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The Dog Days of Summer

July 16th, 2008 | By: Julian | 17 Comments »

Summer is probably the worst time to be a soccer blogger. There’s literally almost no news to report on, so anything that’s typed is usually a preview, rumor, or editorial. I’ve been doing editorials and will probably keep on doing those until we actually get some real stuff to cover. The Olympics are right around the corner and I’ll be covering those, but until then…

There’s really a dearth of news on the international front for the Azzurri. Luca Toni was considering retirement but now has decided to stay on call for the team.

Damn. We were that close to not even having to cut him from the team.

On the plus side I guess this tells us that he realized he bombed at the Euros.

In other news, Nesta says he won’t be coming back. Not exactly a huge blow considering we discovered a new CB in the form of Giorgio Chiellini (”New” in the sense that he should be a starter on the Azzurri from here on out, but also “new” age-wise. There’s like a 12 year difference between him and Pannuc.) Then again, we’re not exactly overflowing in options if him or Canna get injured (My god, imagine what kind of catastrophe it’ll be if they both do). The back ups right now are Pannuci, Materazzi, Gamberini, and Barzagli. Read that last sentence again. The back up defenders for the Italian national team are a 37 year old man, a 35 year old who shouldn’t even be playing club football anymore, a guy whose never played a real game on the national team, and frickin’ Andrea Barzagli. Remember the good ol’ days when we were overflowing with quality defenders?

Tags: Group E, Italy, Luca Toni, Nesta

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Comments

By Anthony | July 16th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

I don’t think we should brush off Toni so fast. Granted he was useless to us this summer, but for someone to have the season he had, than nothing, I think he had a bad streak, emphasis on ‘bad’, but we’ve got plenty of time till ‘10, and we should give him some more chances to prove that a bad streak was just that.

By Anthony | July 16th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

‘then’ not than.

By Julian | July 16th, 2008 at 1:43 pm

But the problem is his age. He’s 31 now and by WC 2010 he’ll be 32/33. He’s not gonna get any faster as he gets older, either

By Antonio | July 16th, 2008 at 2:27 pm

Toni is still a good striker, just not on the international level.

When you switch from club football, to international football, things changes drastically. Some players who may be extremely productive in club football, may bee huge disappointments in international football. (See: C-Ron)

Simple as that.

Posted from United States

By gianfranco | July 16th, 2008 at 5:01 pm

Toni is and should be done, he should have done himself and retired. Chiellini is a must in the back, but his partner is still to be decided, Two years is a long time though and more youngsters may make themselves known, in fact Milan have a highly rated youngster in Darmian, and the possiblity of Bonera being good again is also possible.

Posted from United States

By mike de robbio | July 16th, 2008 at 6:46 pm

there’s also motta, santacroce and the like

Posted from Australia

By Bobo | July 16th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

I’m curious - do you guys think that Chiellini will be (or already is) a world class central defender? I suppose it depends on one’s defintion, so I’ll say top 10 in one’s position in the world.

P.S. I’d also like to throw Alessandro Tuia’s name out there. Brilliant central defender, and seems to have the skills to match the inevitable “new Nesta” tag that the pundits have bestowed on him.

Posted from United States

By Nina | July 16th, 2008 at 7:15 pm

Fabio Quagliarella is another one that should be dropped,don’t even know how he got selected in the first place.
Santacroce should definitely be Chiellini’s partner. Good news is the signing of Andrea Russotto by Napoli.We are looking at another great addition to the Azzurri in 2 year time max.

By mike de robbio | July 16th, 2008 at 7:21 pm

Oh great! Russotto is going to be a legend. Motta will be 24 and santa will be 23 in 2010. Perfecto!! I reckon Lippi’s still gonna hang on to a lot of the old boys though

Posted from Australia

By Vincent | July 16th, 2008 at 8:26 pm

I was hoping Nesta might reconsider. He would be 34 in 2010 and still quality. Bringing Nesta, Chiellini, Canna [maybe] , Santacroce, would be good youth and experience.

Can you see starting Maggio, Nesta, Chiellini, Motta in 2010?

Having Cannavaro as a reserve with Santacroce? Quality!!!

By Nina | July 16th, 2008 at 8:50 pm

Maggio is not a defender,but is quite good on the wing.

By Porchetta | July 17th, 2008 at 9:13 am

it is very sad to see the lack of optimism and also a bit of ignorance among our people…Toni..or no Toni, doesnt matter..Toni has given us good times, please remember all his games and contribution to Italia, the first game in Palermo when the game was in balance, Lippi made him enter in the 67th minute and he scored a winner and never looked bck and won a world cup for us!!He might have scored only two goals in world cup but his ability to take out the defenders, his presence was enough…Now remember that he is 31 not getting young anymore, Lippi will definately select the attackers based on performances and speed not on reputations..Toni, may play a role in the first part of the world cup qualifiers, but iam not sure about his presence in the latter second half and in the world cup 2010 itlesf, but if he is there, he would have merited his place!!!!
It is sad to see no one remember that we have great grat talents in strikers..
Andrea Russotto (born 25 May 1988 in Rome) is definately special.
In the World U17s tournament in 2005 Russotto was seen by many as one of the best players in the tournament despite Italy’s poor showing.

In the Euro U17s tournament Russotto was again one of the stars of the tournament scoring the winning goals against Turkey and England and ended top scorer for Italy.

Russotto was told to sign a deal with GEA agency when he was in the Lazio youth teams and he if he didn’t then he would not get a chance at Lazio, Russotto refused to sign for the agency and was then for no reason sold to Bellinzona. For the next year Russotto fell off the footballing radar, but his talents and good displays at Treviso has boosted his reputation. A recognition of his talent came when World Soccer Magazine namied him in their list of top 50 of the worlds best players under the age of 21 calling him “the nearest thing to Roberto Baggio Italy have”.

watch out for this kid..he has it all and i wont be surprised if he can take Napoli to the top 3..in 2 years i think he will be there among contenders for No.10

Posted from Spain

By Nina | July 17th, 2008 at 9:21 am

Toni did not win us a world cup. I agree with you about Russotto being one of the most promising young talents in Italy, and he will probably do wonders for Napoli as you mentioned, but I don’t know about the nearest thing to Baggio.It sounds like a farfetched analogy to me.

By Porchetta | July 17th, 2008 at 9:45 am

i dint mean that Toni SINGLEHANDEDLY won the world cup for us, maybe people say that Buffon and Cannavaro were more pivotal, but it was a collective effort from the whole team, even Materrazzi played a great part, so did Pirlo, half fit Totti, Grosso and definately Toni..
Also, iam not already proclaiming that Russotto is a baggio but iam just mentioning that he could be a future Baggio and i dont see any reason why he should not ..

Posted from Spain

By Nina | July 17th, 2008 at 9:57 am

Porchetta, from your lips to God’s ears cause we sure can use a player of even half of Baggio’s talent.

By yoman | July 17th, 2008 at 10:42 pm

In the meantime……………………………
===========================================
Azzurrini 10 - Buggiaro 0
===============================================
1st Half Team
2 Goals for Rossi
2 Goals for Montolivo
1 Goals for Rocchi
1 Goal for Giovinco
=============================================
2nd Half Team
3 Goals for Aquafresca ( I hope this helps Aquafresca start)
1 Goal for Dessena
==============================================
Ist Half Team

Viviano
Silvestri, Coda, Criscito, De Ceglie,
Montolivo, Cigarini, Nocerino,
Giovinco, Rossi
Rocchi,

2nd Half

Consigli;
Motta, Ranocchia, Bocchetti, De Ceglie;
Dessena, Marchisio, Candreva;
Abate, Russotto;
Acquafresca.

By Rom 07 | August 21st, 2008 at 9:29 pm

2012

GK 1. Consigli
RB 2. Silvestri
CB 13. Santacroce
SW 4. Chiellini
LB 3. De Ceglie
RM 8. Nocerino (c)
CM 22. Aquilani
LM 16. De Rossi
AM 10. Giovinco
CF 11. Rossi
ST 9. Balotelli

Subs
GK 12. Viviano
CB 6. Andreolli
SW 5. Criscito
CM 7. Montolivo
AM 20. Russotto
CF 27. Quagliarella
ST 18. Paloschi

Res
GK 23. Curci
CB 15. Damian
CM 21. Cigarini
ST 14. Acquafresca
ST 19. Okaka Chuka

Posted from United Kingdom