“…With my Mind on My [Midfield] and My [Midfield] on My Mind…

I’d disagree with the forward comment. A team like France (Henry, Trezeguet, Cisse, Saha) or teams with one or two good forwards (I’m looking at England with Rooney and Owen or Ukraine with Schevchenko) have a comparable or an ever better forward lineup.

Posted from  United States

I agree with the forward comment. Toni is in form as is Del Piero. Gila can sit at first, and I guess Pippo will play some too.

I think you have to go with Gattuso at the start. This team needs to settle down and get off to a good start given the events in Italy. Gattuso is nothing if not solid, at least until the first yellow.

Posted from  United States

Not sure if I agree with u Aarash. France’s Trez and Henry are great but after that Cisse( he misses way too many chances- lots of running, little finishing) and SAHA haven’t heard too much about him.

Regarding England, Rooney was in fine form prior to the injury and I didn’t really follow OWEN this year. However, there’s no height , what about the crosses who will head them in? Looks like plenty of speed but I hope they have some height off the bench.

Regarding, Ukraine they have no forward depth . If SHEVA goes down , so do they.

Italy however has TONI (30 goals in serie A- only done twice before, and he can score with his head and foot) and with Gillardino, the opportunistic Inzaghi, Iaquinta all getting passes from DElpiero and Totti (free kick specialists) there should be plenty of goals this year from the TRI-DENT attack.

They may not have the best attackers in the world but (by finally getting rid of – oh please pass to my left foot cause I can’t kick with my right -VIERI) they and can hold their own with anyone else. Vieri reminded me of a bull in a china shop – he can only finish on pin point crosses by using hig his muscle, put the ball at his feet and close your eyes( it hurts to watch). But enough Vieri bashing.

Italy beat defensive minded Germany 4-1, so things look promising.

Posted from  Canada

uhh gila is in way better form than DP — and Toni is the best striker in the world right now. Players like gatuso and materazi are good 2 anoy players like rohnaldhinio and kaka, but its also good to have quick attacking players who can create as many chances as possible to then score as much as possible

Posted from  Australia

Zantheman – how can you say that about vieri .. in 1998 he was the star of the italian team and in 2002 he was denied a few times, but thats coz the matches were fixed

Posted from  Australia

Marco- don’t get me wrong Vieri did pot some goals for us and that was much appreciated. But for a world class striker not to be able to kick with his wrong foot- totally unacceptable. He is an old Italian style striker : Big, wide bodied , good in the air (after he pushes someone out of the way) .

He can’t dribble with the ball and when defenders see that he has the ball they actually want him to try and take them on -cause he can’t . He has no ball skills whatsoever only a nasty left foot. Toni is way better all around player . I’m glad he’s not on the team he is only one dimensional- not good enough for the modern game. Although, Lucarelli would have been better than Iaquinta. Here’s hopeing Toni wins the Golden Boot!!!

Posted from  Canada

Best Gin and Juice reference in the history of World Cup Blog.

Anyway, I like the idea of bringing on the young gun as a refreshing replacement at some point in the match.

Josh, all other things being equal, what do you think is the best time to bring him on? 70-75 minutes? Earlier? Later?

France had Henry and Trezeguet in Korea –when both were four years younger, and they managed to collectively hit the post. I agree with Zantheman about Vieri. He was great in ‘98 and then had a decent opening game against Ecuador in ‘02, but has been asleep ever since. In fact, ever since he missed that sitter against S. Korea, he’s been a completely different player, domestically and internationally.

Luca Toni = ‘98 Vieri. Lookout.

Posted from  United States

yea luca toni is the best .. have been saying so for the pasy 12 months … i mean sure vieri has not been the same the past few yrs but at the beggining of this yr shiowed he still had it, just was finding it hard 2 put goals away, prob due to lack of confidence – i agree that he does not have the skill of kaka, but he is exactly the same a luca toni, showing that strength and speed is just as good – and with not being able to dribble, iv seem him score some nice goals when obtaining the ball from 35 yards out and dribbling into the box… any way viva luca toni

Posted from  Australia

Yeah, up front we are in good shape, but we were talking about the midfield, right?

The only logic I see in putting DeRossi out there ahead of some of the others is that he has played on Roma with Totti, who will presumably be in the middle somewhere. …then again Perrotta’s from AS Roma too, so maybe we’ll see a 75% Roma midfield at some point.

I would go with the “Growl” before DeRossi. He has the ferocity to make people’s lives a pain in midfield, and we need that.

We have no shortage of talent in the midfield, but at the same time, it’s not an overflowing bounty like our front. To be honest, I kind of like that. If I am sitting here scratching my head about who’s going to get played, maybe the opponents will to.

Josh – You mentioned Kaka’. He’s a threat, to be sure, but I am not TOO worried about him for two reasons: 1) Our guys have played with him before in Serie A, and 2) I don’t know how he’d fit into the Brazilian system. Is he going to be comfortable distributing, or is he going to want to go flying up front? More importantly, if it’s the latter, will the R’s give him an opportunity to do so?

We’re talking about Brazil an awful lot lately. I guess we all want a piece. Personally, if we were eliminated, but gave Brazil a solid thrashing somewhere along the way, I’d consider that a really great consolation prize. I guess we’ll see what happens though. We need to concentrate on Ghana and not underestimate them one bit.

Posted from  United States

Thanks Trent, and probably the only one. lol.

I must have posted a minute or two after you, so i missed your query. Anyway, yeah, I’d tend to go sooner rather than later because this way Lippi could instruct Rino to go 200% for the first hour. If Rino knows that DeRossi will enter in the 60th minute, I think he could manage his energy accordingly. That is, he could afford to run himself into the gound so that he’s completely spent by minute 60–>which translates into a suped-up Rino. (Or the equivalent of Diego Maradonna’s energy level circa 1986).

Pedal to the metal for the first 60. 340 w/ six pack (i’m talking muscle cars, not fat guys and beer). then we switch to a modern, sleeker, sportier Ferarri. That should pose problems for the other drivers.

Vin, you mentioned Perrotta. Great point about the Roma middle. They would really gel together wouldn’t they?? That might be an excellent idea– Perrotta is certainly more offensively minded than Pirlo, and DeRossi could play defensive mid. I doubt Lippi would be so bold to start that way. Perhaps sub in DeRossi and Perrotta for Gattuso and Pirlo in the 60th minute. Not bad at all….

Posted from  United States

Gatuso to start (he is more solid and will provide more of a defensive wall), but if the Azzuri go down a point or two, De Rossi to substitute (as stated, he is more creative and can open up more opportunity for good goals and even score himself).
Definitely Pirlo in the centre, and I would play Totti as a trequartista, which would put him in a play-making as well as scoring role.
Seeing that it looks like Zambrotta will be put in a more defensive role, I would have Camoranesi (good playmaker with quick reactions in passing) on the other side, but if Italy go down a couple, get Esposito in (incredibly fast, small and agile in the box, and great ball skills, though not as good in the pass-connecting department).
Up front I would definitely have Toni to start. Save DelPiero and Inzaghi for later. They are excellent, much more experienced and reliable players. If they do not have to exhaust themselves in the begining, they both have a great record to come on and score late goals.

Posted from  United States

Height and weight….
Zantheman :

Hello,
We’re not in basketball man!
Some forget it today, but the quite short height of england attack is not an disadvantage.
The JUMP is much more important than the height:
Look at the greatest heading player:
Ivan cordoba, Roberto Ayala:
173 and 177 cm …..
Cannavaro: 176 cm ….

I remember you that owen scored 2 headers in the end of the friendly against Argentina (nov 05) to win 3-2 (ayala had been subsituted just at 1-2)

Else, I agree with you italia’s got the best attack with Brazil AND the under mediatized Argentina.
But this will depend a lot on Totti and del piero form, no doubt about Luca Toni.
France has got great names in the lineup, but untill now they are unable to create moves, Zidane looks alone and old.

Posted from  France

libertino, esposito’s not in the team. And it really worries me that we have no sub for camo (on either side).

Posted from  India

I don’t think there is a natural replacement for Camo, but Lippi regularly subbed de Rossi and Perrotta for him in the qualifiers, as well as Barone (who is a wide player for Palermo). Semioli or Marchionni would have been nice though…

Posted from  United States

IMHO – Don’t even start with the Brasil-Italy idea…..if we meet Brasil (and yeas I am an italian fan) we need alot more than DeRossi and Gattuso to stop them.

Lets be realistic folks Italy may have a chance to win if someone else does us a favour and kicks out Brasil

Posted from  Canada

Ironic to hear from someone who styles himself “Livin a dream” that WE should refrain from fanciful thoughts (dreams) and be more realistic….

We’ll beat Brasil in the round of 16. You watch. Our positive energy and support are going straight to La Nazionale!!
Forza Italia!!!!

Posted from  United States