Strange Twist

We always hear lip service paid by athletes and the media to the notion that ‘enjoy today because tomorrow is guaranteed to no one’ but occasionally you get reminded that, indeed it is true. It was Alan Smith yesterday, and today a messy challenge from behind on Francesco Totti ended with his left ankle pointing in an awful direction and his WC status in jeopardy.

Things look better now than even a couple hours ago, and Totti might only spend two months on the shelf. Time will tell. Immediately I thought “well, how does this change things up front for the Azzurri?” And really, the answer is “it doesn’t”. Totti’s absence last fall from an Italian WC qualifier and a couple friendlies gave Lippi the chance to look at a Toni/Gilardino/Del Piero set up and the result against Holland shows that trio can be successful. Tactically Lippi wouldn’t change anything in Totti’s absence although they’d certainly lose some athleticism and there would be pressure on the midfielders to push forward a little and link up with the forwards.