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Nice article.
Most azzurri fans know that a tough draw is what makes the team click... Italy always find it difficult to get out of "easy" groups coz of their slow starts, but when faced with top teams, the italians usually do well. Its the mental toughness of the squad. So in that respect, maybe this draw is not a bad thing - it will help Italy to knock out a top contender very early (God, please let that be France!!
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However, Carlo does have a good point below. This will need Italy to peak earlier than their usual, with aging stars, and might take away a key azzurri advantage - that of peaking at the right time. One thing that Carlo forgets is that Donadoni has a very deep squad with him, and effective rotation will be the most important aspect for a successful campaign, just like Lippi did last summer. So IMO a lot depends on whether Donadoni has the guts to rotate his stars in key games.
What do you guys think?
Most azzurri fans know that a tough draw is what makes the team click... Italy always find it difficult to get out of "easy" groups coz of their slow starts, but when faced with top teams, the italians usually do well. Its the mental toughness of the squad. So in that respect, maybe this draw is not a bad thing - it will help Italy to knock out a top contender very early (God, please let that be France!!
)However, Carlo does have a good point below. This will need Italy to peak earlier than their usual, with aging stars, and might take away a key azzurri advantage - that of peaking at the right time. One thing that Carlo forgets is that Donadoni has a very deep squad with him, and effective rotation will be the most important aspect for a successful campaign, just like Lippi did last summer. So IMO a lot depends on whether Donadoni has the guts to rotate his stars in key games.
What do you guys think?
Azzurri Debate: Euro 2008 Draw Bad News For Italy?
During yesterday’s draw for Euro 2008 the inevitable happened as Italy were drawn in the proverbial ‘Group of Death’. Carlo Garganese believes that the Azzurri will make it through the group but is concerned of the repercussions later in the tournament… A World Cup or European Championships would not be the same without a ‘Group of Death’. Indeed the same fools who decided the ridiculous seedings system for Euro 2008 will be rubbing their hands in glee after seeing a Group C line-up of Italy, France, Holland and Romania. Azzurri boss Roberto Donadoni admitted the draw was difficult but believes his side are ready for it, a stance pretty much taken by FIGC President Giancarlo Abete. “It is a tough group, but I think it is well within our capabilities,” Abete declared.
Most Italy fans appear to have got it into their heads that La Nazionale are invincible and that the complexity of this group is irrelevant. Of course this is understandable. The Azzurri are the World Champions, they possess the best goalkeeper in the world, the best defence, and a host of world class players. They are also in brilliant form, having won nine of their last 10 qualifiers and finished three points above second-placed France in a very difficult Euro 2008 qualifying group. However I feel that many people are missing out on the bigger picture here. I myself believe that Italy will qualify from the group, however I am concerned by just how much energy this will sap out of the squad in the process.
The Azzurri’ strength in major tournaments is that they usually start off slowly in the group-stages, slowly move through the gears, before peaking in the later stages when it really matters and when other teams are tiring. This was the case in Germany last summer and was also so in the 1982 World Cup in Spain, when Enzo Bearzot’s men drew all three of their opening group games against Poland, Peru and rank-outsiders Cameroon. In Austria and Switzerland, Italy will not be afforded the luxury of easing their way into the tournament and will have to show an intensity right from their very first game against the Netherlands.
The repercussions of this, come the quarter-finals and semi-finals, could be ruinous, especially when you consider the age of the Italy team. The ages of the current first-choice Azzurri team come June will be as follows: Buffon (30), Pannucci (35), Cannavaro (34), Materazzi (34), Zambrotta (31), Gattuso (30), Ambrosini (30), Pirlo (29), Camoranesi (31), Di Natale (30), Toni (31). As you can see, only Andrea Pirlo is under the age of 30, and so it remains to be seen if an ageing team can be expected to play six games in just 20 days at such a high intensity. Past tournaments from the past have shown that teams rarely go on and win major championships after being drawn in a ‘Group of Death’.
The 2006 World cup ‘Group of Death’ consisted of Argentina, Holland, Serbia and Montenegro, and the Ivory Coast. Argentina and Holland qualified for the last 16, however the Oranje were immediately eliminated in the next stage by Portugal. Argentina, who were breathtaking in the group stages, then dropped down a few levels and fortuitously beat Mexico in the second phase, before being defeated by Germany in the quarter-finals. The draw for the knockout stages may help Italy though. If they finish top of their group, they will face the runners-up of a Group D consisting of Greece, Spain, Sweden and Russia. If La Nazionale can avoid Spain, a place in the semi-finals most certainly beckons, where they will then be primed to meet the other qualifier in their group again, maybe France!
This draw means that Italy cannot face anyone from Group A or Group B until the final, which means no Portugal and no Germany. Of course it must be remembered that once a competition reaches the semi-finals and final, in many respects it is mental strengths more than anything else that prove most important. There is no team in the world that can boast the mental toughness of Italy, so in this respect Donadoni’s men should be fine. However I still fear that the sheer effort that will have to be put in to escape from Group C could prove detrimental in the latter stages.
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