Personally, my front two would be Pazzini and Cassano. They’ve both been absolutely on fire this season. Pazzo scored a goal with a broken nose over the weekend, bringing his tally to 6 while Cassano has been in inspirational form. They know each other inside and out because they both play for Samp, so I’d throw them up top together and let them wreak delicious magical Sampdorian havok amongst unsuspecting defenses.

On the bench I’d definitely bring Iaquinta, Gila (sorry but he earned it the last 3 qualifiers), and Di Natale since he’s the leading goalscorer in Serie A so far. Rossi gets dropped because both him and Villareal have blown so far this year, and Toni can’t even play for Bayern.

So, as of today, I’d feel comfortable bringing those 5. Of course, in a year that might all change, but I feel like Cassano-Pazzini is as good a front two as any. What do you guys think?

September 6th 2008. The setting: the entire peninsula is devastated after what we saw at the Euros three months earlier. Our illusions of the solidarity, the watertight defense, and the inability to fail all shattered after the thrashing against Holland. Sure, we screwed up a few times during Euro 2008 qualifying, but the last major tournament before that one set the benchmark quite high. Probably too high. So in the post-mortem of the Euros, we were looking to quickly bounce back. I think in hindsight that getting a win was the most important thing for us to put the Euros well and truly behind us, and get a win we did. Buffon was majestic as always- FootballItalia suggests that perhaps he alone of our current squad is world class, and that much alone is indubitable- and Di Natale scored us a winner deep into overtime.

This was a new feeling for the Azzurri, and one that we have been feeling more and more frequently: that is, luck. We won out of luck, and no one knew how to react. We had one the last world cup with some luck, but more through determination, team spirit, and Zidane’s craziness. At the previous Euros, not a single thing seemed to go our way, but here on the road to South Africa, luck (and Buffon) alone gifted us a winner. It seemed a mixed bag at the very least. We got the three points but a struggle to beat Cyprus is nothing to write home about.

October 14 2009. A similar scene plays out. Gilardino has the match of his life and scores 3 goals in 14 minutes to give us a win over Cyprus. We were dour for most of the match, although most of it was played by B squad members given that we already qualified. Lady luck again seemed to be on our side, and it left us all very confused. Should we be happy that we won? After all, the sign of great teams is winning when you play badly. But how long can we count on lady luck to guide us through?

If you’re interested in re-reading the details of our entire qualifying campaign, goal.com has a great writeup. I don’t want to focus on each game, but rather players and themes that occurred throughout the campaign. In general, I would like to point out that we finished very respectably, with 7 wins, 3 draws, and 0 losses- and even the love of the footy world right now (England, the apple of every newspaper’s eye) had a loss. We scored 18 goals and conceded 7. Our play varied from good to poor but it wasn’t all too convincing.

Perhaps the most noticeable thing over the last year or so is that Marcello Lippi is an obstinate man. Marchisio and Chiellini aside, he likes to stick with the aging players that won us the Cup in Germany and will not call up Cassano at all. Period. We need creativity and inspiration but it appears that that will come from someone else- maybe Totti, maybe Rossi, or maybe no one. We really don’t have a clue as to how Lippi will solve this problem, but it’s safe to say without some spark we are not going to beat the big teams next year.

Buffon is without a doubt the best player we have right now. He was the best player in 06 (aside from Canna), and he still is. Shrines should be erected in his honor the day he retires, but luckily for us, that day is far away. As long as we have Buffon guarding those two goalposts, no matter how badly we play, there is always a chance that we can still stay in the game- a much bigger chance than any other team has. An Italy without Buffon is one that will not win the World Cup. Forget Cassano, forget Pirlo, forget Amauri- if Buffon for some reason does not make it to South Africa, be it injury or a sudden act of insanity from Lippi, we can kiss the world cup goodbye. He is the most important member of our squad, and when every other player should be questioned and doubted, Gigi more often than not shouldn’t.

In wider terms, our play for much of the qualifying campaign has been disjointed at best. We all think Cassano might solve the problem, but we really don’t need to have a trequartista. Spain gets by without one and play majestic football, so it is possible if the rest of the team ups their game and plays as a true unit.

And without a doubt, these players cannot come to South Africa: Amauri, Zambrotta, and Pepe. Others are debatable but these three have no business being on the plane. Amauri for one because he’s not Italian and hasn’t even scored for Juve in nearly 9 months. We have enough problems with Italian strikers scoring and we don’t need a Brazilian choking as well. Zambrotta has lost it entirely, and with Criscito and Motta waiting  in the wings (no pun intended), our fullbacks should be younger and more aggressive. Finally, Pepe has done shit all and doesn’t deserve a spot.

Gila, on the other hand, has fully earned it. Say what you want about him only scoring against lesser teams, but someone has to do that and no one else has stepped up. Ever since he went to Fiorentina he’s been a much better player, and after single-handedly saving Lippi’s ass he will be on the plane. For once, we can’t complain. Moreso than any other striker, perhaps, Gila has proven his worth. Maybe not as a starter, but he does have a role to play.

We will discuss who does deserve a spot closer to next June. For now, I think it’s good enough to say that those three don’t.

Finally, a preliminary word on South Africa 2010. For the good of Italia, whether we win or lose, Lippi needs to go with youth. If we win, it will be because our young players who can deal with the pace of the modern game put in the performance of thier lifetime. If we lose with youth, they’ll be ready for the next Euros and 2016. But if we lose with older players, we will need to transition anyway and the young ones will have no experience for the next Euros/World Cup, which would be nothing short of disastrous.

But for now, we celebrate. Celebrate that we are in the World Cup, fully qualified when at times it seemed uncertain if we even deserved it. Celebrate the fact that we have the greatest goalie in the world and top class young players who can make a difference. And most of all, celebrate the fact that we are the Azzurri, that we live and die with this team as they win and lose; celebrate that we can experience the joy, sadness, shock, amazement, and love for the game with the players next summer.

And what a summer are we going to have in store.

To be honest I have no idea who will play, but I’d love to see the younger guys out there, trying to earn their spots in South Africa and perhaps in the starting 11 overall.

Cyprus are already out of qualifying and since we’re already qualified, this has the markings of a snoozer written all over it. Unless Cyprus play for pride in a meaningless match, I doubt either side will be truly motivated to go all out.

And I know about all the new Totti hoopla, but unless he gets called up I’m not going to address it. I’m not sure what else there is to say except that he can’t be much worse than Toni or Quags at this point.

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/group-e/the-santon-debate.html http://italy.worldcupblog.org/group-e/the-santon-debate.html#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:31:49 +0000 Julian http://italy.worldcupblog.org/group-e/the-santon-debate.html One of the biggest complains you hear about the Azzurri is that not enough youngsters are called up to the team. This is due to numerous reasons; Balotelli is still eligible for the U21 team and Italy rarely calls up players that young, while other players like Acquafresca are unable to even hold down a starting spot at a club. But one area that does need shoring up is undoubtedly defense, and Inter have one of the most promising Italian youngsters in Davide Santon. But should he stay at Inter when playing time is limited?

On one side, you have the main man Mourinho, who’s recently been playing Chivu and Zanetti in Santon’s position (except for this weekend). Yet Santon needs-nay, deserves- regular playing time and will likely only get a call up to South Africa with playing time. Given Chivu’s penchant for injuries and Zanetti’s likelihood for playing in the midfield, it seems likely that Santon will eventually play regularly at leftback at Inter, but only if the two aforementioned conditions are met. What if Chivu stays healthy this season? Or what if Zanetti is his preferred substitute?

Leaving for a different team that needs a leftback would guarantee him playing time. Santon himself says he’s committed to Inter and will play anywhere. But will that change come, say, January if he doesn’t have regular playing time?

So Santon is in a crunch. Stay at the club he loves with limited playing time for now, or transfer in January and have a better shot at making the World Cup. Which route do you think he should take?

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.

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.

So when he retired from international play in 06 (It wasn’t official till 07, but his last game was the World Cup final), people split into two groups. One group thought that this was a huge mistake. They believed his vision, passing, and creativity were necessary on a team that always thrives off a trequartista. The other group believed he was overrated, past it, and not necessary on the Azzurri anymore.

No matter what group you’re in, the issue has finally been settled. Lippi has seemingly ruled out a Totti return once and for all:

“There is a great deal of respect between us, but he made his decision and I have no intention of going back on it”

It seems like Lippi is in the latter camp. For the record, so am I; I think the squad needs to focus on youth, and we have at least 2 ready-made trequartistas ready to follow in Totti’s footsteps. One is in his prime but being ignored by Lippi, and one is getting there but being ignored by Ferrara. Totti is undeniably good- say what you want about his discipline and treatment of the referees, but in terms of pure footballing prowess and skill, he was blessed by the football gods. But he’s not the only one, and it may be time to move on from this issue for good.

I have the hope, I underline hope, to try and win the World Cup again. To do that I need to focus on the players with the most international experience and therefore the 2006 squad.

I received messages from Thiago Motta, Ledesma and Taddei about wanting to wear the Azzurri jersey. I thank them, but these are not roads that – for the moment – I intend to go down.

There are just some things that baffle me. I don’t understand how black holes work. I don’t think I’ll ever get why the Jonas Brothers are such a big band when their music is so horrendous. And why Lippi refuses to see what seems so obvious to us is another one of those good ol’ moments where I’m just left baffled.

Let’s look at the first quote. He wants to win the world cup… so he has to use the players that won it last time? Ignoring the effects of aging and discounting the merit that young talent can bring to the side? No one is doubting that we have guys with a ton of experience. On one hand, it’s hard to blame Lippi for wanting to stick with guys who have gone the full green mile and know how to win the world cup.

But I think that most of us feel that today’s game is played with a pace and vigor that most of our ‘06 guys can’t really match. Guys like Canna, Zambrotta, and Toni have the experience but are either too slow to too old. As we saw against Brazil and Egypt recently, teams that can play quick football seem to be our downfall. Furthermore, Lippi is ignoring one huge aspect here: the fact that these guys won it already. Are they going to be as motivated as players who really want to win the cup for the first time; players who really do have something to prove?

Lippi thinks that experience can overcome that, and for our sake, he better be right- though it’s hard to see how he could be.

As for the second quote, well, we talked about the Oriundi a short time ago, and Lippi’s stance now seems to be: mostly no. Camo, yes; Amauri, maybe; but anyone else, get back to Brazil/Argentina/your birth country.

For the rest of the article, see here.