News for the Day: U17 Team Continues Trend; Diego to Juve; Gattuso’s Finally Back

I like to see Giovinco, De Cigle and Marchisio play for Barcelona.

Posted from  Qatar

In the past decade who came out of inter’s youth team?

To be fair….can you name one who came out of Juve’s youth team other than this year?

Posted from  Spain

“To be fair….can you name one who came out of Juve’s youth team other than this year?”

Just Italians, or all told?

All told, off the top of my head, I can think of about 11 players who came through the Inter youth system – from the last ten years – who are still playing and in the top flight in Serie A and others.

And I am not including Andrea Pirlo who I can’t remember if he was actually was on one of our youth teams. I remember him being very young on the senior squad though – but I can’t be sure.

I was not talking about the past, but rather the future. I am not an Inter fan (far from it) but I’ve seen a real change in their attitude towards their youth sector. Their scouts are scouring all of Italy for young talent and they have been amassing an insane number of Italian youth team call-ups in comparison to stalwarts like Parma or Atalanta. Contrast this with Milan, who is generally not targeted with accusations of anti-Italian policies even though it serves as a training ground for the Brazilian national team simply because it is a final resting place for Italian talent of yesteryear, and its one youth player of note, Albertazzi, who lacks the focus to succeed as a top-level footballer anyways.

Nothing in the world can make me support Inter’s senior side, but I applaud this newfound emphasis on young Italian talent. Roma and Lazio also have some good talent coming up, but these are mostly local kids. I think that Inter and Sampdoria have to take the cake for the most comprehensive scouting system in Italy. They’re doing great work with our kids that will pay off huge dividends in the long run. But I guess you would rather that Santon had stayed at Ravenna?

And regarding the U17 team, I’ve accepted long ago that the only youth level we can compete at is with the U21 team. Italian kids are physically underdeveloped in comparison to northern European counterparts (who have also been calling up the children of African immigrants w/ generally superior body types in increasing numbers) and are technically underdeveloped in comparison to Spanish counterparts. Add to the mix the reluctance of Italian clubs to give young players meaningful games and it’s a recipe for disaster.

I firmly believe that Italian players develop much more rapidly as they approach their early 20s and begin to outstrip other rivals. Take as evidence that we have absolutely dominated the U21 European championships while making barely a whimper (until these past couple of years) at other age levels and Spain, U17 and U19 champion par excellance, is fairly anonymous at U21 level.

It would have been nice for the kids to win the tournament considering the amount of work that goes into qualifying for one of these things in the first place, but I’m proud of them for qualifying for the U17 World Cup regardless. It’s just sad that, as the poster from Denmark noted, we had to go out to a mediocre German team that capitalized on momentary lapses of concentration (primavera mistakes, if you will).

I think Camilleri, Beretta, and Natalino have world class potential. Camilleri in particular is a fearsome CB of the type we have lacked in recent times, technical, agressive, and physical.

The German side was hardly mediocre. It won all its games, whereas we lost to Switzerland!, tied Spain, and barely got by France. Just be happy that at least one Italian won the tournament the German trainer.

Posted from  United States

Have you actually watched them play? Don’t let the scoreline or the results fool you. The two strikers are the only decent players on the team and you can’t deny that we had the better of them until the fluke goals. It’s a pity about the lack of concentration but that’s what you get when the most important game you’ve ever played in your life is a primavera playoff. As for the trainer, he was born and raised in Mannheim. I don’t see what’s so Italian about him, but it’s a cute rhetorical device nonetheless

And before I seem too biased, I applaud the German team for having the guts and heart to grind out results. But I also do not believe for a minute that they were the best squad quality-wise at the tournament. Player for player, I think we’ve got them beat handily (which, as must be noted, was NOT the case for the U19 team), but as seems to be a reoccurring theme with this country we simply cannot get results at these levels no matter how much potential our kids have.

Ah well, as a friend of mine from Genova is fond of saying, these are all mickey-mouse tournaments anyways A Another spectacular failure at U21 level under Casiraghi would be something really worth lamenting.

when is the confed cup squad list coming out?
brasil have already released theirs…

Posted from  United States

atlast, atlast Lippi has decided to make a great decision..Just an hour ago, in an interveiw at the charity function in Genoa, he has promised that there will be plenty of new faces in the squad to be announced for confeds cup..and that he expects the squad to go all the way and that it would be the back bone for the world cup…he has promised places for the players who have done very well at serie A this season, that means cassano, mascara and other deserving players will be there!!!this is great news

Posted from  Spain

Will tomorrow’s AC vs. Roma game on any TV/web in the US?
Will there be a topic dedicated to the great Maldini on this site?

Posted from  Canada

Blacks ( african descended) italians must never be allowed to officiate serie A..The referee robs Milan a sure win..Marco Motta brings down Zambrotta and it is a clear cut penalty but the referee waves play on and gives a red card for Ambrosini for protesting??ridiculous and he ensures that Roma gets an undeserved win!!all the marginal decisions have gone against milan..My team is perugia( where r they?’) i dont like Milan but today´s game is a blot on sportsmanship..This makes me hate all the sicilians/napoleatanos and other souther descended african descended italians moree..

Posted from  Spain

The referee did all he could to spoil a legend´s farewell..de Marco the BLACK Italian( that is what we call all sicilians,napoleatanos and southies)referee ensured that he hogged the limelight by making absurd decisions which denied Milan a rightful win..
This year´s officiating has been ridiculous..teams like Roma, Juventus and Inter have got the benifits of refereeing decisions, it gladdens me to see Roma in UEFA..They spoilt the Italian image in CL, by the 7-1 thrashings and repeated thrashing by English teams..inter are CL bunnys, they cant pass quarterfinals..Juventsu are legendary cheaters, Vecchia Puttana..Milan the pride of Italia is BACK in Europe to restore the dignity and class of Italian football…They just need to kick out Dida,get a top class striker and two defenders to replace Maldini and favalli..Thiago Silva will be there…

Posted from  Spain

Oh boy, porchetta is back

Posted from  Spain

where’s julian now? can you share this blog with another writer or something man? someone who can fill in when you’re at uni or something? we’re missing the chat

Posted from  Australia

wow…
porchetta is definitely back.
there was no penalty and roma deserved the win, though maldini deserved more.

Posted from  United States

asem, ur brain is addled with curry(u r an indian descended blackiie)..what r u dong in our italian forums u camel fukker??ur opinions dont count,

Posted from  Spain

I hear Lippi will snub Cassano again…Santon is getting a call up though.

Santon? As the season fades, so does he. He does not merit a senior call-up IMHO.

JULIAN?!!COME BACK

Posted from  Australia

Esposito and Biagianti? LMAO For real?
And Cigarman is obviously gonna bring Gattuso with him to the Confeds duh, so why put him in the preliminary list?

Biaganti!!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING NEWMAN?????? Pepe doesn’t even make the preliminary list, he’s going straight to South Africa?!? WTF is wrong with this man?

Posted from  United States

Lippi is an up-his-ass stubborn egomaniac who should be sacked after we fail in the Confederatons Cup. No Cassano for the Confeds, after a season of consistently stellar performances? There is simply no logic to it. No body who ever watched a game of football could say that these ‘new’ players he has called are better than Cassano. I was looking forward to watching Italy in June. Not any more. How many boring Italy teams must we put up with before a decent coach says, “Enough! I’ll do the job and do it in style!”.

You wouldnt see England not picking Rooney. You never saw Argentina not picking Maradona.

Every stereotype that gets thrown at Italian football is reaffirmed by Lippi’s selections and the performances of the Azzurri of late.

Posted from  United Kingdom