Preview: Italy v. Spain Friendly

August 8th, 2011 | by: elaine | Comments Off

If you want to be the world champs again, you’ve got to beat the reigning world champs. In a tantalizing matchup that will be a good barometer for how prepared Italy are for Euros next year, on Wednesday, we’ve invited Spain to a friendly in Bari.

Prandelli will face his toughest test yet in the seemingly invincible Spanish side. Italy seem to be improving against the smaller sides, but crashed and burned in a friendly vs. Ireland in June. But all it takes is one good match to change your momentum, and I’m sure Prandelli is taking this one a little more seriously than a friendly in hopes this match can do just that. This matchup certainly has potential for some amazing football, pairing up the 2006 World Champions with the 2010 World Champions.

Prandelli’s “new” attacking style of play, which emulates Spain’s, was very successful against Estonia, and rendered completely useless against Ireland. It will be curious to see how Italy’s version holds up to the original and whether or not they cancel each other out. Prandelli has called up Morgan De Sanctis to replace the injured Viviano. De Rossi and Balotelli, kept out of the squad last time for disciplinary reasons, are both back and eager to reinstate themselves on the team for Euros next year. Additionally, 2 Serie B players were called up in Palombo and Ogbonna. It is of note that there are 5 players on the current squad who play outside of Italy, as compared to Spain’s 3 players who play outside of Spain.

Callups:

Goalkeepers: Buffon (Juventus), De Sanctis (Napoli) Sirigu (Paris Saint-Germain);

Defenders: Balzaretti (Palermo), Bonucci (Juventus) Cassani (Palermo), Chiellini (Juventus), Criscito (Zenit St. Petersburg), Maggio (Napoli), Ogbonna (Torino), Ranocchia (Inter);

Midfielders: Aquilani (Liverpool), De Rossi (Roma), Marchisio (Juventus), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Thiago Motta (Inter), Nocerino (Palermo), Palombo (Sampdoria), Pirlo (Juventus);

Forwards: Balotelli (Manchester City), Cassano (Milan), Giovinco (Parma), Pazzini (Inter), Rossi (Villarreal).

Spain come into the match with 5 straight wins in 5 matches in Euro qualifying and sit at the top of their group, 6 points ahead of everyone else. And although this is just a friendly, you can rest assured that they will be confident and hungry for victory in Bari. Thiago was called up to the squad for the first time, being eligible to play for Spain or Brazil, as his father was on the Brazil squad that won the World Cup in 1994. Carles Puyol is out injured, while Joan Capdevila and Cesc Fabregas miss out due to a lack of match fitness for their clubs. And as of Saturday, Sergio Ramos had a flareup of a back injury and will not play after all. He will be replaced by Malaga’s Nacho Monreal.

Callups:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Victor Valdes (Barcelona), Pepe Reina (Liverpool).

Defenders: Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos* (Real Madrid), Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Andoni Iraola (Athletic Bilbao).

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Malaga), Thiago Alcantara (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao).

Forwards: David Silva (Manchester City), David Villa (Barcelona), Pedro (Barcelona), Fernando Torres (Chelsea), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla), Juan Mata (Valencia).

*Sergio Ramos will be replaced by Nacho Monreal (Malaga) due to injury.

The match is being played in Bari and begins at 20:45 CET on Wednesday, August 10th.

In the USA, it is being broadcast on RAI International. Please check your local listings.

Apologies, we are unable to provide a live blog here for this match. Please feel free to post any good feeds you find as well as comments and updates throughout the match in the comments section so everyone can enjoy. Thanks!

Elaine is randomly on Twitter • follow her occasional tweets @ItaliaWCB