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The changing face of the Azzurri

July 30th, 2007 | By: Aaron Giambattista | 12 Comments »

A big congratulations to the Azzurrini, they played quite well despite losing in the end. I was excited to watch the matches, it shows that Italy is in good hands in the next few years.

In the last year since the World Cup, the face of the Nazionale has changed dramatically. After the victory in Germany, Italian players became in even larger demand and spread out across Europe. Fabio Cannavaro left Juve for Real Madrid, Zambrotta left to go to Barcelona and more recently Luca Toni left for Bayern Munich and Fabio Grosso to Olympique Lyonnais.

With the recent retirements of legendary playmaker Francesco Totti and one of the finest defenders ever, Alessandro Nesta, I wonder about the Azzurri’s future. I think one of the Azzurri’s hidden strengths in the 2006 World Cup was the unity. All of the world champions played in Italy, in Serie A. Now that we have lost two of our best players, three of our stars have left for Germany and Spain. (Abbiatti and Grosso are abroad as well) Will this affect team unity? I think so.

The next two years are going to be rocky for Italy, with a young coach, an increasingly fragmented team, as well as an uncooperative league, which refused the FIGC as well as Donadoni’s plea to start Serie A earlier to give the players experience before the showdown with France. I think we will qualify for Euro2008…but the way things are going, anything could happen.

Tags: Azzurri, Euro Qualifying, squad, world cup

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Comments

By tonigol | July 31st, 2007 at 6:05 am

who did they lose to????

the players to look out for are G.Rossi, Lupoli and pazzini

oh and Aaron, if you want, come join my forum

Posted from Australia

By tonigol | July 31st, 2007 at 6:06 am

the site is http://www.insearchoffootball.frbb.net

Posted from Australia

By Tony | August 1st, 2007 at 9:42 am

Fabio Quagliarella looks to be a promising player.

By Tony | August 1st, 2007 at 9:42 am

Fabio Quagliarella looks to be a promising player.

By Azzurri rocks | August 1st, 2007 at 7:25 pm

What team will u think will on september 8 Italy or France?

By Aaron | August 9th, 2007 at 11:21 am

Unfortunately as of now I think France will win…they already beat us earlier this year 3-1, France is playing pretty solidly, minus choking to Scotland, and Italy is too shaky.

By BIB | August 10th, 2007 at 6:41 am

It will be a draw.

Posted from Canada

By matt | August 12th, 2007 at 4:57 am

italy will win because they lost to france last time and they need the win to catch them in the standings.
Italy is a little shaky but they have won 5 straight and look on continuing that. The players might be playin in different leagues but that could be useful. Toni is still good as he scored on his debut for Bayern Munich. Donadoni should give Rolando Bianchi a call to.

Posted from Canada

By BIB | August 13th, 2007 at 6:05 am

Let’s play a three striker game
Quag, Toni and Bianchi up front

Posted from Canada

By matt | August 14th, 2007 at 3:27 am

Donadoni should give Domenico Criscito the call and also Rosina for the friendly againt Hungary on Aug 22. Since Nesta is gone and Materazzi is pretty old Italy needs a futre star central defender.

Posted from Canada

By alex | August 19th, 2007 at 3:04 am

It’ll be tough for Italy. They do have great talent coming up (as they usuaally do) so they will be competitive – but it’s very difficult to win at this level. As for the match against France, it will be difficult. France is a big, talented squad. Form will be an issue as the French (as the rest of Europe) have begun league play. Serie A has not.

Which brings me to my next point, the Italian soccer federation has done a poor job of keeping the momentum following the WC victory. Their decisions are poor and self-serving. They should have opened up league play a week or two earlier in preperation for the France game.

Posted from Canada

By mike de robbio | October 3rd, 2007 at 7:02 pm

we’ve got some amazing talent coming up for future world cups. the likes of rosina, aquilani, montolivo, dainelli, pazzini etc should all be utilised. I’m also amazed at the talent of youngsters such as Giovinco, G. Rossi and Russotto. Watching the confidence and pace of these young players brings hope for a strong, attack minded azzurri of the future

Posted from Australia

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