As all squad rosters for Euro 2012 have been made official to UEFA, so have Italy’s Group C adversaries: SPAIN, IRELAND, and CROATIA. If you want to find out who Del Bosque, Trapattoni, and Bilic have selected to feature in this Summer’s tournament, look no further!

SPAIN

IRELAND

CROATIA

National team coach Cesare Prandelli has made the Azzurri’s roster official, and communicated his list to UEFA.

Compared his previous version, the manager has left out Andrea Ranocchia and Mattia Destro. Doubts remain on the eligibility of Leonardo Bonucci, currently under investigation in the massive betting scandal surrounding Italian soccer this week.

The list also made the squad numbers for the final phase of the tournament official.

★ ★ ★ ★

Cesare Prandelli trimmed down his squad list from 32 to 25 players for the friendly against Luxembourg on Tuesday evening at Stadio Tardini of Parma. Those that didn’t “make the cut” are goalkeeper Viviano, defenders Astori, Bocchetti, Criscito, and midfielders Cigarini, Schelotto, Verratti.

The official list with the names of the 23 players selected for the final phase of Euro 2012, as per UEFA regulations, will be communicated by the FIGC at noon on Tuesday 29 May.

★ ★ ★ ★

As I mentioned before, I am not entirely convinced at the Azzurri’s chances of success at Euro 2012. The squad has not enthused me during their qualifying campaign and although they retrieved Antonio Cassano from injury, the absence of Giuseppe Rossi coupled with the unpredictability of Mario Balotelli and still relative inexperience of Sebastian Giovinco makes me doubt the goalscoring efficiency of Italy’s strikeforce. Other forward alternatives, as taken from Prandelli’s preliminary list of 32, don’t necessarily set my mind to ease either.

That said, in the case you’re still willing to place a football bet on Italy’s gold medal, perhaps you’ll be buoyed by words from the man himsef, as the National Team coach defends the choices (as preliminary as they might be) of his player call-ups for this Summer’s tournament.

★ ★ ★ ★

In defending his player choices, and in response to criticism Italy still lack a true center-forward, Prandelli said:

When you are not called up you feel like you have suffered an injustice, but I made my decisions on merit. I’d like to see who could have been called up instead of Antonio Di Natale and Sebastian Giovinco (…) Six attackers are what I need for the way we will play. (…)

We evaluated which players could give us 100% in terms of the team overall. Those left out were so for tactical reasons. Today there is no longer a static player in attack. Mario Balotelli can be used in that role, but also on the flanks. It’s the same for Di Natale and Giovinco who have scored a lot without being a reference point for defenders.

When asked about Cassano & Balotelli, Prandelli responded:

CASSANO did all that he could to be here and he’s made it. He’s shown that he loves this shirt. I prefer to have enthusiastic players in the squad. BALOTELLI hasn’t played that much recently, but he’s won a title with Manchester City and is one of the emerging talents that we have to help explode.

Prandelli also explained some of his more “surprising” call-ups:

There are a lot of reasons why we thought about VERRATTI. The first are his qualities, which have also been seen in the Under-21s. I want to continue that work, also as a back-up to Andrea Pirlo. We also wanted to make it clear that we are following players in Serie B. I also wanted to call him up to demonstrate that there is a clear technical project in place here.

GIACCHERINI is a player who can be used in three positions and I hope he can be useful. Pepe is an important player for teams who get to the byline and cross, but we play a different type of game.

DESTRO is not a classical central striker, he’s a modern attacker. I want to see him play for a place. I want him to work hard on a daily basis to prove that he deserves to be here.

DIAMANTI demonstrated to have tactical versatility and to be a consistent performer. He can play as an added striker, trequartista, or inside midfielder. He can bring quality: the call-up wasn’t a gift, he deserved it.

When asked about tactics, the former Fiorentina coach responded Italy will likely use a 4-3-1-2 formation with a trequartista-type of player behind the two strikers:

We don’t have a lot of time. We’ll try a few things out, but the base will be the formation that we used in qualifying. There is a nucleus in midfield that is there to create. I want to pick a team that plays fluid football. Pirlo will be a reference point but we will also develop alternative keys to the game. The important thing now is to find some balance within the side, the pitch will give us an answer. We might also try a three-man defense, but mostly overall I like to play with an extra midfielder.

I don’t have a minimum objective. Every coach thinks about getting right to the end. From next Monday we’ll start work on the pitch with the intention of winning.

Prandelli also commented on having a heavily Juventus-based team, as per Azzurri tradition, and reiterated his desire to remain on the bench until his contract expires in two years’ time.

When I first arrived I was criticized for picking so many Juventus players, but their Scudetto victory proved me right. Juventus are the only Italian club who focus strongly on young Italians.

I’ve always said that I want to respect my contract until after the 2014 World Cup, however it will depend on what happens at the European Championship.

As the European Championship draws near, over the past week-end Azzurri coach Cesare Prandelli revealed his preliminary list of 32 players from which the final 23 who will be making the trip to Poland/Ukraine this Summer.

There were several surprises, such as newcomers Mattia Destro (Siena), Emanuele Giaccherini (Juventus), and Ezequiel Schelotto (Atalanta), but also “old-timers” who despite their vast amount of experience have not featured yet under Prandelli’s reign: Rubin Kazan defender Salvatore Bocchetti, Bologna’s Alessandro Diamanti, and Udinese veteran Antonio Di Natale.

The biggest surprise however comes perhaps from a man currently plying his trade in Serie B: Pescara’s Marco Verratti. Often categorized as “the new Pirlo” by his fans, the player is under heavy talk of a transfer to Juventus next season, and altough many doubts remain at his inclusion in Prandelli’s final list of 23, he could provide that “fresh spark” which has been somewhat missing from the Azzurri during the past few years.

Marco Verratti

Torino defender Angelo Ogbonna, another Serie B alumnus, also made the list.

Notable exclusions feature Inter’s Gianpaolo Pazzini & Genoa’s Alberto Gilardino (both of which haven’t exactly had great seasons), Roma’s Pablo Daniel Osvaldo (who had featured in practically all of Prandelli’s call-ups so far and had a decent year with Roma, at least initially), as well as Juventus players Alessandro Matri (who dropped in form since the new year) and Simone Pepe.

In addition, goalkeeper Federico Marchetti was left out in favor of Emiliano Viviano, Salvatore Sirigu and Morgan De Sanctis, to provide back-up for the irreplaceable Gigi Buffon.

Not to mention of course, Giuseppe Rossi, who will spend all Summer sidelined with a knee ligament injury. A real shame for “Pepito”, who would have certainly made the trip otherwise.

★ ★ ★ ★

The final list of 23 players, as per UEFA regulations, will be unveiled by a FIGC press release within 12:00pm on May 29th.

With one month and a half to go before Euro 2012 officially begins this Summer, the design of the match tickets was revealed at Kiev’s Olympic Stadium (the venue for the final) and Warsaw’s National Stadium (where the tournament will get underway on June 8th) this week.

The ticket, beautifully colored, is horizontal with a large flower on the front, the leaves of which depict the stadium hosting a match and the flags of the two countries involved. The front also features the number of the match (in a top-right flower bud), along with seat details. Instructions on how to reach the stadium can be found on the reverse, along with a security strip.

“There has been talk that the tickets are already in circulation in Ukraine, but it is not true”, said Markiyan Lubkivskiy, Ukraine’s UEFA EURO 2012 tournament director. “We only have the design now. The actual tickets will be received by fans 3-4 weeks before the beginning of Euro 2012 by registered post. The tickets have several levels of protection and it will be almost impossible to imitate them”.

While tickets have sold out in Poland, UEFA operations director Martin Kallen reminded fans still interested in matches to be staged in Ukraine that they will get one last chance to purchase tickets next month. “More than 95% of the tickets have been sold”, he said. “About 50,000 tickets will be on sale from the beginning of May, because not all participating federations have taken their full allocation”.
 

If you’re searching for Euro 2012 final tickets, look no further than TicketBis, an online tickets exchange that specializes in helping football fans buy and sell tickets online for almost any match in Europe. Prices for the FINAL MATCH start at £290.00.

Speaking of tickets, Italy will be taking on Spain in their first game of the group stage on June 10, and doubtless all seats at Arena Gdansk stadium in Gdansk, Poland will be sold out for this one.

UEFA.com has already set up a preview page for the match on their website, with some pretty interesting information including head-to-head record, form guide, and team ties (which players crossed paths, played together before, that sort of thing…).

Notably, I especially liked the “Selected previous meetings” section which outlines three previous encounters of the Italy vs. Spain fixture through the ages. There’s that August 2011 friendly where Italy won 2-1, the Euro 2008 quarter-finals, and the World Cup Quarter-Finals back at USA 94. Certainly brings back memories…

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	10 August 2011 ITALY-SPAIN 2-1 [Match Highlights] Stadio San Nicola, Bari International Friendly
GOALSCORERS: 11′ Montolivo (I), 37′ pen. Xabi Alonso (S), 84′ Aquilani (I)
ITALY (4-1-2-1-2): Buffon – Maggio, Criscito, Ranocchia (77′ Bonucci), Chiellini – De Rossi (65′ Aquilani) – Motta (46′ Marchisio), Montolivo (74” Nocerino) – Pirlo – Cassano (59′ Balotelli), G.Rossi (59′ Pazzini). COACH: Prandelli.
SPAIN (4-4-1-1): Casillas (46′ V.Valdés) – Arbeloa, Albiol, Piqué (45′ Busquets), Iraola (46′ D.Villa) – Cazorla (80′ Mata), Javi Martínez, Xabi Alonso, Iniesta (46′ Thiago Alcantara) – D.Silva – F.Torres (15′ Llorente). COACH: Del Bosque.

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	22 June 2008 SPAIN-ITALY 0-0 (4-2 P.S.O.) [Match Highlights] Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna UEFA EURO 2008 quarter-finals
GOALSCORERS: /
SPAIN (4-4-2): Casillas – S.Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila – Iniesta (59′ Cazorla), Senna, Xavi (60′ Fábregas), D.Silva – F.Torres (85′ Guïza), D.Villa. COACH: Del Bosque.
ITALY (4-3-1-2): Buffon – Zambrotta, Panucci, Chiellini, Grosso – Aquilani (108′ Del Piero), De Rossi, Ambrosini – Perrotta – Cassano (75′ Di Natale), (58′ Camoranesi), Toni. COACH: Donadoni.

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	9 July 1994 ITALY-SPAIN 2-1 [Match Highlights] Foxboro Stadium, Boston FIFA World Cup quarter-final
GOALSCORERS: 25′ D.Baggio (I), 58′ Caminero (S), 88′ R.Baggio (I)
ITALY (4-4-2): Pagliuca – Tassotti, Benarrivo, Costacurta, Maldini – Conte (66′ Berti), Albertini (46′ Signori), D.Baggio, Donadoni – Massaro, R.Baggio. COACH: Sacchi.
SPAIN (4-4-2): Zubizarreta – Ferrer, Otero, Abelardo, Sergi (60′ Salinas) – Goikoetxea, Bakero (65′ Hierro), Alkorta, Nadal – Caminero, Luís Enrique. COACH: Clemente.

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After Spain, the Azzurri will look to face off against Croatia on June 14th and the Republic of Ireland on June 18th. Full Group Stage matchlist below.

10 June 2012 – 18:00
	Spain	vs.	ITALY
Arena Gdansk, Gdansk (POL)
14 June 2012 – 18:00
	ITALY	vs.	Croatia
Municipal Stadium Poznan, Poznan (POL)
18 June 2012 – 20:45
	ITALY	vs.	Ireland
Municipal Stadium Poznan, Poznan (POL)

For Spain vs. Italy tickets or any of the Azzurri Euro 2012 matches, make sure to check out TicketBis online.
 

Even more than a Real Madrid-Barcelona Champions League final, EURO 2012 is what every European and football enthusiast is waiting for in the coming months. We are now exactly 10 weeks away from this Summer’s 2nd-greatest sporting event (for all the love I have for soccer, even I have to admit that the Olympics come before the Euros) and on paper, Italy’s path to qualification has been nothing short of excellent. The Azzurri finished top of their qualifying group with 26 points (8 wins and 2 draws), the third-highest point total across all divisions: only Germany and Holland have fared better (though in fairness Spain, who won all their games and finished with 24 points, played two less). Italy’s press has an idiomatic expression however: gli Azzurri hanno vinto, ma non convinto. This stands for “the Azzurri have won, but not convinced”, and their outright Euro 2012 betting odds seem to agree.

Indeed, while on paper Italy’s qualifying results are among the top in Europe, there’s just something that makes me go “meh” in this Italia made-in-Prandelli. The Lombardian manager has for a long time been hailed as one of Italy’s finest promises, with good coaching stints at Parma and Fiorentina that at one point attracted the attention of big clubs such as Juventus. Throughout his club career Cesare Prandelli has always prioritized and emphasized youth development, and applied a similar policy to his national team selection process since he inherited the team from Marcello Lippi in the Summer of 2010. “Out with the old, in with the new”, with experienced yet aging players losing their spot in favor of younger, quicker, fitter colleagues.

Throughout the qualifying campaign, Prandelli has utilized a whopping total of 44 players, much higher than any of the other title favorites such as Spain (36), Germany (37), Holland (37) or France (38). Only Fabio Capello’s England comes close (and one short, at 43), which itself can be explained as a post-World Cup 2010 after-effect. Indeed, while the now ex-Three Lions manager had to test a vast array of new players (after the ones he took to South Africa disappointed so much), Prandelli’s tinkering can only be explained by the intent of creating a new Azzurri cycle (as one would expect him), and into that cycle include as many different players (from as many different backgrounds; even Serie B) as possible. “Give everyone a chance” so-to-speak…

The outcome however is rather mixed bag of results. To a good qualifying campaign, the Azzurri interspersed an interesting victory over Spain (2-1) with some rather discouraging losses during international friendlies (e.g. 0-2 to Ireland, 0-1 to Ivory Coast, Uruguay, and the United States).

At the same time, the team has struggled to produce in front of net, particularly in the last year where the absences of injured Antonio Cassano and Giuseppe Rossi have made themselves felt. There just doesn’t seem to be the same type of “hunger” in this team that we witnessed in the pre-2006 Lippi Azzurri, which went on to win 4-1 against World Cup hosts Germany a month before the tournament launched.

Can the Azzurri do it? While they do not truly possess a single-player superstar anymore, Italy’s talent pool has remained unaltered. Despite Prandelli’s renewal policy, experienced champions like Gigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo, and Daniele De Rossi remain key elements of the team, while talented young defenders (Chiellini, Ranocchia, Balzaretti, Abate), midfielders (Montolivo, Marchisio, Thiago Motta) and forwards (Cassano, Rossi, Balotelli, Giovinco) have added themselves into an exciting mix. It hasn’t been all sparks for Italy so far, but the potential is there.

In a subsequent article, we will analyze what players are likely to feature on Prandelli’s roster during June’s tournament and what we can expect from each of them but for now, let’s just say this writer remains skeptical at our chances for success (and you will note I used the word “our” here, because despite my cynicism and harsh look at reality, I first and foremost remain a strong supporter of the Light-Blues).

Sempre e comunque, FORZA AZZURRI!!

Dear Readers,

“August 30th, 2009″… that is how long ago the last post of mCalcio was published. Did almost three years really just fly by?

Many things have happened since then. For those who have been following mCalcio since its inception (or who joined along the way), you already know that a few months before that last post things weren’t going well for me personally. You may scroll down for a full explanation here, but suffice to say I had reached a certain saturation level. I just couldn’t take the day-to-day blogging routine than my life had become, and thus decided to take a long break. I thought I had subsequently “recovered”, but that was only an illusion. Following that post at the end of August, I decided to pull the plug permanently and move on to other things, all the while maintaining mCalcio online… “just in case”.

Well, three years later, “just in case” has materialized… I’m back. One would hope for a longer, more permanent stint of time (though given how things went the last time around, I prefer not to make any promises). For the moment, let’s just say the joy of blogging in back in me again, as I have been since July 2011 working on a big Juventus-related project some of you may already have heard of:

We have been going strong for over 9 months, and this period of time has re-enamored me with writing, editing, and blogging-related endeavors. Which as prompted me, at long last, to resurrect mCalcio from its ashes.

We are going to take this one step at a time folks. Don’t expect a boatload of posts in the next few weeks, especially since my time is limited (I have to divide it between here, JuventiKnows, and my day-job activites). Also there may be some changes within the scope of the website, what I plan to do with it, what specific domain of soccer I will focus on, though it should remain highly Italian Serie A-concentrated as usual. At any rate I promise I will not “disappear” like last time, at least not without saying goodbye (and let me reassure you that at the moment, nothing could be further from my thoughts).

In any case, you may now find me directly on Twitter, just to make sure that I don’t give up and vanish into thin air again.

So without further ado, let me officially announce: mCalcio is BACK AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS.

Sincerely yours,

-Marco Pantanella-
 

In many ways a new year of Serie A doesn’t truly begin until it features one of thee Big Matches. It is often said that over the course of the season it’s the the “little games”, those against teams battling for relegation, that pave the road for a championship title. Often true, but the “little games” certainly are not those everyone is waiting to see. And thanks to Lega Calcio’s new fixture drawing system, this year we have the opportunity to see two ‘Big Games’ as early as Matchday 2, starting with Saturday’s Derby della Madonnina.

And what a derby it was. With 4 goals against their most bitter rival this match featured a true display of power by Inter Milan, highlighted by the shining performances of Thiago Motta, Eto’o, Diego Milito and with and a clear clear message to their harshest critics: Zlatan who?

As for Milan, to quote Gazzetta Inter were “giants without an adversary”. AC Milan cannot hide behind their good performance of today’s first 15 minutes. A team which completely disintegrates both tactically and psychologically (see Gattuso’s red card) at the first sign of trouble cannot, for lack of a better phrase, call themselves a “team”. At least for the moment. Until Leonardo figures out a solution out of this mess.

Tactically, it was surprise-time on Inter’s side. No sign of Santon or Muntari (recuperated from his post-Ramadan health issues), instead José veered new signing Wesley Sneijder right from the start, placing the Dutch midfielder right behind his two strikers Eto’o and Milito, in a “trequartista” role. On the other hand, Leonardo fielded the same eleven from last week’s win against Siena (including Ronaldinho behind Pato-Borriello) without too many alternatives available really, save perhaps for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar on the bench.

Based on the first 15 minutes, the final result really does not do justice to Milan. Flamini and Pato seemed to be particularly inspired tonight, dribbling with ease on Inter’s right side in a night which, seemingly, did not feature the best Maicon of recent years (notice how I put “seem” in italics). Ronaldinho and Borriello had fairly good opportunities, without causing too many worries to Julio Cesar however. The point being: this was a real game, both teams responding “here” to the roll call (Inter with a nice one-time effort by Sneijder well saved by Storari).

Until the half-hour mark that is. The moment when Thiago Motta, Eto’o, and Milito combined with surgical precision and finalized a three-touch play with an on-the-run finish by the Brazilian midfielder, right where Storari could not reach. 1-0 Inter, and plenty more where that came from.

Indeed, 7 minutes later a deflected free-kick by Pirlo launched a lightning-fast counter-attack by Eto’o who, through on goal on the right wing, ended up being fouled by Gattuso inside the Milan box. Penalty, and first yellow for “Ringhio”, who on the occasion could consider himself quite lucky (referee Rizzoli judging that Nesta’s presence close-by made this not a “clear goalscoring opportunity”). No matter for Inter, because Gattuso red card was only postponed by minutes. In the meantime, Milito made it 2-0 from the spot.

Before the half-time mark, Inter found the time to increase their goaltotal to three, thanks to a trademarked penetrating run by Maicon on the right wing (well set up by Milito). 3-0 Inter, but not before Gattuso earned his second yellow for an unnecessary midfield tackle on Sneijder. In his defence, he had picked up an ankle knock and had asked to be substituted just minutes earlier (Seedorf wasn’t ready to step in right away). Effectively, it was game over for Milan at that point, even though the embarassing ease with which they had allowed the Nerazzurri to move forward could only be *partly* attributed to Jankulovski’s “oh-why-did-I-get-up-from-bed-today” day.

The second half saw some Milan changes, predictably. Leonardo inserted Ambrosini and Seedorf for Flamini and Borriello. With little effect. Inter relaxed and stepped their foot off the gas pedal, proceeding at times with a classic pig-in-the-middle display, much to the dismay of Milan players but amply supported by the San Siro’s “OLE’s” (and to think that despite this being a derby, the home crowd was supposed to be primarily Rossoneri partizans). Huntelaar made his debut (substituting a non-factor Ronaldinho), although it’s likely he’d have preferred remaining on the bench. Especially when Dejan Stankovic 25-yard howitzer made it 4-0 for Inter. José can smile. Leonardo’s got a lot of work to do.

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	MILAN-INTER 0-4 [Match Highlights]
GOALSCORERS: 29’ Thiago Motta (I), 36’ pen. D.Milito (I), 45’ Maicon (I), 67’ Stankovic (I)
MILAN (4-3-1-2): Storari – Zambrotta, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Jankulovski – Gattuso, Pirlo, Flamini (46’ Seedorf) – Ronaldinho (64’ Huntelaar) – Pato, Borriello (46’ Ambrosini) (bench: Roma, Onyewu , Abate, F.Inzaghi). Coach: Leonardo
INTER (4-3-3): Julio Cesar – Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Chivu – J.Zanetti, Stankovic, Thiago Motta (60’ Muntari) – Sneijder (74’ Vieira) – D.Milito (79’ Balotelli), Eto’o (bench: Toldo, Cordoba, Santon, Suazo). Coach: Mourinho
INFRINGEMENTS: Bookings for Flamini, Samuel, Gattuso, Chivu; red card for Gattuso (min. 40, double yellow)

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Five days have passed since Italy’s whopping 3-0 defeat at the hands of Brazil, a match which put an an end to Lippi’s South African countryside scouting (one year before the big tournament) and sent the Azzurri home among general shrugs of indifference, frowned eyebrows, and sincere worries in the ranks of Italian supporters.

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Confederations Cup… Confederations schmuck

Something should be established right from the get-go in this article, and that is one has to take the FIFA Confederations Cup for its true value: a tournament of prestige, played to fill the gap between Euro and World Cup Summers and to make a certain FIFA mogul (whose name starts with S and ends with …epp Blatter) happy. Happy at proclaiming his love for the beautiful game, the continued globalization of football, the athletic clashing of cultures, and blah blah blah. All that is great for sports unity, but in terms of true football competition no one (certainly not the big teams) takes this tournament seriously. Certainly not to the extent of a Euro tournament, a Copa America, or the master of them all: the FIFA World Cup.

Reading a few of the message boards after Italy’s elimination, I saw comments going along the lines of “where was Italy’s pride? where was Gattuso’s legendary determination?”. I mean seriously… pride? Determination? Are these the words we should be using to qualify the Azzurri’s elimination? Pride & determination are qualities which are stimulated when the going gets tough and when the stakes are high. In terms of international football, they are their greatest when a team is competing for Silvio Gazzaniga‘s golden trophy, not for a tournament who many consider a chore and few really care about. Dead-on to Julian from the Offside World Cup blog for expressing it in one of his poll options: “it’s always embarassing to lose to Brazil and Egypt, but it was a minor tournament and now we know where we stand and what has to change“.

That being said, there are some vital conclusions to be drawn from Italy’s South African performance this month, so let’s have a look at them.

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The AGE Factor

Unless the Azzurri want their team nickname changed into “Rossoneri”, some of their oldies gotta go. Experience counts yes, but a large part of the WC 2006 veterans are way past their prime. In the collective shamble that was Italy vs. Brazil few players saved themselves, and among the names of the “guilty” stood high & those of Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Toni, and Gilardino.

The first two, once incredible rocks of solidity & energy, have never been quite the same since that 2005-06 season ended. Cannavaro‘s hoping to re-conquer his pre-World Cup glory by re-acquainting himself with Serie A at Juve, but at 35 years of age can we really expect the same miracles from him as he displayed during the march to Berlin? As for Zambrotta (32), he looked truly embarassing during certain portions of the Brazil game and it’s time bow to the evidence: the workaholic dynamo of Italy’s right wing is no more.

Concerning Toni, his descent into the flames of hell has been truly painful to watch this past year. At its peak of his goalscoring career in the 2007-08 season (40+ goals at his first season with Bayern), the Swiss-Austrian Euro tournament flipped the ex-Fiorentina striker right on his head. Incapable of scoring a goal for the Azzurri since God knows when, “abysmal” doesn’t even begin to describe his performances this season. Unless his form rapidly changes, Toni will have to be content to watch the World Cup in a Munich pub, drinking Jägermeister to drown his sorrows. Gilardino‘s another story since his year with Fiorentina has been more than satisfactory. But just as everyone was quick to use words like “rebirth” and “second life” in the early part of the season, his goalscoring form slowly declined during the months of April & May. In South Africa, he was often inadequate.

Who’s to save? Despite his age, Grosso always put in decent performances for the Azzurri. Camoranesi is really the only Italian player (Cassano excepted) capable of taking opponents one-on-one, Gattuso (coming off from an injury this month) can always be relied upon for sheer determination & aggression. As for Pirlo, well… can anyone really imagine Italy without Pirlo just yet?

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The REPLACEMENTS

Between now and South Africa 2010 still many things can take place, and as De Rossi & Buffon collectively expressed to the press (“show us the players, even the youngsters, which according to you are stronger that those they should substitute“) the replacements identified by the Italian public still aren’t ripe for the big jump. However, there are certain players which Lippi should focus on progressively bringing into the senior group this coming year. I have only selected a few because God knows the list is never exhaustive.

GOALKEEPERS: Buffon is still number one, no question, but his heirs are slowly showing their face. Marchetti seems to be the elected choice, as well as Consigli who, in the current U-21 Euro tournament, already saved the Azzurrini’s hide many times.

DEFENDERS: Santon almost seems to be a certainty. If he repeats his recent year at Inter, there’s no doubt Italy are looking at their starting right/left-back for the next decade. Motta will soon be joining him, capitalizing on his AS Roma and U-21 captaincy experience. Criscito, Bocchetti, De Ceglie, and Santacroce are question marks.

MIDFIELDERS: The hot topic right now is Gaetano D’Agostino. To avoid the classic flash-in-the-pan scenario I say “wait”, but the quality (set-pieces included) is definitely there. Marchisio is progressively taking a real leadership role at Juve and the Azzurrini, and along those same lines we find Luca Cigarini of Parma. If there’s anyone who should be the likely back-up for DDR/Gattuso it’s one of those two. Then there’s also Brighi (not really a youngster anymore), the true revelation of Roma’s midfield this season.

FORWARDS: In terms of U-21 context, three names come to mind in this section: Giovinco, Balotelli, Acquafresca. The former needs to find continuity & playing time at Juventus, but we all know what he’s capable of on a good day. The latter scored 3 goals at the Sweden U-21 tournament, litterally taking the Azzurrini to the top of the group (but then flopping in the semi-final). Can he repeat himself the coming year? As for Super Mario, discipline problems seem to be his only Achilles’ heel. If he finds a way to correct them, his power, technique, and mobility make him one of the most feared strikers of Serie A. Need I even mention that with Giovinco & Balotelli Italy would also have two very dangerous set-piece specialists?

I will add two three more names to this list (once again, not really youngsters but possible replacements nonetheless). The first are both Sampdoria players: Pazzini (who’s had a fantastic rebirth in the Ligurian capital) and Cassano. For the latter, compatibility problems with Lippi seem to be the only real obstacle and one which, so far, has proven insurmountable for the Talent of Bari Vecchia. Who knows… As for the third player, his possible call-up will undoubtedly become headline material again in September, when his Italian citizenship finally goes through and he starts his new season at Juve. I am talking of course about Amauri.

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TACTICS: 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1… Can Someone Explain?

Making a short analysis of Azzurri-tactics from 2006 up to this point, Italy essentially played 4-2-3-1 for the majority of the tournament (despite originally starting with a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1), a formation which was then shifted into a 4-3-3 during the Donadoni era. Post-Donadoni Lippi seems to have embraced this tactic as well, often proposing Di Natale, Iaquinta, Camoranesi, and Pepe in the roles of external wingers, keeping one striker (Toni, Gilardino) isolated up front.

Clearly, while the 4-3-3 formation has been going fairly well during qualifiers, it did NOT work in South Africa. With the almost certain promotion of Giuseppe Rossi to a starting position in 2010, Lippi needs to find a way to make his plans work, possibly with the addition of a second striker or the re-shuffling of his midfield positions. Clearly, the 4-man backline is very unlikely to be modified anytime soon, but I foresee a progressive re-emergence of the 4-2-3-1 formation, with De Rossi/Pirlo/Gattuso defensive mids and Rossi/Giovinco/Balotelli occupying any of the OM positions. Who occupies the striker position is a much more difficult guess to make.

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LIPPI: That “Sly Silver Fox”…

The Italian manager got under some pretty heavy flak in the post-elimination mood (including from Facebook users, read this article in Italian for a funny story). According to a Gazzetta poll, the majority of Italian supporters are putting Lippi on the chopping block for the Italy 0-3 Brazil shamble, “both because of pre-tournament call-ups as well as in-game tactical changes”.

For me, one English expression clearly expresses my feelings concerning this view: BOLLOCKS. While Lippi is obviously directly responsible for the people he brought to South Africa with him, this was part of a long-term plan. As Fox Sports analyst & blogger Bobby McMahon said in the FSC report Monday, Lippi is one “sly silver fox”. He is using the Confederations Cup to have a final test at some of his World Cup champions from 2006, and to his reasoning seems to be along the lines of (to quote Bobby) “If you do well, great, if not, I finally gets the freedom to bring in new players to replace you“.

There is a small fallacy in Bobby’s theory, which seems to be suggesting that Lippi is somehow looking to justify himself in the eyes of the Italian public. I don’t believe that to be true. Lippi’s a manager who never felt the need to justify himself or explain his choices in front of anyone. But I do agree on the fact this Confederations Cup was an early 2010 test for the Azzurri, a test which some of the players clearly failed and who therefore might have their place in the team be seriously put into question in the coming months.

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CONCLUSIONE

At the end of the day, I look at this tournament and say to myself: “You know what? Good! We took those losses against Egypt and Brazil a year early. We will learn from them, and when the REAL tournament comes next Summer we’ll be ready”.

Say whatever you want, but when the nº1-ranked team in the world loses 2-0 to the USA I’m actually somewhat glad we got to go home one week early.