffon remains inactive for almost an hour before finding that moment of magic that decides the game.”

Let’s recap. Lippi was asked a serious question about our team- in fact, it might be the single biggest problem with Italy at this point. He’s asked about the aimless direction of our team, and mostly, the offense. And his response? A joke. That’s right. He’s asked where our offense creativity is going to come from, and his response is Buffon.

…

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Gigi so much that my second child’s middle name is likely to be “Gianluigi”. And he was class yesterday. But Lippi is either ignoring the problem with our offense, or not taking it seriously. This is a pretty bad problem we have.

Bulgaria Weds. Preview soon.

Full writeup on the game.

To answer the question in the title, yes- a victory has felt like this in nearly every game we’ve played so far in qualifying. We end up winning, but we’ve gotten a ton of help from own goals and penalties. Our strikers aren’t scoring and the offense isn’t gelling.

Interestingly enough, though, we aren’t that bad technically. Here are our stats in WCQ so far:

7 Matches Played.

5 Wins, 2 Draws, 0 Defeats.

11 goals scored, 3 conceded.

17 points gained, top of our group.

Based on those, it’s our defense which is actually one of the strongest parts of our team. We often complain about Canna and our wingbacks, but despite all the flak, goals aren’t leaking in. Zambro is getting overrun, and we aren’t exactly playing against the likes of Torres and Eto’o (who probably would score on us), but our defense is holding up at the stage. We do desperately need youth and pace, but for the time being, we’ve actually leaked in less goals than England and the same as Germany. The concerning part is our anemic attack which is having trouble scoring against the likes of Cyprus and Georgia- not exactly top teams.

This will do for now- I’m not one to turn down 3 points- but we need something up front that’s going to score in South Africa. And at this point, I don’t care if that “something” is Totti, Del Peiro, Cassano, Giovinco, my grandma, or Amauri. All I do care about is that the “something” is added.

Italia News

Now, onto the next game: Egypt are a very good team. I saw them play Brazil and they played a very technical and tactical game. They’re fast and pacey and don’t like to lose the ball. I fear they could give us some problems physically, but I expect our players to hold out and win. If we do win this one, we should be through to the semis, no matter what we do against Brazil (assuming Brazil beats the US). Of course I’d love for us to beat Brazil, but I’d rather it not have to come to that. We need to take the game to Egypt. We need to pressure them from minute one and hold onto the ball Guardiola style.

But most of all, we need Rossi to start. He was fantastic against the US, and really knows how to play. He can shoot and pass, and we need dynamic guys like him to take the game to Egypt. Monto also had a decent game when he came on last time, but I think Gattuso should start cause we’ll likely need two DMs to cover our back four. Him and DDR fit the bill quite well. And after Pirlo’s magnificent performance last game, he also deserves to start.

The tricky part is who should partner Rossi up front. If Lippi sticks with the 4-3-3, we’ll need two guys in addition to him. Gila was crap so he should be out. Iaquinta wasn’t bad but missed many chances, and I doubt Egypt is going to give us as many as the US did. Toni actually might be the right guy. He still can’t score but he came very close last game. More importantly, in the short amount of time he was on, he found more space and shots on goal than Gila did. And finally, the third guy should be someone who we can count on in the clutch- so who else besides Mr Bullshit Goal himself would be appropriate?

So the front 6 are good. I expect DDR, Pirlo, Gattuso, Toni, Rossi, and Quags to play (or at least, I’d prefer if they did). The back 5 concern me though. Buffon was all over the place against America, though he’s still the best we have. The ball’s flight is what seems to trouble him, but I hope he practices and learns it’s flight patterns better before next game. Grosso just plays his heart out for us and he was stellar on Monday, and Zambrotta wasn’t bad either. Until Santon and Motta get called up/more playing time, these two are still pretty good. It’s the centrebacks that concern me.

GC and Legro were all kinds of mediocre last time. GC gave away a penalty in an otherwise decent performance, but I thought Legro was pretty bad. Every time the US countered it looked as if our defense was scared shitless. The only problem is that we don’t exactly have the depth to replace them. I doubt Gamberini would be any better. Since Cannavaro is back, I expect him to partner GC in defense.

Egypt News

Roster:

1 GK Essam El-Hadary

16 GK Abdel Wahed Al Sayed

23 GK Mohamed Sobhy

2 DF Mahmoud Fathallah

3 DF Ahmed Al-Muhammadi

4 DF Ahmed Said “Uka”

6 DF Hani Said

7 DF Ahmed Fathy

14 DF Sayed Moawad

15 DF Ahmed Samir Farag

20 DF Wael Gomaa

5 MF Ahmed Khairy

8 MF Hosny Abd Rabo

10 MF Ahmed Eid Abdel Malek

11 MF Mohamed Shawky

12 MF Mohamed Soliman “Humos”

13 MF Abdelaziz Tawfik

17 MF Ahmed Hassan

22 MF Mohamed Aboutrika

9 FW Mohamed Zidan

18 FW Ahmed Abdel-Ghani

19 FW Mohamed Abou Greisha

21 FW Ahmed Raouf

Based on what I saw last game, Shawky and Zidan are the two to watch. They both knew how to play some serious footy, as they were able to pressure the Brazilians but also interchange positions and passes effortlessly with teammates.

Preview

This is going to be a fast, physical game. No doubt about that. Egypt are very, very good at moving the ball about and are capably of playing some nice joga bonito on their day. They completely held their own against Brazil, which alone speaks volumes of their quality. Some things to keep in mind:

• They absolutely suck on set pieces. During the regular run of play, they’re quite good, but on corners and free kicks, they’re bad. They conceded 2 goals against Brazil on corners, and a third from a PK. We got very close to scoring on corners and free kicks last game, so I expect our boys to take advantage of this. I should also note, though, that they only conceded one goal during the run of play- and it was via a fantastic piece of skill by Kaka. So I expect it to be tough to score on them in regular play unless Rossi whips out his left foot again.
• They love to play on the flanks. Grosso and Zambro are going to have to sit further back this game, because Egypt loves to come up the sides of the field and cross the ball into the middle. If Grosso, great as he was against the US, repeats his performance, they will score. He’ll end up too far up the field on a counterattack and they will fully exploit that.

So how should we play? I’d go with a 4-4-2, and try to play a possession game. Keep the fullbacks back to prevent from countering, and make sure we have the ball at all times. Every corner/free kick should be a direct attempt to score as long as we have bigger guys like Chiellini and Iaquinta in the box. Finally, we have to take the game to Egpyt and show them that we don’t fear anyone.

And why should we? We’re the World Champions. Not them. Not Brazil. And despite what Spain likes to think, they aren’t either.

But we have other things in the way before that happens. First and foremost, we open up our bid for the Confederations’ Cup tomorrow in a game against the USA. This game should be on ESPN/ESPN 2, so everyone should be able to see it.

Now, a disclaimer: the Confederations’ Cup is a weak tournament. No one who has won it has gone on to win the following world cup, and I really don’t mind if we lose here and continue that trend. But it is a nice way to see how we are developing, and I expect the players to play as if it really mattered.

Our squad is looking like this:

1	Gianluigi Buffon	28 January 1978 (age 31)	Juventus	92 (0)	v Russia, 29 October 1997
12	Morgan de Sanctis	26 March 1977 (age 32)	Galatasaray	3 (0)	v Iceland, 30 March 2005
14	Marco Amelia	2 April 1982 (age 27)	Palermo	9 (0)	v Côte d’Ivoire, 16 November 2005
Defenders
2	Davide Santon	2 January 1991 (age 18)	Internazionale	2 (0)	v Northern Ireland, 6 June 2009
3	Fabio Grosso	26 November 1977 (age 31)	Lyon	42 (3)	v Switzerland, 30 April 2003
4	Giorgio Chiellini	14 August 1984 (age 24)	Juventus	18 (1)	v Finland, 17 November 2004
5	Fabio Cannavaro	13 September 1973 (age 35)	Juventus	124 (2)	v Northern Ireland, 22 January 1997
6	Nicola Legrottaglie	20 October 1976 (age 32)	Juventus	13 (1)	v Turkey, 20 November 2002
13	Alessandro Gamberini	27 August 1981 (age 27)	Fiorentina	6 (0)	v South Africa, 17 October 2007
19	Gianluca Zambrotta	19 February 1977 (age 32)	Milan	84 (2)	v Norway, 10 February 1999
22	Andrea Dossena	11 September 1981 (age 27)	Liverpool	9 (0)	v South Africa, 17 October 2007
Midfielders
7	Simone Pepe	30 August 1983 (age 25)	Udinese	7 (0)	v Bulgaria, 11 October 2008
8	Gennaro Gattuso	9 January 1978 (age 31)	Milan	67 (1)	v Sweden, 23 February 2000
10	Daniele De Rossi	24 July 1983 (age 25)	Roma	45 (7)	v Norway, 4 September 2004
16	Mauro Camoranesi	4 October 1976 (age 32)	Juventus	44 (4)	v Portugal, 12 February 2003
18	Angelo Palombo	25 September 1981 (age 27)	Sampdoria	10 (0)	v Croatia, 16 August 2006
20	Riccardo Montolivo	18 January 1985 (age 24)	Fiorentina	6 (0)	v South Africa, 17 October 2007
21	Andrea Pirlo	19 May 1979 (age 30)	Milan	56 (8)	v Azerbaijan, 7 September 2002
Forwards
9	Luca Toni	26 May, 1977 (age 32)	Bayern Munich	44 (16)	v Iceland, 18 August 2004
11	Alberto Gilardino	5 July, 1982 (age 26)	Fiorentina	32 (12)	v Norway, 4 September 2004
15	Vincenzo Iaquinta	21 November 1979 (age 29)	Juventus	28 (4)	v Iceland, 30 March 2005
17	Giuseppe Rossi	1 February 1987 (age 22)	Villarreal	5 (1)	v Bulgaria, 11 October 2008
23	Fabio Quagliarella	31 January 1983 (age 26)	Napoli	13 (3)	v Scotland, 29 March 2007

Of course, Canna is out injured and Legro is also in doubt. We’ve covered this before though, so nothing new.

The USA’s squad:

1	GK	Tim Howard	March 6, 1979 (1979-03-06) (age 30)	39	0	Everton
2	DF	Jonathan Bornstein	November 7, 1984 (1984-11-07) (age 24)	15	1	Chivas USA
3	DF	Carlos Bocanegra	May 25, 1979 (1979-05-25) (age 30)	67	11	Rennes
4	FW	Conor Casey	July 25, 1981 (1981-07-25) (age 27)	10	0	Colorado Rapids
5	DF	Oguchi Onyewu	May 13, 1982 (1982-05-13) (age 27)	42	5	Standard Liège
6	DF	Heath Pearce	August 13, 1984 (1984-08-13) (age 24)	23	0	Hansa Rostock II
7	MF	DaMarcus Beasley	May 24, 1982 (1982-05-24) (age 27)	87	17	Rangers
8	FW	Clint Dempsey	March 9, 1983 (1983-03-09) (age 26)	51	13	Fulham
9	FW	Charlie Davies	August 28, 1986 (1986-08-28) (age 22)	6	1	Hammarby
10	FW	Landon Donovan	March 4, 1982 (1982-03-04) (age 27)	110	39	Los Angeles Galaxy
11	DF	Marvell Wynne	May 8, 1986 (1986-05-08) (age 23)	3	0	Toronto FC
12	MF	Michael Bradley	July 31, 1987 (1987-07-31) (age 21)	29	5	Borussia Mönchengladbach
13	MF	Ricardo Clark	February 10, 1983 (1983-02-10) (age 26)	19	1	Houston Dynamo
14	DF	Danny Califf	March 17, 1980 (1980-03-17) (age 29)	23	1	Midtjylland
15	DF	Jay DeMerit	December 4, 1979 (1979-12-04) (age 29)	10	0	Watford
16	MF	Sacha Kljestan	September 9, 1985 (1985-09-09) (age 23)	17	3	Chivas USA
17	FW	Jozy Altidore	November 6, 1989 (1989-11-06) (age 19)	11	6	Villarreal
18	GK	Brad Guzan	September 9, 1984 (1984-09-09) (age 24)	12	0	Aston Villa
19	MF	Freddy Adu	June 2, 1989 (1989-06-02) (age 20)	13	1	Benfica
20	MF	José Francisco Torres	October 29, 1987 (1987-10-29) (age 21)	5	0	Pachuca
21	DF	Jonathan Spector	March 1, 1986 (1986-03-01) (age 23)	13	0	West Ham United
22	MF	Benny Feilhaber	January 19, 1985 (1985-01-19) (age 24)	17	2	AGF
23	GK	Luis Robles	May 11, 1984 (1984-05-11) (age 25)	0	0	Kaiserslautern

The ref is a 36 year old Chilean named Pablo Pozo. I know nothing about him, and I hope we don’t remember his name afterward. The mark of a good ref is that they stay anonymous. You really only remember the ones that screw up epically.

Preview

I’m not sure what lineup Lippi will put out. The USA caused us a bit of trouble last time we played them (though Zaccardo also had a bit of blame there), and they tend to play a pretty physical style of play. As a team, the USA plays more like England than Spain. They put more of an emphasis on phsycality than technicality, while we often do the opposite.

I rate Howard very highly as a goalie, but I think our forwards are more than capable of scoring. Rossi should have a big role in this game. He’s pacey and unpredictable, and should Lippi start him, will likely cause all kinds of problems for the USA’s defense. Speaking of, defense has been the weak point recently for the USMNT, though they have scored in most of thier games over the past year.

Our defense is probably going to be Zambro-Gamberini-Chiellini-Grosso, which isn’t stellar but should be enough to contain the US. As for midfield… could be anything. I expect DDR and Pirlo to start, and knowing Lippi, Pepe will play somewhere up front. No matter what, we should be good enough to beat the US. Lippi knows we need a good opening, though we traditionally make slow starts to tournaments. Considering how short this one is, I’d like us to make a good start.

Prediction: 2-0 win, Iaquinta and Pirlo scoring.

And finally, something to chew on.

Now, I know what you’re going to say. It was just a friendly. North Ireland isn’t exactly Brazil or Spain. Even moreso, it was their B team. Yada yada yada. All of that is largely irrelevant. We saw a group of players out there who wanted to impress Lippi and earn their place on the full squad. For some of these guys, it’s only a matter of time: Rossi and Santon and future lock ins for their respective positions. For others, it was maybe their one shot at glory: Pellissier sure as hell made sure that we would remember his name. He also left us wondering why, exactly, Lippi ignores form and youth for guys who seem so jaded and unwilling to play anymore.

Sure, it was merely a friendly against 2 B squads, and in the grand scheme of things, meaningless. That probably reflects most assumptions about the game. How wrong those assumptions are. This friendly showed that all the cliches about Italy- slow, boring, defensive (well, maybe)- are simply not true. Not for these guys. We saw an Italy squad that was young, dynamic, and powerful. I have half a mind to send these guys to the Confederations Cup instead of most of the guys called up. Yet, it’s not up to me.

All I can say is: Santon, welcome to the Azzurri. I look forward of a decade plus years of watching you play in our defense. Gamberini, for the first time, you looked truly confident and stable at the back. Rossi, you’re the forward we’ve been hoping for since Baggio retired. And goddamn Foggia, I’m sorry your call up didn’t come sooner. Like before the last Euro, when we could’ve used such hunger and creativity.

If only it were up to me, and every game was like this friendly. Once again, we’ve shown the world why we’re world champions. It’s not because of our coaches, because of one player, because of a few superstars. It’s because our entire league, from the mighty Inter to the lowly Chievo, have quality, quality players playing. And week in and week out, our guys play these guys, and only get better as a result.

Confed Cup Squad:

Goalkeepers: Marco Amelia (Palermo), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Galatasaray)

Defenders: Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Nicola Legrottaglie (Juventus), Andrea Dossena (Liverpool), Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina), Fabio Grosso (Lyon), Davide Santon (Inter), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan)

Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria)

Strikers: Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Simone Pepe (Udinese), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich)

Not really sure what to say. Is there anything left to say? These are the guys Lippi likes, and it doesn’t really seem like many people can break into the team no matter how good they play. Huge shout out to Santon, who I believe easily deserves his call up, but a few others seem pretty suspect. Ultimately, what it boils down to is not the individual talent of the players but the collective spirit of their play. If Lippi can mold them together and get them to play like we did in Germany, I’m all for it. This should be a nice warm up for the World Cup although I hope to see different names on the list come 2010. Goal.com for once has an interesting editorial on the subject, and though a lot of it is stuff we’ve heard before, it’s still worth pointing out.

According to reports in Italia, Ferrara has signed a one year contract for Juve, meaning that he’ll be the coach for the 09-10 season. Details here. This seems to be a page right out of Barca’s book (though they weren’t the first by any means) in hiring a very young, pretty inexperienced ex-player. Let’s hope it works out even a third as well as it did for Barca. He did very well at the end of this past season, getting Juve to play hungrier and livelier than they had in month. But was that his own doing or the result of the honeymoon period that so often goes along with new coaches getting hired? We’ll find out this fall.