Propaganda, Crappy European Runs, and Potential Call Ups: Yup, We’re the Azzurri

March 9th, 2009 | by: Julian | View Comments

First of all, I know I haven’t blogged in a while, but the usual excuse applies here: really no news going on in the national team world. The blog is back up and running now though, and we’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get through it.

First of all, I spotted this over at the front page of theoffside.com. Take a second and watch it:

Yeah so it’s blatant anti-Italy propaganda. Admittedly, we didn’t play greatly that game, but would you really expect the sponsors of Brazil to show anything good for Italy?

Moving on the European competitions. I’m not going to put it lightly- we’re tanking hard this year, like Britney Spears circa 2007. First, the UEFA Cup:

Udinese. I’ll talk about them first cause they’re the only ones who won. They haven’t had the greatest of seasons after a hugely promising start, but lately they’re slowly beginning to show some resemblance of form. More importantly, perhaps- they’re the only Italian team left in the UEFA Cup. They beat Lech 4-3 on aggregate and secured their spot in the round of 16. Christmas scored in extra time to gift his team a win (sorry I couldn’t resist). I’m truly happy for Udinese. I hope they can go all the way and win the competition to make the peninsula proud. It’s their best (and really, only) shot at silverware this season. And based on how our others teams are doing, it might be Italy’s only shot at European silverware. But what’s their reward for making it through? They face holders Zenit.

Sampdoria. They’re just having a torrid season. The addition of Pazzini was a great one and since they’ve acquired him in January, they’ve been a better team, but they were thumped 3-0 on aggregate by Metalist. It’s weird to think that this time last year, they were in the top half of the table fighting for European contention. They’ve really turned around, though, and Cassano-Pazzini is looking like a magical combination. Lippi, you better be watching them closely.

Milan and Fiorentina. They’re the two biggest clubs that were in the cup, and now they’re both out. No excuses for either team, really. Milan have a lot of injuries but I find it hard to believe that Fior want to be in the CL next year and think they deserve it, after crashing out of the group stages this year and not even making it past their first round in the UEFA Cup. They need better defense (this also applies to Milan) and other scorers besides the Gila monster and Mutu.

We’re not really doing that well in Europe’s bigger competition, either. So far in the Champions League knockout stages, its been 2 goals conceded, 0 scored, 1 tie and 2 losses for Italian teams. Juve were probably the most unlucky, since they had a great second half against Chelsea. Inter have to thank Julio Cesar for just being out of this world against Man U, and Roma were bossed entirely by Arsenal. The second legs are in the next two days, and sad to say, it’s a very real possibility that no Italian teams will make it through to the next round. Inter have the best chances, but scoring at Old Trafford while not conceding is going to be very tough. Roma and Juve both have to score and not concede, which is going to be tougher considering that every centre back on an Italian football team decided to get injured this week.

Finally, word is that Lippi is keeping an eye on Di Viao. No doubt about it, he’s having an amazing season at Bologna. But I’m strongly against his call up. Why?

For one, the man is 32, about to be 33. Our problem as it is is age. The solution really isn’t to call up another guy who can only play for a year or two. Two: Is he ready for the big stage? Is he really going to help us get the world cup next year? And finally, we need to build a team for the present and the future. He’s having a great season so far but that’s not enough imo when you look at his age and his lack of experience on the big stages.