The Azzurini

3zycupid wrote:Faroe Islands 0 - 1 Italy
80' Pozzi
Santacroce sent off in 1st half

Pirlo wrote:

3zycupid wrote:Faroe Islands 0 - 1 Italy
80' Pozzi
Santacroce sent off in 1st half

A laboured but deserved win, in terrible conditions, and the Far Oer are always tough and physical opponents. Nielsen had a great game and his save from Cerci just before the interval was fantastic, but we should have controlled the match in the first exchanges, Cigarini, Cerci and Criscito all missed certain chances,

A ridiculous red card, but it served as a good motivation because we continued to control the tempo and show the initiative and forced the Far Oer deeper. Pozzi changed the match and our tempo when he replaced Osvaldo, great cross from de Ceglie and a good finish, the goal coming at that time really killed our opponents ambition, on another day they could have earned a draw. So we return to the top of the group over Croaita and still with a game in hand. We are nearly there!

Interesting 4-3-3 by Cas, i was hoping to see De Silvestri and Di Gennaro play though, but his hand was forced by Santacroce's dismissal, but with 3 creative strikers - Cerci, Giovinco replacing Acquafresca and Osvaldo, we lacked a direct goalscorer, and i think this hindered the fluidity of our play until Pozzi pcame on to play more centrally. , not a great performance, and we missed Acquafresca, but the right result.

Zola: Giovinco & Rosina Are The Future Of Italian Football

Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola has hailed Empoli starlet Sebastian Giovinco and Torino winger Alessandro Rosina as the future of Italian football. The 20-year-old Giovinco, who is owned by Juventus, has been earning rave reviews for his performances for the Italy Under-21s and he set-up four of the Azzurrini’s five goals during last Friday’s 5-0 win over Azerbaijan. Rosina is three years older, and only slighter taller than the pint-sized Giovinco. He made an impressive debut last month for the Italian senior team against South Africa and was arguably the man-of-the-match until Cristiano Lucarelli scored two late goals.

“The beauty of football is that it is not measured in metres,” said Zola. “We are talking about two great players – they are the future of Italian football." The two players will come face to face this Sunday as Empoli host Torino in Tuscany.

“On Sunday I would like to go to Empoli because with both of them on the field you know there will be a great show. They remind me of Lionel Messi,” added ‘Magic Box’. “Can they play together? Well for the Under-21s Giovinco has been playing with Giuseppe Rossi."

U-21: Siena starlets get call Friday 1 February, 2008

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Siena pair Luca Rossettini and Daniele Galloppa have earned call-ups to Pierluigi Casiraghi’s Azzurrini squad to face Holland.

Italy’s Under-21 side are moving comfortably towards qualification for Euro 2009 and are sitting top of Group 1.

Ahead of next month’s trip to Azerbaijan, Casiraghi will take on Holland in Ferrara on February 5.

Four of the members of the side that took part in the last European Championships will be there – Brescia goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano, Udinese defender Andrea Coda and midfielders Riccardo Montolivo and Antonio Nocerino.

In-demand Siena midfielder Galloppa has earned a return to the international fold with his recent impressive performances in Serie A and will be joined by teammate Rossettini, who makes his debut.

The squad will meet up in a hotel in Ferrara on Sunday evening after their League games and will have their first training session on Monday at Serie C2B SPAL’s training ground.

The squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Consigli (Rimini), Viviano (Brescia)

Defenders: Coda (Udinese), Criscito (Genoa), De Ceglie (Siena), Marzoratti (Empoli), Motta (Torino), Rossettini (Siena), M Rossi (Parma)

Midfielders: Cigarini (Parma), Galloppa (Siena), Giovinco (Empoli), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Morosini (Vicenza), Nocerino (Juventus), Russotto (Treviso)

Strikers: Cerci (Pisa), Osvaldo (Fiorentina), Pozzi (Empoli), G Rossi (Villarreal)

U-21: Rossi brings down Dutch Tuesday 5 February, 2008

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Giuseppe Rossi inspired the Azzurrini to an impressive scalp in a 2-1 friendly victory over European champions Holland.

Pierluigi Casiraghi opted for a 4-3-2-1 system headed by former Parma and Manchester United starlet Rossi, who has scored 10 goals in Spain for Villarreal.

The Dutch had a good chance early on with Luyckx firing wide from a poor clearance, but Italy went ahead three minutes later.

Rossi threaded through for Daniel Pablo Osvaldo to spring the offside trap and the Fiorentina striker swept it past goalkeeper Velthuizen.

Coach Casiraghi made six substitutions at the break and moved Rossi’s position, but he continued to dominate the squad.

One of the new faces, Treviso’s Russotto, drilled just wide and brought a tough save out of Velthuizen soon after stepping on to the field.

But it was Rossi who doubled the advantage on 62 minutes when his left-foot strike from distance took a deflection off Drost.

Holland got back into the game late on with an acrobatic Drenthe thunderbolt, but Donk’s dismissal made a complete turnaround unlikely.

It was a good performance from the Azzurrini, who are warming up for the Olympics in Beijing on August 6.

Italy 2-1 Holland
Scorers: Osvaldo 27 (I), G Rossi 62 (I), Drenthe 72 (H)
Sent off: Donk 82 (H)
Italy U-21: Viviano (1'st Consigli); Motta (M Rossi 46), Coda, Criscito (Rossettini 46), De Ceglie; Nocerino, Cigarini (Paonessa 70), Montolivo (Morosini 46); Osvaldo (Russotto 46) (Marzoratti 90), Cerci (Pozzi 46); G Rossi (Abate 63)
Holland U-21: Velthuizen; Zuiverloon, Donk, Luijckkx (Elia 46), Pieters (Jong-A-Pin 46); Brama (Vormer 46), Drost (Janse 46), De Jong; Amrabat (George 46), Sno, Drenthe
Ref: Perez Rubinos (Spagna)
Attendance: 5,000

U-21: Azzurrini call Paloschi Saturday 22 March, 2008

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Milan starlet Alberto Paloschi has received his debut Under-21 international call after Andrea Russotto and Marco Rossi pulled out.

The striker is still only 18 years old, but is already making it up to the Azzurrini level in the view of Coach Pierluigi Casiraghi.

Paloschi could get his debut in the Euro 2009 qualifier with Azerbaijan next week, as Treviso’s Russotto pulled out with an injury.

Paloschi shot to fame for the Rossoneri when he scored less than 30 seconds into his Serie A debut and has slowly crept into the first team with two goals.

Casiraghi also had to call up a new face in Atalanta’s Daniele Capelli, as Rossi was forced out of this match in Baku with a fitness problem.

Italy’s Under-21 side face their Azerbaijani counterparts on Tuesday March 25.

Goalkeepers: Alfonso (Venezia), Consigli (Rimini), Sirigu (Cremonese)

Defenders: Bocchetti (Frosinone), De Ceglie (Siena), De Silvestri (Lazio), Marzoratti (Empoli), Motta (Torino), Pisano (Cagliari), Capelli (Atalanta)

Midfielders: Bolzoni (Inter), Cigarini (Parma), Dessena (Parma), Giovinco (Empoli), Marchisio (Empoli), Morosini (Vicenza)

Forwards: Acquafresca (Cagliari), Lanzafame (Bari), Osvaldo (Fiorentina), Rossi Giuseppe (Villareal), Paloschi (Milan).