The Squad, finally.

[...] ITALY [...]

[...] As we were typing this, the Azzurri squad was released. Despite the controversies swirling around him and Italian football, Buffon made the list. This is an Italy side that has its share of talent and is unusually strong at the forward position. I like what I see from Lippi’s selections. [...]

Nice to see Inzaghi there.
Shame that Cassano fuc(k)ed up his career with such a bad attitude. He had the world at his feet after Euro 2004.

Materazzi….AHAHAHHAHHHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHHHHAHAHAHAHH.
What does a guy have to do, not to be chosen for Italy?? I should have been called up

OMG — The team is just about perfect appart from iaquinta!!!!!!!!! Look at his stats .. 04-05 season 13 goals compared to lucarellis 24 .. 05-06 season 9 goals, lucarelli 19 — And del piero, i mean sure hes ok but clearly tavano is better than him — all he does is fall over like a girl and looks for free kicks!!!!!WHATS ARE U THINKING LIPPI?????? ARE U GONNA PULL ANOTHER CESERE MALDI ON US HUUUU????

Lucarelli wasnt chosen cos he a Communist. Wich is strange since the leftists hold power in Italy now lol

Signore LIPPI, Where’s VIERI?

I think the only real complaints can be Materazzi chosen over a warm corpse and Iaquinta taken over Lucarelli.

I don’t think either of them will play all that much anyway, so it’s not much to worry about. I think Barzagli would come in before Materazzi and Inzaghi would have come in before either Lucarelli or Iaquinta.

Also, del Piero is the only natural replacement for Totti right now. He has had a great year scoring 12 goals while only starting 16 games and subbing in 14 others. Plus three goals in Champions League. Not to mention he takes set pieces as well as anyone on the team. I like Tavano, but I don’t think he slots into that withdrawn role like either Totti or del Piero, and Lippi wants to play with the trident attack.

Finally, I think Lippi must find a way to have de Rossi on the field as much as possible. I hope it comes at the expense of Camo. We’ll see, but I am excited about this squad. Lets just hope that Buffon does not get pulled too far into this scandal.

“I think the only real complaints can be Materazzi chosen over a warm corpse”

Marcello Lippis officail statement regarding Materazzi was (And I quote)…

“Who els do you expect will take one for the team and snap Ronaldinhos leg?”

Is there any good PLAYMAKER on this midfield?

Well, at least we know that Lippi is aware of Materazzi’s limitations. If Italy ever need to debilitate a player or score a comical own goal, Marco is the man!

As for playmakers…Totti, de Rossi, Pirlo, del Piero

“Is there any good PLAYMAKER on this midfield”

One of the best in the world in Andrea Pirlo. De Rossi isnt bad either.

It would have been nice to see Flavio Roma. But unless your name is Vieri or Cassano, Italians playing in non Serie A clubs (where they might actually have played a few truly competitive matches) don’t even show up on the radar. Overall, best team since 1990!

Hmmm i would still rather see players like tavano or lucarelli on the pitch.. del piero is to much of a time waster and any way everything he can do players like de rossi and totti and pirlo can do much better. If Italy is going to win they just need people to score lots of goals .. i still cant get over iaquinta tho!! As for materazzi well he wont even come on .. i mean the defence never really change much any way .. Basically Italy has the best players in the world right now and team (only players that could help this team are kaka and rohnaldhinio) so if we dont succeed i got to say it will be lippi who takes the blame!
Any way we are just looking at the negatives.. go and look at Brazils, Holland’s, England’s, Germanys and Frances team … all these teams are favourites to win it this year, yet Italy’s team shines so hard amongst them (only team who really comes close to Italy is Argentina and they still don’t compare .. and as for brazil .. well without kaka or rohnaldhinio they are pretty useless as well!!

I agree about marco DeMichele about the other squads. but since brazil does have kaka and rohnaldhinio they could contend with italy.

No surprises here – this is a group Lippi’s been cultivating for at least a year. It’s a strong team, it can win the WC, but just a few mistakes in my opinion: Materazzi, Iaquinta, Zaccardo, and Barone. Lippi could have rolled the dice on some fresher players for these four: Canini, Pasqual, Tavano, and Maresca. It’s a shame in the case of Matrix especially, he’ll cost Italy the trophy if Nesta or Canna get hurt.

Now that the squad is picked. What number will Inzaghi be? I want my jersey personalized with his name an number. cheers sticky

no zenntti, nesta, veire ???

Wtf is up with itlay

[...] ITALY Buffon, Inzaghi are headed to Germany. [...]

Nazi, have u been sleeping under a rock since 2004?

WHF is up? They look good, so who cares about the way they play! Italy will win no matter what.

Who cares, they look good anyway and atleast us chicks in Australia will get some good eye candy for the fortnight…..but seriously, they’re going to win….FORZA ITALIA.

[...] Not surprisingly, there are some passionate fans following Italy and offering up their thoughts on the players who will play for the Azzurri in Germany. It can’t be easy picking the 23 best players in a country like Italy and it is even more difficult to pick 23 players who will please all of the fans. [...]

Honestly I believe this is the strongest team since 90. For the first time options exist up front. Toni/Totti among others are extremely capable and there is some consistency. The supporting cast is less of a concern since if the need arises to include the 5th choice striker the problems are bigger the issue of choosing between Lucarelli or Iaquinta. It would have been nice to see Maldini in the line up for all times sake and wisdom but for obvious reasons that’s impossible.

matrix is plain defender..but not much choice in getting experienced defender other than materazzi…plus he can take good free kick and head in some golas at corner kick as well…good for backup…

cassano is unfit at real..he won’t be able to get in shape for wc anyway so not worth taking the risk…

vieri is injured, got gilardino and toni after all….i’d choose miccoli over iaquinta…

Good team but Lucarelli would have completed the team…so much heart in the guy…in terms of getting authentic Azzurri apparel…check out http://www.azzurrisportstore.com

shame that Maresca for some “geoplitical” reasons(he made Moggi an enemy..had to leave italy and subsenquently has not been considered for national team he had an astonishing season at Sevilla..too bad !
as for Vieri he just had knee surgery and Cassano well ..his personality shortcomings may turn him in one of worst flops in Italian soccer PS: i would have loved to see Cristiano Lucarelli with the team ..and Marchionni …….

squad numbers plz.
soon soon!
i see a gr8 squad this yr..
though i hope they should stp
having internal conflict among themselves.
forza azzurisSss

i think italia is da best and wtf is brazil gonna do bout it peace 2 all pork and cheese f….ck brazil viva italia and ciao la france aurevoir zidane salut les bleu forza azzuri ITS all bout gigi buffon minghia la putanna

HI ITS PAULIO ANYWAYS 2 ALL MA VIEWERS ITALIA IS DA BEST NATION OF SOCCER TOTTI IS DA SHIT AND LUCA TONI IS JOE MINGHIA OF SOCCER FRANCE AINT GOT NUTTIN ON US AND NEITHER DAS BRAZIL CIAO WANNA BEES SOCCER PLAYERS PAY UR PLAYER MILLION OF DOLLARS FOR NO PRODUCTION SEE U GUYS IN 4 YRS IF U MAKE IT PAST QUALIFIERS CIAO AREREVI DICI