ITALY thread

[Zeem]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

That's the reason he took one left back! It was going to be either Criscito or Balzaretti to make the final list. I say he had the idea of lining Giaccherini there for a while. Indeed a weird choice.

I really looking forward to the game. After seeing how some favorites performed and have been hyped up for a while, I think Italy might have a chance. Spain's defence can be a bit exposed without Puyol. This competition can give you some weird results.

 

[Wilko22]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Well done Italy, didn't stick 10 men behind the ball, just played their own game and almost pulled off a victory, Good stuff.

 

[Milanista]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Promising performance. This is why I was so excited for Italy to play. Balotelli's yellow was harsh, although Mario started very well, as did Cassano. I think Mario felt a lot of pressure in the game after the card - I think he was thinking too hard about not getting sent off.

Thought De Rossi was Beckenbaur-esque until a real striker came on, and thought Pirlo-Marchisio-Motta worked very well more times than not.

If Fantantonio was more fit, he'd have lasted the whole game... when he came off, our whole attack changed and we weren't as dangerous.

Anyway - would like to see Abate and Maggio start, rather than Giacch (credit to him for a pretty solid game).

 

[PLF]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

De Rossi plays as CB and still Italy's best player!

What a beast! Made one mistake all game! Lost count of how many he blocked and intercepted though.

And with Giovinco and Di Natale doing so well coming on hopefully it won't be Cassano and Balotelli (Two jokers) starting up front again. Di Natale is still Italy's most potent striker and Giovinco is young, hungry and talented!

Maggio and Abate or preferable Maggio / Balzaretti would be better.

 

[kouroux]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Very good match by Italy.Just don't play Baloretardelly for the next match and start Di Natale

 

[gerd]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Great match, doubt we will see a better one this tournament.
Pleasantly surprised by Italy.
A well deserved point.

Ps: two fantastic assists.

 

[Zeem]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Cassano was very good on the counter. I prefer him over Giovinco. Balotelli is a nutcase. As soon as he faces trouble, he loses his cool and gets a card. Cassano and Di Natale next game for me.

 

[Milanista]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

x2.

 

[Aboutreika18]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Yeah, I was hoping they'd go with Christmas and Cassanova up front. Balotellitubby is a liability.

Hopefully Balzaretti will come in as well, thought Giaccherini was caught out a few too many times defensively.

Good game though, Pirlo's change of pace in the lead up to the goal had me rubbing my eyes.

 

[Rantboy]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Balotelli has fantastic technique, but what a naive player! That ball he nicked away from Ramos, if only he had been more direct... he should at least have made Casillas work there. But instead he took his time and got dispossessed like a baby. Look at his face on the replay

Great match to watch and kudos to Italy for playing this way, against Spain of all teams. I quite like this new approach, not waiting for your opponent all the time. Italy today was much more pleasant to watch!

Agree on Di Natale, he's the deadliest attacker in the squad.
Oh, and that Giovinco boy has to get some more minutes!

 

[Baxter]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Is De Rossi having a Beckenbauer-like metamorphosis?

However, kick in the arse Balotelli (he often fail in tough matches, see U21, Man City-Dynamo or Inter-Barça) and try Di Natale because against Croatia it won't be easy (I think it will be an interesting match to watch).

 

[lo zio]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

now that's more like it! very nice of the azzurri to show up just in time for the 1st game of the tournament. now we know last week was not a form issue but a mental\focus issue. and apparently prandelli fixed it. good. also our football was very good... yesterday's italy wasn't as spectacular as what we were used to till december... but it was also less naive than the italy we got to know under prandelli.
it was quite a weird thing infact. prandelli's italia was much smoother than this, much more offensive oriented, less balanced, but also more sharp and accurate in terms of scoring. yesterday instead we were very balanced, much more focused on the defensive aspect than usual, more energetic than usual, but also quite toothless upfront.
now the lack of punch is easily explained; there's no rossi and we're starting balotelli and cassano (who isn't in game form), but as for the rest, it was quite an impressive and sudden change of style.

mind u, i'm not complaining about this sort of revolution. i believe last season's italy would have scored 3 against yesterday's spain... but would have also conceded 5. it just amazes me to notice such a complete revolution (starters, tactics, formations, schemes and mental approach to the game) in such a short time. i'm gonna be honest here, i didn't think prandelli had it in him. mind u, i'm a huge fan of prandelli and i consider him a brilliant coach, but he's not that kind of coach. he's not like conte or mourinho, he's not a control freak (that would be a compliment btw) who has his players following exact routines, he's more like ancelotti, he gives the guidelines, but then leaves the players free to follow their own inspiration. and this sort of coaches usually aren't able to completely reshape a team in a short time (precisely because they don't have absolute control over the way their teams play). they don't have such a tight grip on the team, so it takes more time to them to change their football.
yesterday instead we saw a lippi-esque italy (in terms of focus, defensive setup and energy) playing some prandelli-esque football (first touch passing). the players were on a really tight leash. they looked like they were following a precise script to the letter.... that is so un-prandelliesque! i'm impressed.

anyway, when a coach takes such risks it's all on him; if the teams win you're a genious, if they lose, you're an idiot. he completely revolutionized the formation in less than a week; he had de rossi playing cb, motta and marchisio playing "on the wrong side", he insisted on balotelli and cassano and lined up a 3-5-2 with a pure winger instead of a wingback. i was ready to criticize him, had we lost this match, but we didn't (and we also played pretty well), so it's only fair that i praise him and give him the credit he deserves..... i guess that's why he's a professional coach, while i watch football on tv.

concerning our offensive lineup, like many of u guys, i would also prefere a di natale-giovinco duo upfront. both di natale and giovinco looked much sharper and more dangerous than balotelli and di natale (i disagree with u on giovinco, stef, i think giovinco looked much more sharp than cassano)..... but in hindsight prandelli made the right call.
cassano still isn't in a good form, but he's clearely in much better shape than last week against russia. that means he's following a good athletic program.... but the only way for him to recover his form is to play, so, although giovinco would be the better call right now, if lining up cassano will help him to regain his game-form, that's for the better. having both cassano and giovinco available and in a good form might turn out to be very helpful, later in this tournament.

concerning the di natale-balotelli dilemma, ideally di natale would be the better pick (that's obvious), but there's an important aspect we gotta consider. di natale is 34, and has been playing a lot this season. like an italian journalist pointed out yesterday, he just can't afford to play on his level for 90 minutes, twice a week... in june. balotelli on the other side, has more stamina than sense, so having mario starting the games (and tiring the opposite defensive lines), with di natale coming later into the game (once the tempo of the game is slower) sounds indeed like a brilliant call. so i think we're gonna see di natale as a substitute in the next games aswell.

besides i honestly don't think balotelli had a poor performance yesterday. he made only one big mistake, but he was very focused for the entire game... hell he even backtracked and helped the midfielders (i've never seen that lazy asshole doing that before!). and even when u consider that big mistake he made in front of casillas (when he didn't see ramos coming from behind), i don't feel like blaming him for that; he had to slow down in order to allow cassano to reach the box (he couldn't take a shot from there himself as he had not a good angle). u can clearely see him waiting for cassano..... he just waited too much time. but then again, let's also keep in mind that he basically created that scoring chances on his own, by going to put pressure on ramos.... and, again, i've never seen such commitment from mario. so let's cut him some slack.

little notes about the other players. nice to see chiellini recovered so well. he looked like he never got injured in the first place! also maggio was in much better shape than last week. for about 60 minutes he just tore jordi alba apart... then he faded away and kind of disappeared from the game. he's getting better, but he still doesn't have 90 minutes of football in his legs. it might be a good call to have him starting and then sub him with abate once he gets tired.
as for de rossi, i'm just speechless

one last non techincal note on prandelli. he spent only a week with balotelli, and yet mario already gave him more than he ever gave to any other coach in his life (mancini included). some coaches tend to appeal to their players' pride and "work them up" to have the players "playing for them" (mourinho being the best example). but prandelli never recurrs to such expedients, and for a coach like him to get such a grip on such troublesome players like balotelli and cassano.... that is very impressive. nevermind the tactical aspect, cesare must really be a special person, to have such an influence on his players.

Great match to watch and kudos to Italy for playing this way, against Spain of all teams. I quite like this new approach, not waiting for your opponent all the time. Italy today was much more pleasant to watch!

you should have seen us last year mate... and the year before that. yesterday's italy looked like stoke city compared to the italy team prandelli had playing for the last 2 years (from the day he took the job till last december).
however, considering our performances have been rubbish since last december till last week (against uruguay, usa and russia), i will more than gladly settle for this italy right now

 

[Dominic]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

It reminded me of conte's juve, but of course the shape and lot of the players were the same

 

[Rantboy]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Yes I have to admit I didn't see Italy friendlies in the past year or so. But all that you said makes sense. The team can start playing very offensively, but if they are changing from that hard defensive style of before, it comes at a price. They have to change gradually and yesterday the balance was perfect! To be outplayed by Spain in possession is no shame, but still Italy appeared up front quite dangerously and at some point I was even thinking they deserved to win (just before Spain created excellent chances that Torres wasted).

In the end, the draw was fair. But if Italy can keep up this great work they are right up there with the favourites to lift the trophy.

De Rossi was out of this world. And that guy Maggio from Napoli... he looked like a fullback with Speed 9 playing against another with Speed 5!! (Winning Eleven 4 )

 

[gerd]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Great post Ben. I agree with you on the choice for the forwards. Your explanation makes perfect sense.
Also agree on Balotelli: he did very well and gave much. He was hard done by that yellow card.
Was impressed by Marchisio (a player i don't know, did he always played for Juve?), De Rossi and Maggio. And what an assist from Pirlo.

 

[Dominic]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Marchisio has been a juve player since he was 7 years old( one year on loan to empoli excluded). First came to the fore when he managed to win his place, when juve was in serie b. Elegant player, had to do more dirty work yesterday than he is accustomed to. Complete midfielder, his sensible play, technique and late runs his most expressed characteristics.

 

[gerd]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Thanks Dominic.

 

[PLF]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Marchisio is amazing.

 

[lo zio]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Was impressed by Marchisio (a player i don't know, did he always played for Juve?)......

u don't know marchisio? how is that even possible? i mean it's not like we're talking about a young promising kid who just came through the ranks of professional football, playing for a midclass club whose matches are not often broadcasted by foreign media...
juventus must probably be the italian club whose matches are most often broadcasted by foreign media (along with milan and inter).
and over the last 7 years marchisio has been the most iconic player for this club (along with buffon, chiellini and del piero). he's been a starter pretty much ever since he joined the first squad, and despite all the revolutions juve went through ever since they got back in serie a (the coaches changing every year, the players coming in and out of the club), he's the only player (and that includes even buffon) who never lost his spot at the heart of juventus midfield.
given your taste for football players (i know elegant central midfielders like redondo and giannini are among your favourite), i figured by now u would be the most hardcore marchisio fan on the planet!?!? how did u miss him for all this time, man!?

anyway, i'll briefly fill u in on marchisio. he's 26, he's a product of juventus academy and he's been with the first squad ever since juventus serie b season (2006/07), when he was 19. he's what u would call a box to box midfielder. and he's pretty much the only italian box to box midfielder.

italians aren't very familiar with the very concept of box to box midfielder. infact we don't even have a word to describe this sort of midfielder (i'm serious here, we have a name for every type of midfielder: mediano, metodista, centromediano, interditore, regista, centrocampista difensivo, interno sinistro, interno destro......each of theese expressions defines a specific type of central midfielder... and yet we don't have an expression to define a box to box midfielder. and that because we don't have box to box midfielders).
so why is that? because here in italy, the academy coaches will teach u and train u to do only 1 thing (the one thing that seems to suit your natural skillset better). they watch u playing, try to figure out what are your natural inclinations, and then help u decide what player u wanna be, what position u wanna play in.
and once u picked your role, u'll be developed, taught, and trained for that role only: if u go for the defensive midfielder (actually we don't usually use such a generic expression, as there are 3 different types of defensive midfielders, and each one as its own name), than u will be trained for that role, if u wanna become an inside forward, then u'll receive a completely different training and education.
the very idea of a player who can play as a defensive midfielder, a central midfielder and an inside forward is laughable to an italian, as each of theese roles requires a specific set of skills and a different training.

practical example: u think of essien in his peak and what u see? a fantastic all around midfielder? a versatile player? a beast who can do it all? well the average italian fan will tell u he thinks essien is "nè carne ne pesce" (that's an italian metaphoric expression that means someone is decent at everything, but not really good at anything). essien was a very energetic player in his prime, no doubt about that; the man runs like a horse and can take down pretty much everything that stands on his path, but what about his skills? he can't tackle, he has absolutely no marking technique (he's simply embarassing in that department), his shooting is powerful, but his technique (i mean his shooting motions) and accuracy is below average, he's got a pretty average touch (technique), and his dribbling is really no better, and finally, given his frame, he's obviously not particularly fast nor agile. his only assets are his strenght and stamina, and his well timed runs.
u show him to an italian coach and he's gonna tell u "what should i do with this guy? i can't line him up as a defensive midfielder because he can't tackle nor mark, i can't line him up as a regista, because, although his passing isn't bad, he lacks the vision and the reading ability of a regista, i can't line him up as a mezz'ala, because although he's got great timing in his runs, he doesn't have the dribbling skills, nor the technique required to play in that role. and i can't line him up as a trequartista, because his shooting isn't accurate enough and and he's not quick on his feet nor agile enough to move in tight spaces".

long story short, italy is a land for specialization, when it comes to football, and a box to box midfielder, to an italian, is just a mediocre player, with no specific training at all (wich makes him absolutely useless). this is one of the biggest cultural differences between english football and italian football. in england athleticism is the necessary substrate of every player, so if u can run for 90 minutes they'll find a way for u to play. in italy there's no such thing as a common substrate to every role. in order to play u can't just be decent at everything; u gotta be great at something. u gotta excel in something, even just 1 thing. otherwise there's no place for u on the pitch.

so box to box midfielders are just not an italian thing. and yet, having said that, the only definition that comes to my mind when i think of marchisio is "box to box midfielder". the big difference is that unlike pretty much every other box to box midfielder on the planet, he isn't decent at everything, but great at nothing.... he actually is great at everything he does.
his marking and tackling technique are on par with that of the most skillful cbs in italy..... his first touch passing and technique have nothing to envy to a mezz'ala, and his shooting motions are absolutely perfect (wich means his shooting technique and accuracy is world on class standards).....just like essien his runs are amazingly well timed, but he's much more agile and faster than essien (wich makes his runs much more effective).

but really the most beautiful thing about him is his allure; there's something about the way he carries himself on the pitch that is so unusual, so old fashion..... when dominic definined him "elegant" he nailed it; he truly is elegant to watch. u look at him playing and u think you're watching someone out of the 80s.... imagine him as a more agile, more reactive, version of giannini. u see now why i'm amazed that u (of all people) haven't noticed him in all theese years.

 

[*aLe]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Chiellini...

I don't like this situation... It looks sooooo 2004 if you know what I mean.

Well, at least we don't have Denmark and Sweden in our group this time around.

 

[Milanista]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

What's with the flares in this tournament? A huge European tournament and these things are sneaking in every day.

 

[PIPA23]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Pirlo is heart of Italy team, he should be the captain imho.

I admire this player so much...genius.

 

[gerd]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Thanks Ben, i loved that post.
I have't seen this evenings match, but Italy should win against Ireland, they are the poorest team in the tournament.

 

[Baxter]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

Well, Italy was the poorest team in the WC2010 tournament so the Long-Cox boys shouldn't be so afraid.
My prediction was right:

However, kick in the arse Balotelli (he often fail in tough matches, see U21, Man City-Dynamo or Inter-Barça) and try Di Natale because against Croatia it won't be easy (I think it will be an interesting match to watch).

 

[lo zio]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

man, what a pity! so much football and so little to show for it! oh well, that's how it goes, u don't take your chances, you're gonna pay for it. i've never seen an italy team this wasteful... yesterday alone we had probably more scoring chances than in the entire WC2010 and Euro2008 put together. it's just unbelievable... this team is litterally crying for pazzini and rossi....... and to be honest, we do have a guy in our squad who could convert our chances into goals much more easily... borini, but i don't think prandelli is going to give him a chance (wich is stupid imo).

btw who is this black guy and what has he done to balotelli?!?!?! the balotelli i know is a lazy, pretentious and short-tempered guy, who just strolls around the pitch, never tracks back... who is never in the right place at the right time..... but also who is absolutely ice-cold whenever he's in front of the goalkeeper.
seriously, who is this guy! he drops back, he runs all the time, he doesn't lose his temper, he goes on pressing over the ball carrier (), he's always in the right place at the right time..... and he has a fucking panic attack whenever he has a scoring chance. WTF! i don't even know if i should be happy or mad!

anyway, i can't really feel any disappointment. truth is i like what i am seeing on the pitch. despite all the drama and the injuries and the lack of coolness in front of the goal, we are playing some good football, and i'm absolutely pleased with our performances. sure the results aren't so good, but then again only the idiots base their judgements on results.... we could have won against both spain and croatia.... now we would be leading the group with 6 points and everyone would be saying italy is on par with germany and spain (wich would be stupid). or we might have (just as well) lost both games, and in that case right now we would have 0 points and everyone would say nothing has changed for italy since 2010 (wich would be just as stupid).
u can only judge performances.... and performance-wise there are only 2 teams which have impressed me more than us (germany and spain), and that sounds pretty good to me.

sure there are a few things i don't like about prandelli's choices.... i think we've seen enough of cassano at this point and borini or giovinco should play the next game instead of him (but i can't see prandelli doing that).... i think it's a crime to line up marchisio on the right (but i don't think that's gonna change)..... and i still can't figure out why giaccherini is a starter and balzaretti is on the bench (that seriously beggars belief)...
...however those are all minor details... if u look at the big picture prandelli has done an absolutely unbelievable job with this team and we should really be grateful to him.

Well, Italy was the poorest team in the WC2010 tournament so the Long-Cox boys shouldn't be so afraid.

i assume u haven't watched italy playing since then...... because otherwise i can't see how u could even compare those 2 teams. this italy and lippi's 2010 italy have absolutely nothing in common.... oh no wait, they have 3 things in common: de rossi, pirlo and chiellini. and that's it. everything else (the players, the formation, the tactics, the mental approach to the game, the coach) is completely changed since 2010.
if i were an irish fan, i wouldn't just be afraid, i would be hopeless. infact, apart from germany and spain, there's no other team i would be more afraid of than italy in this tournament. of course that doesn't mean we're definitely going to demolish them (i mean, with all the chances we had, we should have also demolished croatia and look how well that went), but any result other than an italy win would certainly come across as a huge surprise to me..... and that (combined with the football we played so far) should be more than enough to preoccupy any reasonable irish fan.
trapattoni's boys have 0 points and this is going to be their last match, so italy is gonna get everything the irish can give us (they'll play their hearts out, if anything to show some respect to their amazing fans).... but still, i don't think that's gonna be enough to cause any serious troubles to italy (at least that's what i think after watching both ireland and italy playing).

Chiellini...

I don't like this situation... It looks sooooo 2004 if you know what I mean.

Well, at least we don't have Denmark and Sweden in our group this time around.

yep. then again even 8 years ago i didn't expect sweden and denmark to put on that pathetic show..... and yet we all saw how it went.
look, there's nothing we can do about it, we only have to do our job against ireland, and hope spain and croatia will play fair. and even if they don't and we go out, i will still be satisfied with what i saw from italy in this torunament.
back in 2004 i was one of the few italians who weren't mad at sweden and denmark for their fixed 2-2. i though we were to blame for that, because we put sweden and denmark in the position to cheat and kick us out of the tourament. had we done our job against sweden and denmark we wouldn't have had to worry about them cheating their way to the quarter-finals... but we didn't, so we deserved to be out.

this time instead, i don't think we have nothing to blame ourselves for. sure i don't agree with some of prandelli's choices, but that's normal, as there are no 2 persons in this world who think exactly alike, and besides, like i said, we're talking about minor details. the truth is we played some very good football (strictly entertaining-wise, i'd say we've been the nicest team to watch so far) and we should have no regrets in case spain and croatia draw 2-2.

still, u gotta admit, it's quite ironic.... it's the exact same situation. yesterday after the match a journalist on tv said "so if spain beats croatia we're good, if croatia beats spain, we're good, if they draw without scoring any goals or with a 1-1 result, we're still good..... the only result that would kick us out of the competition is a 2-2 draw between spain and croatia"
at that point everyone in my living room (5 boys and 7 girls plus me and my wife) said the exact same phrase at the exact same time... "ma che minchia dici!!" (wich, for our non-italian-speaking friends here, could be roughly translated "u gotta be fucking kidding me!"). it was actually quite hilarious

as for chiellini, crazy, isn't it? we were all worried about de rossi, and eventually a huge mistake by chiellini costed us a random goal by croatia.... it really was the most random goal u can imagine... but then again, random goals are just as good as any other goal.
btw, speaking of our defence how good was bonucci yesterday! just monumental.

 

[Zeem]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

I really like what Prandelli did with the squad. The first half performance was phenomenal in all aspects but I think his choices could have been better. I would have really liked for him to switch back to the 4-4-2 in the second half when Motta was replaced as Croatia were seeing to many of the ball in the middle. Then of course there is the Nocerino thing.

I still don't know about Cassano. He can be very dangerous but then gasses out completely in the second half. Agree Borini should get his chance though.

 

[Milanista]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

The best thing for me is how the players actually seem like they want to play for the Azzurri.... and poor Balotelli. People will give him stick even now, but honestly, I think his performances have been good.

 

[gerd]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

I liked Italy from what i've seen (which is the first match and excerpts of the second). They should easily beat Ireland, because Ireland are really not good.

Credit to their fans however, of the ptich Ireland are the champions.

 

[Baxter]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

i assume u haven't watched italy playing since then...... because otherwise i can't see how u could even compare those 2 teams. this italy and lippi's 2010 italy have absolutely nothing in common.... oh no wait, they have 3 things in common: de rossi, pirlo and chiellini. and that's it. everything else (the players, the formation, the tactics, the mental approach to the game, the coach) is completely changed since 2010.
if i were an irish fan, i wouldn't just be afraid, i would be hopeless. infact, apart from germany and spain, there's no other team i would be more afraid of than italy in this tournament. of course that doesn't mean we're definitely going to demolish them (i mean, with all the chances we had, we should have also demolished croatia and look how well that went), but any result other than an italy win would certainly come across as a huge surprise to me..... and that (combined with the football we played so far) should be more than enough to preoccupy any reasonable irish fan.
trapattoni's boys have 0 points and this is going to be their last match, so italy is gonna get everything the irish can give us (they'll play their hearts out, if anything to show some respect to their amazing fans).... but still, i don't think that's gonna be enough to cause any serious troubles to italy (at least that's what i think after watching both ireland and italy playing).

I was joking (because France was probably the worst team in WC2010) . With all due respect, Torres scoring twice against Ireland says a lot about that team (and it says also a lot about his team mates). I believe Spain will play to win (as always, in recent years) against Croatia, and majority of fans agree with it (see this poll in Marca website: http://www.marca.com/debate/2012/06/2500/prevotaciones2500.html).
However I think it's pretty clear Italy needs a deadly striker to score, sometimes they seemed afraid to shot in the target, another Mario would have scored twice yesterday (it's another joke ), it's sad Rossi was injured in this tournament.
About Giaccherini (and Giovinco), poor boy, he was physically blasted more than once by opponents, out of curiosity are they the shortest player of tournament?

 

[lo zio]

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri

However I think it's pretty clear Italy needs a deadly striker to score, sometimes they seemed afraid to shot in the target, another Mario would have scored twice yesterday (it's another joke ), it's sad Rossi was injured in this tournament.

yep, we really need a poacher to turn our football into goals. but, as i already said, we'd actually have a brilliant poacher in borini. sure he's young and unexperienced, but isn't delivering the most important thing? i mean, as young and unexperienced as this kid is, he had is real debut in football in roma (one of the toughtest cities to play football in, pressure-wise), and yet he showed confidence, and composure and coolness. he's outshone every other poacher in italy this season, so why not give him a chance, since he's exactly the kind of player we seem to be needing right now? i would really love to see him paired up with balotelli from now on (with di natale, giovinco or cassano ready to come in as subs), as i believe they're a perfect match.
i mean what was the point in bringing him to poland, if when it's needed, u don't feel like giving him a chance. if that's the case, then why didn't we bring pazzini instead of him? yeah sure, pazzini had a horrible season with inter, but then again, it's pretty obvious this is an inter problem, not a pazzini problem. have pazzini playing in any different team (like italy) and he'll be back on his level immediately (IMO).
mind u, i'm not saying we should have brought pazzini.... i think borini was a good call.... but that's because i would actually be serious about giving him a chance. if i didn't feel like lining him up (wich seems to be prandelli's case), then i would have picked another striker.

About Giaccherini (and Giovinco), poor boy, he was physically blasted more than once by opponents, out of curiosity are they the shortest player of tournament?

they probably are indeed. actually i would be curious to know. is there anyone here who knows who's the shortest player in the tournament?

there was an absolutely hilarious moment yesterday (well, probably not hilarious for giovinco). he was chasing a ball, battling with srna. at some point u could see srna just stretching his arm on sebastian's chest, pushing him away. dario had a fantastic look on his face... he looked like he was saying "oh get outta here kid!".
the thing is giovinco can't play on the flanks, as he's obviously gonna be outmuscled. the box is his natural habitat, as it's there that his technique (and also his short legs) can give him a big advantage over bigger players.