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Twas A Night Of Rossi’s

June 15th, 2009 | By: Paul | 80 Comments »

And what a night it was. A terrible first half left Azzurri fans scratching their heads, screaming at the TV, and cursing all things Marcello Lippi. But the second half, well, it surely erased a tad of what happened before. It wasn’t a World Cup type performance, but it’s a win. And we have to take that. Plus a certain someone definately proved himself worthy:

Kidding. It was obviously Giuseppe Rossi. Here’s a player-by-player breakdown of today:

Buffon
Looked shaky at times, a few moments where my heart skipped a beat. Definitely not the same Buffon from 2006, but Gigi is still without a doubt a world class stopper. A lot of this could be blamed on Adidas and the new balls they always introduce; which move, shake, and drop more than Pitbull.

Zambrotta (Aka “The man involved in the Zidane incident in 2006)
Definitely the weaker of the wing backs. He was poor on defense and his runs up top usually resulted in nothing. I know 99% of us would like to see Santon get a chance, but it aint happening. The kid’s lucky to get a call-up, let alone start in front of one of the best Right Backs in Italian history, fugheddaboutit.

Legrottaglie
There’s one thing I love about Nicola: Getting to hear the 25859 different pronunciations of his name by JP Dellacamera and John Harkes. Does anyone know what it is exactly? No. I go with LEH-GROT-A-LEE, but that could be completely wrong. Who knows. What I do know is he definately isn’t starting material. I feel like he wouldn’t be a bad choice off the bench, but then again, this dude isn’t a spring chicken anymore. Santacroce or Criscito will take his spot sooner than later.

Chiellini
Well, that penalty was pretty stupid. We all know that. Otherwise, Giorgio was OK. Definitely didn’t put in one of his epic performances, but he played well. He obviously will be a starter games, and years, to come.

Grosso
If I knew absolutely nothing about the Azzurri and turned on this game, I would have probably said Grosso was a LWM, LM, or even LS. He was our attack in the first half, the only one making productive runs upfront. This though caused problems, as he wasn’t back to help Giorgio when he ended up causing the penalty. A little help woulda been nice. But hey, Fabio’s still got it in my book. A good performance for the Lyon man.

Gattuso
The red card was a red card. No questions. Otherwise, Gennaro looked slow, late to the ball, and did little to help the squad. I love his toughness and heart, but I see an end to the road on the horizon for him. The only reason he plays now is because we don’t have many capable midfielders. I’m predicting Palombo gets a shot against Egypt.

De Rossi
What a goal that was! Otherwise, a pretty average game from Danielle. (Or the “Italian Monster” as the announcers made him out to be; all he’s ever accomplished is molest Brian McBride)

Pirlo
At times looked like his old self, especially at the beginning of the match. His sweet move before the cross for the 3rd goal was picturesque. If he can keep this form up, we’re a dangerous team.

Camoranesi
Touched the ball a lot at the beginning of the match, but faded as time went on. He’s a good player, but fails because Italy shouldn;t be using a 4-3-3 to begin with.

Gilardino
Was he even on the pitch? Or was he at Kindergarten? All I saw him do was fall to the ground, whine to the ref, and make some goofy faces trying to spit. I’m a big supporter of Alberto, but after today, I might give up on him.

Iaquinta
I’m a big Iaquinta fan, but he seemed kinda lost outside on the left. Grosso was always up there, so Vincenzo would move center, only to find Gila’s bus parked there. I think Iaquinta should get the nod in either a 1 or 2 man striking partnership.

Montolivo
Didn’t look like the kid we all wanted to kill a few months ago. Had some glimpses of good play, and I wouldn’t be against him getting some more chances.

Toni
Well, that header chance says it all. Toni is done. If he can’t finish that, then he can’t finish anything. I’m TIRED of always seeing him make that agonizing face, with his hands up saying “soooo closeee!” (Hopefully you know what I’m saying) I want more hand shaking next to the ear (Once again, I hope you get it)

Rossi
Well, Mr. Revelation, Hero, Paolo Rossi II, whatever you wanna call him. He played great. He’s an all around threat, and if he doesn’t start Thursday, I might just hop on a plane to Praetoria and force Lippi to start him. He can dribble, finish, run the wing, dictate play, anything.

Final Remarks:
Enough of the 4-3-3. Grosso and Zambrotta push up so much that they count as wingers up front. Also, the amount of space in the middle of the field outside the box screams TREQUARTISTA! Rossi and DeRossi both scored from that area. Can you imagine if we had someone actually playing that position? Would been a much different game.
Overall, it was a result that got us 3 points, and we learned many things. Egypt should be a tougher test, but the way the draw worked out, it plays into our hands. We’re always slow starters, but the games get progressively harder. We should be ready for Brazil Sunday. (Think back to Euro; thrashed by Holland, but came back to beat France.)

Highlights: The audio is a bit behind, but it’s Caressa. Nothin’ better than him screaming.

Tags: Group E

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 80 comments.

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By Weston | June 16th, 2009 at 10:25 am

Ps. I wish I lived In new jersey, but I’m from sunny south Carolina, aka the deep south.

Posted from United States

By Marco | June 16th, 2009 at 11:16 am

Foggia left Mid really? I would have thought he plays on the right wing, just about every single game I have seen him play he played on the right side, same idea as camro, just quicker and not nearly as old. possibly more skilled too and has a great nack for scoring.

Anyway, we’ll see what happens.

About Cassano, I actually think that the hole we see in Midfield is where Cassano needs to be. His passes and dribbling ability are being missed so far, and judging by the bench I don’t think anyone is capable of filling that void.

By jed | June 16th, 2009 at 11:34 am

————buffon—————–
—-legro—canna—chiellini—
zambro———————–grosso
——pirlo—DDR—gattusso——-
———–rossi——————-
—————–iaquinta———-

that would be my line-up… obviously i picked all players lippi would actually play… ie no cassano

grosso and zambro = wingers

By Enzo | June 16th, 2009 at 11:44 am

“Zambrotta (Aka “The man involved in the Zidane incident in 2006????do you know something about football??? there was MATERAZZI!!!!!not ZAMBROTTA!!!!
go to this page:
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-football/italy-v-usa-confederations-cup-liveblog.html#comment-572084

there i explain something…

PS you have to be more serious and objectif on your comments i hope that this is a amateur site…because there is a lot of mistake about the things that you’ve been told…

Posted from Italy

By Calisi | June 16th, 2009 at 12:00 pm

Enzo, a lot of the mistakes were jokes, the original poster was pointing out that the American commentators were wrong many times.

Posted from United States

By Caroe | June 16th, 2009 at 12:02 pm

Spanish newspapers calling Rossi a traitor. And they have Senna. Dear god.

Posted from Denmark

By Shuli Italia | June 16th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Spanish Press blast Italy and Rossi!!! Why is that?

By Julian | June 16th, 2009 at 12:43 pm

Spain have been and will always be our rivals. For one thing, they’re hugely jealous of us. The always play more eye pleasing soccer but until recent times have nothing to show for it. They also see us as cheats which they hate, but they’re also conflicted because deep down they’d love to be as successful internationally as we are. They cannot stand to see us win.

By Julian | June 16th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

I read a fantastic article on the Spain-Italy rivalry about a year ago. It’s written by, for my money, the greatest sports writer around today- the impeccable Sid Lowe:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/06/spain.italy

By Julian | June 16th, 2009 at 12:50 pm

And I just read Channel4’s writeup on the Spanish press’s reaction to our win… it basically proves true everything that Sid Lowe describes in the article above. They absolutely hate to see us winning because they believe we’re dirty cheats.

By Calisi | June 16th, 2009 at 12:56 pm

Here is the lineup for today’s u21 I believe..

————Consigli————–
Motta-Andreollo-Bocchetti-Criscito
Marchisio—-cigarini—-De Ceglie
—Balotelli———–Giovinco—
———–Acquafresca————

che schifo..

Posted from United States

By ricci | June 16th, 2009 at 1:08 pm

che schifo? that is a great lineup.

Posted from United States

By alessio | June 16th, 2009 at 1:21 pm

I think he meant the literal translation in that “disgusting” is good in English.

Posted from United States

By Mike D | June 16th, 2009 at 1:31 pm

I just read those same remarks as well Julian. Funny how after decades of being under-achievers, it just takes one tournament win for the Spanish press to become experts of “beautiful football”. If I do recall, the only match where Spain did not play beautiful football was against Italy at Euro 2008. Why did they not put Italy to shame by scoring beautiful goal after beautiful goal in that match? And why did it take a team of such style penalties to achieve victory?

As for Rossi really being American, it seems that the prestigious writers of AS completely forgot that their Euro 2008 championship midfield was held together by Marcos Senna……A BRAZILIAN! In addition, Senna came to Spain in 2002 when he was 25, he is now 32. Pot, kettle, black.

By Paul | June 16th, 2009 at 1:59 pm

Foggia and Brighi would be great call-ups that might actually happen post-Confeds Cup. Another winger and another midfielder, stuff we need.

Weston- I’m outta Jersey in exactly 2 months, onto the DEEEEEEP South (Location wise, not culture wise; I’m heading to Miami for college)

The line-ups are all very interesting, guys. I like the diamond 4-4-2, but it might be a bit too offensive. One thing I’ve never thought about until now, is what about looking at some unorthodox formations? 5 backs (De Rossi as a sweeper) similar to what we played years ago? 3 backs, pushing Grosso and/or Zambrotta up? 5 midfielders? 4-2-2-2? These are probably all stupid, but just some food for thought.

And the U21 team is STACKED! Plus there are so many other guys who aren’t in the line-up or weren’t called up that have potential.
Wow, I can’t wait for 2014. We should be very good then.

Posted from United States

By Calisi | June 16th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

Hahah yeah ale has it, sorry ricci

Posted from United States

By Daniele | June 16th, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Shout out to all the Jerzites.

I was born in North Plainfield.

Somerset County.

De Rossi was EASILY the man of the match, BEHIND Rossi.

Posted from United States

By kat | June 16th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

The axe looms over Casiraghi’s head..

By Julian | June 16th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

How does a team with so much attacking talent fail to score a single goal?

By kat | June 16th, 2009 at 5:20 pm

That’s what happens when you have a ultra-catenacciaro as headcoach.

By mikederob | June 16th, 2009 at 9:54 pm

disappointing game for the young guns. good to see a stron defence and some great saves too from consigli. I love to see abate’s pace. he’s a fast, passionate player and winger, hope he progresses, we need someone like that in italia

Posted from Australia

By gio | June 16th, 2009 at 11:50 pm

Marco ,
yes, Cannavaro is not perfect, but there was only that one incident where he should have deserved a red … but at least he was careful/experienced enough not to draw it. Chiellini can be a bit reckless when you see how many red and yellows he picks up (per-game; that is, Cannavaro averages a bit over 50 games a year while Chiellini is a bit under 30, so factor that in and you will see Cannavaro has a pretty good record … excepting 2006 when he was a little off the charts)

———Iaquinta————Rossi———–
Foggia—————————Quagliarella
——————Pirlo———————-
—————–De Rossi——————–
Grosso—–Chiellini——Cannavaro—–Motta

——————-Gigi———————-

would like to have Rossi in the centre, but he and Iaquinta could drop back and move up alternately.

Quagliarella adds creativity, decent passing and crazy shots on goal from all-over-the-anywhere, and Foggia brings pace and nice service into the box.

when Grosso and Motta move up into attack mode, DeRossi can orchestrate from the back, much like Pirlo does with the front line, and in defensive mode, he can sweep in front of the bcak four.

By gio | June 16th, 2009 at 11:52 pm

don’t get me wrong, i like Chiellini, but i feel more comfortable with him paired alongside Cannavaro. Legro is a good understudy. Gamberini needs more experience and his marking is really not great.

By aristeia | June 17th, 2009 at 12:14 am

Gigi wasn’t the only keeper I saw bobble that ball. But yes, he’s not WC2006 level yet, but he will be. He still made a save that made me shit my pants, I wouldn’t have anyone else there.

Man, I love Rino… but this is the first game for the Azzurri since he’s been back from injury that I was begrudgingly hoped to see him subbed or not in the 1st team lineup.

The only way I agree w/ you saying that DDR had an average game is if you mean that he played on average like he usually plays– solid and dependable.

Oh hell, I was mad to see Monty getting a call up. I’ve changed my mind. I hope this isn’t a fluke.

I spent much of yesterday defending, arguing and getting pissed off. All b/c of Beppe. And it was worth it. Even if he didn’t score like a dynamo. So glad he got the call up and really hope to see him in Serie A next season.

Next Egypt and another gallon of antacid. Yay.

Posted from United States

By aristeia | June 17th, 2009 at 12:16 am

Whoops, this *ISN’T the first game where I was wishing Rino off the pitch.

Posted from United States

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