So What Exactly Is This “Confederations Cup?”

nice post. very multi-media.

that cuore-azzurro number was somewhere between hysterical and embarrassing.

love the mention of bad reffing, Korea 2002 and the Blatter snub. im no conspiracy theorist but everyone should know about how corrupt the whole fifa thing is. even 2006 was won against all odds. that Malouda penalty was such bullshit. makes me want to vomit all over Freance evey time i think about it.

nuf said. look forward to some mediocre performances in this cup.

oh, and wsith regard to the “Lippi” question.

i know he has won a lot and i respect him very much. i even see to some extent what he is trying to do, because as much as the second half of Italy v. N. Ireland was a firecracker show, the first half was pretty crappy to me and looked like our u-21 team playing a real, albeit not very good, experienced team.

but one has to question his tactics somewhat if the majority of people see that Montolivo sucks, Gattuso isn’t what he was, the 4-3-3 went out of style about 5 years ago, etc. it’s not like there is just one crazy guy running around screaming ‘Lippi is a numb-nut’, manyb people see it. and even though we all do not agree on who should be in, there is a clear general consensus that the old guys are not quite pulling it.

IDEA:

Lippi should play an ‘old guys’ vs. ‘new guys’ scrimmage and see how each team performs (and let us all watch so we can see if we are wrong or right)

Motta—-Gamberini—–Chiellini—–Dossena
——————DeRossi——————-
DiNatale————Rossi————-Foggia
——Quagliarella———Iaquinta———

vs.

Del Piero————Toni————-Camoranesi
Ambrosini————Pirlo—————Gattuso
Grosso—-Legrottaglie—-Canavarro—-Zambrotta

personally, Pirlo and Canavarro need to be starters, and Zambrotta and Camoransi can ride the bench … they are very valuable in skill as well as experience.

the more i think about it, we do really need experieince at the back line. i think this is why New Zealand were able to score on us so easily … though Amelia really did have some major tactical errors.

In the absence of Foggia and Cassano, Lippi’s starting 11 will surely just look like his 06 winning team, with the not particularly stellar additions from Udinese’s attack and the presence of Rossi wasted on the bench,

I’d love to see this starting 11 sometime in the next two years.

Santon–Canavarro–Chiellini–Grosso

——–De Rossi—Pirlo————

—-Foggia—–Rossi—–Quagliarella

————-Balotelli————–

Lippi won’t pick Cassano, unless he moves to Milan, Juve or Inter. So until then, there’s not much point even putting him in hypothetical team.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Formation I like:

Buffon

Zambro/Santon Canna Chiellini Grosso/Santon

DDR Pirlo
Camo Foggia

Rossi

Iaquinta/Pellisier/Pazzini/Balotelli

Gattuso can sub Camo, DDR or Pirlo and close games out.

So today we’ve beaten a local South African side 6-0 as a warm up to the tournament. As I suspected, the starting midfield and attack was the rather familiar sight of:

—-Gattuso—-De Rossi—Pirlo

—Camoranesi — Toni– Iaquinta

The defence had Legrottaglie in, rather than Canavarro, with Zambrotta, Grosso and Chiellin making up the rest of the backline. Pretty much same old same old then! Oh, and Gilardino came on to score a brace.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Cannavaro is shit….Legro-Chiellini have chemistry.

Posted from  United States

It’s a ho-hum event. The biggest story will be how South Africa as a nation comes through this tournament, especially around security and politics. If all’s quiet, then all’s well. Otherwise, who cares who wins, unless Egypt, NZ or Iraq pulls off a stunner. Hell, I guess the U.S. should be in that group of minnows as well.
http://startingeleven.blogspot.com/

Posted from  United States

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnot3HqyWtk My Italia by the diskjockeys, its not really about the Azzurri but still gets me pumped.

as for my squad preference (which it seams the post is turning into)

–Santon–Cannavaro–Chiellini–Motta
———-De Rossi—————
—-Brighi————-Pirlo——
———-Cassano————-
—–Rossi———–Pazzini—-

Posted from  United States

Last test was a training game vs a Local team.

Starting line up was:

4-3-3

Buffon
Zambro-Legro-Chiellini-Grosso
Rino-Pirlo-De Rossi
Camo-Toni-Iaquinta

Score 6-0

1st Half Goals
Pirlo, Toni, Iaquinta

2nd Half Goals
Gila x 2, Quags

http://www.video.mediaset.it/mplayer.html?sito=sportmediaset&data=2009/06/12&id=3942&from=link

Canna is likely to miss the US game and there is good possiblity he could miss the rest of the group games too.

Anyway, here is my Caption for this Pic.

“Why can’t for once start as a CF for the Azzurri? ”
http://www.tuttosport.com/images/62/C_3_Media_813762_immagine_l.jpg

Italia NT arriving in South Africa 6/8/09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHqAAZsLTg4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebigsoccer%2Ecom%2Fforum%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Fp%3D17945842%23post17945842&feature=player_embedded

Sorry here is the correct link

Italia NT arriving in South Africa 6/8/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHqAAZsLTg4

Canavarro is shit, Alessio? that is why we conceded so many goals against New Zealand, a B level team ranked 82 in the fifa-bullshit world ranking.
Chiellini is very good and Legrottaglie as well, but Canavarro has so much better instincts from all his experience; the lack of such was evident in the first half of the N.Ireland and the whole of New Zealand…oh, and Real did win 2 back to back league titles with him there. better get used to him seeing himnmore as he is now a jailbird again.

Chris, i love your line-up. i prefer Motta over Santon and i am not convinced DeRossi and Pirlo play well side by side, but it looks reall dangerous.

Gio, did you watch the game or are you just spouting shit? Amelia was at fault for all of those goals. If San Gigi was playing, we wouldn’y have conceded. Barcelona 6-2 Real, Liverpool 4-0 Real. Cannavaro was in both of those games and raped one-on-one.

Posted from  United States

Here are more details on the training game (See vid above)
Tshwane 0 – 6 Italy

Ist Half
1-0 Pirlo (F.K) 1-0 @ 19″
2-0 Toni @ 33″
3-0 Iaquinta @ 37″

2nd Half
4-0 Gila @ 63″
5-0 Quags @ 76″
6-0 Gila @ 93″

Line UP First Half
ITALY (4-3-3)
Buffon;
Zambro, Legro, Chiellini, Grosso;
Gattuso, Pirlo, De Rossi;
Camo, Toni, Iaquinta

@ 2nd half 4-3-3 but more like 4-3-1-2
Buffon (62′ De Sanctis);
Zambro (57′ Santon), Gamberini, Chiellini, Grosso (62′ Dossena);
Camo (62′ Pepe), De Rossi (62′ Palombo), Montolivo;
……………..Rossi;
Toni (62″ Gila)……..Iaquinta (62′ Quags)
.

yes Alessio, i saw the game and i agree, Amelia should have done a better job on all three goals; however, 2 of the three, from the set pieces, would have never reached the heads of the scorers if they had been marked properly in the box. the commentators said this in the game when both goals were scored. this is exactly where experience comes in.

Cannavaro’s got it, Legrottaglie and Chiellini much less so and Gamberini not at all.