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And It’s Still Looking Like an Injury Ward

   

Italy must have some of the shittiest footy doctors out there. Players are dropping like flies and staying out for indeterminate amounts of time- see Nesta, Totti, Juan, Inzaghi… The list goes on and on. And yes, Juan isn’t Italian but he still proves my point since he plays for an Italian club.

And the injury crisis just got worse. Word is that we might lose both Camo and Buffon for the upcoming games. Buffon’s got shoulder pain and Camo’s got a pain in his thigh. These are pretty big losses. Camo is one of our most creative guys in the midfield and without him, everyone else has to kick it up a notch. That being said, we can cope without him. If Lippi plays other creative guys- Rossi, Monto, Aquilani- then his presence shouldn’t be missed too much. Now, if we had Cassano I wouldn’t be worried at all about Camo’s injury, but I’m not the coach of the Azzurri. I’m just the blogger.

But dear God, Buffon’s loss is pretty enormous. We’re going to be up against some of the most feared strikers in soccer- namely, Whineatar Berbatov and Mirko Vucinic. Neither of these guys kid around. Berba is an exceptional goalscorer, even if he doesn’t celebrate. And getting signed by Man U can only raise his confidence. On the other hand, Vucinic has been one of the shining stars for Roma during the past 2 years. He’s great at holding up the ball and he’s scored some fine goals in his day.

Amelia has shown glimpses that he can be good in the past (I usually reference the friendly against Portugal as proof of this), but he’s no Buffon. He’s let in 8 goals in 6 games so far for Palermo, while Juve have only let in 4 (and if I’m not mistaken, 2 of those came after Buffon’s injury while Manninger was in the net). So he’s solid, but against these teams I’d much rather have Buffon in the net.

We face Bulgaria away on Saturday and Montengro at home later in the week. We should know for sure whether or not these two Juventini can play within a few days.

Finally, there’s been some confusion (mostly on my part) about why certain guys weren’t called up. The following players are injured:

Legro, Matrix, Cassetti, Grosso, Pirlo, Iaquinta, Borriello

Now, to be honest, I doubt all of them would’ve been called up even if they were healthy. Pirlo definitely would have, but I’m not sure about the others. Legro and Borriello should have, but we really won’t know until they’re fit and eligible to be called up.


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  • Jeff

    I would rather have Buffon in the net against anyone just to be safe

  • Buddy Guy

    i can see italy getting a draw in both matches. If we get two wins I’ll die of shock.

  • Mark

    why no grosso? He always raises his game when it comes to putting on the royal blue

  • http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio

    Well, to Amelia’s credit (or Buffon’s detraction maybe) our clean sheets early in the season were more due to a solid defensive backline (which is gone, by the way) than Buffon keeping them out. Kinda glad though. Juve needs our boys back home, and Amelia can do fine as long as his backline is reliable. He needs to command his area though.

  • http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio

    Although on a side note, more evidence of sheer poor journalism from Goal.com.

    Buffon suffered a recurrence of his shoulder problem following Juve’s defeat to Palermo yesterday. The shot-stopper has been suffering with this injury for weeks, and had to replaced by Alex Manninger in goal.

    Buffon is suffering from a shoulder problem. But he had a groin strain before which is what put Manninger in goal, not the shoulder.

  • http://italy.worldcupblog.org/ Julian

    Alessio- what do you mean that Juve needs the boys back home? No matches are being played for a couple weeks now so shouldn’t they be out, repping Italy?

  • Provenzano

    Juve is finished, losing to palermo at home is unacceptable..Del Piero is finished, he cant accept the defenders to go easy on him all the time..(remember how he struggled against Australia of all teams and against France in the world cup finals and at San Siro recently and against Romania in the Euros)..Juve should sign someone like Cassano, hell with Juve, the match fixing, bribing team, the shame of Italia, iam more concerned with Azzurri than pathetic Juve who buys titles and referees..Buffon and Camo are injured and out …that is a big blow because both of them are world class…Juventus will not qualify from the group stages of CL and also will finish in UEFA spot this season

  • Provenzano

    Italian football always had great talismanic characters..i can say without hesitation that baggio, Totti and Del Piero were the icons of last 15 years or so..rossi is all set to start the journey to become the new icon..
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ7Im4OWQvI&feature=related

  • asem

    Provenzano, is De Rossi a new icon in your eye as well?

  • Giro

    ADP has been horrible for Italia his whole career. I think Amelia can def. stand in for Buffon and do good job. He hasnt been shaky for Palermo at all this year. He made some great saves against Roma also. As a Palermo fan I want him to play so he can improve even more.

  • Giro

    Oh and 3 goals Amelia let in were from the first game against Udinese where our back line sucked it up and we were missing one of our starters.

  • asem

    Amelia always fucks Roma over…

  • Provenzano

    Asem, DeRossi cannot be called as an icon..he is an important part of Azzurri set up..An icon is the one who can be the playmaker/scores goals and strikes fear into opponents´hearts..De Rossi will be a very vital and irreplacable part of Azzurri but not an icon..

  • http://theonerantmachine.blogspot.com John Silver

    Provenzano, by your definition Buffon is not an icon. Also, De Rossi does all the things you mentioned, so frankly what the fuck are you talking about? And seriously, keep the Juve bashing to where it’s pertinent. All this is just going to alienate other users.

    Asem, from a romanista to a romanista – please refrain from the confrontational posting displayed in the previous blog-entry. None of Sushan’s comments called for a reaction like that, and they make for some pretty poor reading for all the rest of us. I’m not stating this as a remonstration, just asking it as a favour. If you don’t like, just ignore.

  • http://theonerantmachine.blogspot.com John Silver

    About the call-ups, Perrotta is a croc of shit and doesn’t deserve a place in the 2010 squad. But I suspect that he’s there because of Lippi’s policy of bringing new people in gradually. He probably won’t be there come summer 2010.

    We’ll see if he starts. He may still be useful on the wings, with Camo out.

  • Provenzano

    john silver, i never said that Buffon is/was an icon..u r misquoting me..Buffon is the best goalie in the planet and just like De Rossi is one of the best midfielders around, both r an integral part of this set up..Iconic status is given to only players like Baggio, Totti, Del Piero( who was widely touted as a replacement to Baggio but failed miserably)…Rossi ,well can be a new icon, he has all in him..by the way, i did not bash Juve, it is PLAIN AND SIMPLE TRUTH THAT JUVE BROUGHT ALL THE TITLES, REFEREES AND USED MAFIA AND FORCE TO ALTER RESULTS..fact..period..

  • http://theonerantmachine.blogspot.com John Silver

    If iconic status only goes to fantasisti, why did Serie A all but grind to a halt for the death of Facchetti?

    And yeah, Juve has a history of shady acting. How is that relevant to this page?

  • http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio

    i did not bash Juve, it is PLAIN AND SIMPLE TRUTH THAT JUVE BROUGHT ALL THE TITLES, REFEREES AND USED MAFIA AND FORCE TO ALTER RESULTS..fact..period..

    I don’t know what screams ignorant more, the statement or your style of writing.

  • scoos

    I agree John Silver, Perrotta is a wasted pick. Foggia would have been better, he could have added a lot of speed, creativity and energy off the bench.

  • Provenzano

    alessio, how dare u call me ignorant or how come u refute my reasoning which is the eternal truth!!For Christ´s sake, Juventus were found guilty of match fixing, buying referees and evidences about telephonic conversations were found out and Juve were convicted and stripped of their Scudetto(2006) and were demoted to serie B with -(minus) something points!!!Who is ignorant??Juventus made us Italians bow down our head in shame and the whole world derided us..Juventus clearly highlights the fact and sows doubt in the mind of football fans that Del Piero after all might have scored most of those goals when his superiors bribed the opposition/referees/…to allow him free leash , else how come he fails to make an impact( forget about scoring goals) when it really really really really matters for Azzurri time and again and again and again????How come, Del Piero cant get past thurram, Desailly, Gallas again and again from ages??How come Del Piero always comes second best against tough teams and could only score against Slovenia, Belarus and Mexico??How come Canna and Zambrotta and Zlatan quit Juventus??..how come…??how come..????i would really like our future star Chiellini to quit Juve and play for some other top class team..

  • http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio

    Buffon, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Del Piero, Camoranesi
    Thuram, Vieira, Trezeguet

    8 out of Juve’s starting 11 played in the WC06 finals. Zizou of course also made his name at Juve.

    ‘Nuff said.

  • Provenzano

    still doesnt change the obvious..Juventus caused Italian football embarrasment and made us bow down our head in shame..Juventus brought titles and bribed referees and it is a fact that they were demoted to the serie B with a huge fine and embarrasment…The whole world laughs at our prestigious country because of Calciopoli in which Juventus was the main culprit…Del Piero eerily scores goals in serie A but flops miserably for the national team which sows seeds of doubt that indeed his management bribed referees/opposition …Fact
    Énuff said!!

  • http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio

    Ok por chetta…..without Juve the Nazionale would have nothing.

  • lamagica

    lol…yes, and without davide lippi and alessandro moggi, juve wouldnt have had much representation on the italian national team.

  • http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio

    You want our coach, expect him to pick our players. The Don did the same.

  • Provenzano

    because of Juve, Italian football is tarnished for ever ..Juve fixed results and brought referees and opposition..Juve directors made phone calls to FIX matches..as a travelling Italian fan( unlike stranieri like alessio), i get subjected to match fixing taunts in vienna(wuros), germania( world cup), hampden park( Euro qualifiers where i got into an actual fight physically with an elderly scotchman(lol) who insulted us italians as corrupt and citied Juve as the prime example)..And for alesshiit¨s assumption that without Juve Nazionale is nothing, NOT EVEN A SINGLE TALENT PLAYING FOR VECCHIA PUTTANA IS A HOME PRODUCT.. Chiellini and Buffon arE FELLOW TUSCANS LIKE ME..(iam living in Sorrento but my parents r from Carrara)..Del Piero the flop show is not a Juve home product..trezgol,nedved ,zidane…platini…amauri..nobody came up from the ranks of the Corrupt team…..Gigi buffon made his name in Parma under Sacchi and he was brought for a phenomenal 30 million by the corrupt Juve ….how can the foreigner alessio claim that the shame of Italia/the scourge of our nation/the club which causes us to bow our head in shame /the match fixing club7the referee buying Juventus is the main club??
    facts r facts r facts..Juventus will forever be treated as a leper…juventus has blotted italian history forever and tarnished our reputation in the world because of its own corrupt criminal nature …

  • Provenzano

    iam proud to say this that i will be cheering for Madrid and Zenith to progress from the group in CL..because if jUVE happens to progress to the knockout stages, still the whole world will definately feel that they have fixed matches..lol..never thought i would reject an Italian team but for me, values are more important than fraud behaviour..Juventus to fight out for UEFA…Napoli will beat the shitt outta the Vecchia Puttana..lol

  • lamagica

    alessio, the comment is less about marcello lippi and a tad more about gea.

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