Preview: Serbia vs Italy

October 5th, 2011 | by: Aaron Giambattista | Comments Off

Italy march into the International break with qualifications to the Euros already assured in what has been a quite impressive qualifying campaign so far. Cesare Prandelli has settled in nicely with a 4-4-2 diamond formation (or 4-3-1-2 depending upon who you ask) that has been consciously trying to play “modern”, possession football as espoused by some zealots in a certain part of Spain (or is it Catalonia)? Joking aside, the national team has indeed shown very tangible signs of progress since the WC2010 disaster, the highlight being defeating Spain in a very entertaining friendly.

For those who have observed Prandelli’s reign carefully, you will notice how the key members of the Euro 2010 team can already be identified. They are – Buffon, Chiellini, Balzaretti, Pirlo, DDR and Cassano. There are other players who are nearly assured of the starting spot, but the previous 6 are the absolute lynchpins of the team.

With qualifications now assured, I would like to see Prandelli experiment a bit more to see how we can do if any of our key players are absent. The most obvious question is of course “Who is vice Pirlo?” I dont know for sure, although I am guessing one of either Montolivo or Aquilani will be given the role, or maybe even Cigarini. Another position we might see some change is the trequartista/attacking midfielder role with Giovinco getting a starting spot (although I still want Cossu to get a call up – a very talented and hard working player).

I Wantz Teh Balcony Seat

Last time Italy and Serbia faced off, the match had to abandoned due to Serbian hooligans running rampage at the Marrassi. Italy ended up getting a 3-0 win. Hopefully this time we will be able to get the points on the field, and not from some arbitration panel. As a Juventus and Italy supporter, I always believe points won on the pitch are the only one that counts, and not the ones which are awarded by a committee.

The Call Ups –

ITALY

(P) Gianluigi Buffon, Morgan De Sanctis , Salvatore Sirigu

(D) Davide Astori, Federico Balzaretti, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Mattia Cassani, Giorgio Chiellini, Christian Maggio

(CC) Alberto Aquilani, Luca Cigarini, Daniele De Rossi, Claudio Marchisio, Riccardo Montolivo, Antonio Nocerino, Andrea Pirlo

(A) Mario Balotelli, Antonio Cassano, Sebastian Giovinco, Giampaolo Pazzini, Giuseppe Rossi

A big cheer for Andrea Barzagli who makes it to the Nazionale again after a very impressive return to Serie A!

SERBIA (taken from here)

Goalkeepers: Bojan Jorgačević (KAA Gent), Damir Kahriman (SC Tavrya Simferopol), Bojan Šaranov (Maccabi Haifa FC)

Defenders: Branislav Ivanović (Chelsea FC), Nenad Tomović (US Lecce), Neven Subotić (Borussia Dortmund), Nemanja Vidić (Manchester United FC), Milan Biševac (Paris Saint-Germain FC), Marko Simić (FC BATE Borisov), Milan Vilotić (FK Crvena zvezda), Slobodan Rajković (Hamburger SV), Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City FC), Duško Tošić (Real Betis Balompié)

Midfielders: Dejan Stanković (FC Internazionale Milano), Zdravko Kuzmanović (VfB Stuttgart), Radosav Petrović (Blackburn Rovers FC), Ljubomir Fejsa (Olympiacos FC), Miloš Ninković (FC Dynamo Kyiv), Luka Milivojević (FK Rad), Miloš Krasić (Juventus), Nemanja Tomić (FK Partizan), Zoran Tošić (PFC CSKA Moskva), Adem Ljajić (ACF Fiorentina), Milan Jovanović (RSC Anderlecht)

Forwards: Marko Pantelić (Olympiacos FC), Nikola Žigić (Birmingham City FC), Dragan Mrdja (FC Sion)

PostScript

This will be my last post at the World Cup Blog. I havent really been able to do any justice to my responsibilities as a blogger, and Elaine has somehow single-handedly kept this wonderful board going on. I think it is much better to let the exciting new bloggers take this blog to even greater heights. A heart felt thank you to all the readers, your comments made whatever inadequate efforts I had put into posting really worth it. Big thanks to Elaine again for giving me the chance, and all the very best to Gadsby and Sam. I will be on twitter @maxratul, do keep in touch! And finally,

FORZA AZZURRI!!!