AZZURI D'ITALIA

bluenine wrote:

Pirlo wrote:OPtimism, a new journey, a new identity and philosophy, and new players please.

Lets start will discussing who among the current squad should prandelli stick with for Euro2012 qualifiers.... the ones in bold I hope are the only ones Prandelli has in his consideration set:

PORTIERI: Buffon (Juventus), De Sanctis (Napoli), Marchetti (Cagliari),
DIFENSORI: Bocchetti (Genoa), Bonucci (Bari), Cannavaro (Juventus), Chiellini (Juventus), Criscito (Genoa), Maggio (Napoli), Zambrotta (Milan);

CENTROCAMPISTI: Camoranesi (Juventus), De Rossi (Roma), Gattuso (Milan), Marchisio (Juventus), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Palombo (Sampdoria), Pepe (Udinese), Pirlo (Milan);

ATTACCANTI: Di Natale (Udinese), Gilardino (Fiorentina), Iaquinta (Juventus), Pazzini (Sampdoria), Quagliarella (Napoli),

Other players in Consideration set:

Goalkeepers: Sirigu, Abbiati
Defence: Gamberini, Ranocchia, Santacroce, Motta, Santon, Cassani, De Ceglie, Di Silvestri

Prandelli will surely bring in Gamberini, but I hope he also gives some chances to youngsters... this is the area where Italy needs most of the revolution. I would hope that by 2012, Italy has Chiellini + Gamberini + 2 youngsters will decent international exposure as CB's. And there are a lot of promising young fullbacks, I hope all 3-4 of them in the 2012 squad come from this crop with experience in the legs.

Midfield: Aquilani, D'Agostino, Candreva, Marchionni, Cigarini, Poli, etc

There is a decent bunch of new talent available here, on top of a decent nucleus from Lippi's side for Prandelli to build on... Assuming Prandelli goes with his usual 4231 formation, the 2 man central midfield will not be too much of a worry.

Strikers: Balotelli, Cassano, Miccoli, Rossi, Foggia, Okaka, etc

There is decent talent to work with for the creative striker and the 2 wingers behind the centre forward...


I am really looking forward to Italy playing the Prandelli brand of football, keeping the possession and attacking. I am not sure this Italy will win anything, probably not, but it will be a good rebuilding exercise, thats I am confident of.... and thats what Italy needs right now... its time to rebuild first, the silverware will follow later.

Pirlo wrote:
De Rossi

abundance wrote:uhm, they're playing for the country that's on their passport, in which they were born or raised and now live.
but it seems that somewhat that's not enough - they're not like us, and most probably are just opportunistic.

Pirlo wrote:It was a great unveiling, and he spoke very honestly and with great enthusiasm and ideas,

but...

De Rossi

Buffon is the new Italy captain when he returns from injury, absolutely the right choice

Black Magic wrote:
Great post mate.

Goalkeepers: Salvatore Sirigu, Emiliano Viviano, Marco Storari, Antonio Mirante

Defenders: Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Luca Antonini, Cristian Zaccardo, Mattia Cassani Alessandro Gamberini, Salvatore Bochetti, Christian Maggio

Midfielders: Thiago Motta, Cristian Ledesma, Daniele Gallopa, Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi, Riccardo Montolivo, Claudio Marchiso, Simone Pepe, Angelo Palombo

Strikers: Alberto Gilardino, Maco Borriello, Giampaolo Pazzini, Anntonio Cassano, Mario Balotelli, Giuseppe Rossi, Fabio Quagliarella, Marco Marchionni, Rafaele Palladino.

Murray wrote:It's a big improvement on the World Cup squad, not that that is too difficult.

Still some numpties in there though, like Pepe, Zaccardo & Marchisio

COTR wrote:Nice to see Italy going the German route

Motta and Ledesma Italian

COTR wrote:Nice to see Italy going the German route

Motta and Ledesma Italian

COTR wrote:Well Rusedski's mum is British so it isn't really the same. I'd compare it more to the stories about Almunia being nationalised by England. That one didn't really split opinion

From google it appears Ledesma's only claim to being Italian is marrying an Italian woman ? Has he anything else going for him ?

You clearly support it so fair enough but as Lrd says it is becoming ridiculous

COTR wrote:Well Rusedski's mum is British so it isn't really the same. I'd compare it more to the stories about Almunia being nationalised by England. That one didn't really split opinion

From google it appears Ledesma's only claim to being Italian is marrying an Italian woman ? Has he anything else going for him ?

You clearly support it so fair enough but as Lrd says it is becoming ridiculous

Pierre Littbarski wrote:

COTR wrote:Well Rusedski's mum is British so it isn't really the same. I'd compare it more to the stories about Almunia being nationalised by England. That one didn't really split opinion

From google it appears Ledesma's only claim to being Italian is marrying an Italian woman ? Has he anything else going for him ?

You clearly support it so fair enough but as Lrd says it is becoming ridiculous

and living there for 9 years.

Its still bollocks though + surely the new Argie manager will pick him - he has more talent than Cambiasso and Mascherano put together.

Marchionni is not really a suprise as Prandelli obviously likes him and he is perhaps one of the few Italians really suited to a 4-3-3 (which he may consider).

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:

COTR wrote:Well Rusedski's mum is British so it isn't really the same. I'd compare it more to the stories about Almunia being nationalised by England. That one didn't really split opinion

From google it appears Ledesma's only claim to being Italian is marrying an Italian woman ? Has he anything else going for him ?

You clearly support it so fair enough but as Lrd says it is becoming ridiculous

and living there for 9 years.

Its still bollocks though + surely the new Argie manager will pick him - he has more talent than Cambiasso and Mascherano put together.

Marchionni is not really a suprise as Prandelli obviously likes him and he is perhaps one of the few Italians really suited to a 4-3-3 (which he may consider).

His chances might end up being limited by Banega and Gago though.

I think Marchionni is just one of Prandelli's favourites that he will recall. He'll probably recall others aswell like Bonera or Gamberini. If he plays 4-3-3, it will be with Marchionni on the right, Gila up top, but one of Balotelli/Cassano will be forced out on the left. Either that or he goes with 4-2-3-1, but I can't think of who would play on the left (Italy don't really have anyone like Vargas).

I Will Call Antonio Cassano, Mario Balotelli & Amauri - Italy Coach Cesare Prandelli
Prandelli's new-look Italy is taking shape...

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has said he will frame his team around Sampdoria ace Antonio Cassano and Inter striker Mario Balotelli, with Amauri of Juventus also under consideration.

Prandelli is assembling his squad ahead of the Ivory Coast friendly on August 10 in London, and the squad is taking on a new look compared to Marcello Lippi's World Cup flops.

"I have spoken with Balotelli but I have not promised him anything. I will call players who play for their teams, it doesn't matter whether they are Italian or foreign," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I am happy with Cassano's maturation. Playing a 4-2-3-1, Cassano and Balotelli can play together. Balotelli on the left with Cassano in the middle.

"There are 60 players who could be called, I will call 23 or 24, giving precedence to those who I know less and those that have played more.

Amauri has promised 20 goals and a fight for an Italy place this season, and Prandelli confirmed his scope is far-reaching, adding further hope for the Brazilian-born hitman.

"Amauri? The idea is this, but [Marco] Borriello is also there," he continued.

And Prandelli confirmed currently injured Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon will be handed the captaincy.

"I phoned Buffon to see how he was. He will be our captain. I hope he comes to see us in September when we are in Florence," he said.

fcb wrote:Making Balotelli and Cassano key components of your team? Sure, it's "exciting", but in a "I'm excited about getting to walk on a tightrope across the Grand Canyon" kind of way.

bluenine wrote:

fcb wrote:Making Balotelli and Cassano key components of your team? Sure, it's "exciting", but in a "I'm excited about getting to walk on a tightrope across the Grand Canyon" kind of way.

Well I rather take a chance with Cassano/Balotelli than have the likes of Pepe as the key components of the team again.... Walking a tightrope is better than certain slow death via trequartistitis

abundance wrote:Re Motta, Ledesma and Amauri...

I'm not happy with them in the NT.

I'm all for a lax concept of nationality - ie, your home is where you live, and your nationality is what is on your passport. Ancestry is a thing of the past and I don't like the rethorics of patriotism.

BUT, in the case of football NT selections, I think that where you learnt to play football counts a lot.

Maybe it's only my view, but I see national teams as an expression of footballing schools, much more than a mere expression of nationality.

We have a great footballing school down here, with a huge tradition, I think that selecting players who formed elsewhere is just devaluing our school.

Yeah I know Amauri has spent all his pro career here, so you could say that he learnt to be a pro footballer here, but still he came here at 20, after spending all his formative years in Brazil.


More over, we already had a Oriundi phase in our history, and results wise that was the worst era of our WC history.

COTR wrote:Nice to see Italy going the German route

Motta and Ledesma Italian

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:

It's like kas has forgotten all about what happened in the last WC.

Too much of a big deal is made of their personalities. They are no worse than say Totti and Materazzi (both of whom were integral to the WC win 4 years ago). I don't see it as a problem, players should be picked on their ability not their personality.

abundance wrote:Re Motta, Ledesma and Amauri...

I'm not happy with them in the NT.

I'm all for a lax concept of nationality - ie, your home is where you live, and your nationality is what is on your passport. Ancestry is a thing of the past and I don't like the rethorics of patriotism.

BUT, in the case of football NT selections, I think that where you learnt to play football counts a lot.

Maybe it's only my view, but I see national teams as an expression of footballing schools, much more than a mere expression of nationality.

We have a great footballing school down here, with a huge tradition, I think that selecting players who formed elsewhere is just devaluing our school.

Yeah I know Amauri has spent all his pro career here, so you could say that he learnt to be a pro footballer here, but still he came here at 20, after spending all his formative years in Brazil.


More over, we already had a Oriundi phase in our history, and results wise that was the worst era of our WC history.

stinger wrote:

COTR wrote:Nice to see Italy going the German route

Motta and Ledesma Italian

I don't see how it's comparable to German route...

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:

It's like kas has forgotten all about what happened in the last WC.

Too much of a big deal is made of their personalities. They are no worse than say Totti and Materazzi (both of whom were integral to the WC win 4 years ago). I don't see it as a problem, players should be picked on their ability not their personality.

It's like you have forgotten all about what happened to France NT in the last WC.