Three points in the bag, and thank you Bulgaria. Italy’s week-end couldn’t have started better: a win against Montenegro (courtesy of Pirlo and Pazzini) and the Berbatov boys neutralizing Trapattoni in Dublin, Marcello Lippi must be rather satisfied & smiling at his boys’ performance: Saturday’s was match which, for lack of a mind-blowing performance, the Azzurri dominated from start to finish, and after which they are now topping group 8 of the World Cup qualifiers. A good omen to prepare for Bari’s fixture against Ireland.
And what can be said about Giampaolo Pazzini’s first-ever match with the senior team? Any ball this kid touches these days turns into goals…
Yes, I didn’t look for that rhyme very far… sue me for lack of imagination. I stand by it: it’s an appropriate title, and something a bit more original than phrases including “Super Pippo” and “300″.
Milan’s visit to Siena Sunday was really a one-way encounter for the Rossoneri, who saw the welcome returns of Kakà and Ronaldinho from injury as well as the confirmation that maybe, just maybe (and for one last season), old & new can blend together in this team. On the one hand we have Inzaghi, who followed last week’s Atalanta hat-trick with a brace today, just to confirm that even as a 35 year-old he’s lost nothing of his goalscoring cunning. On the other hand we have Pato, whom Inzaghi has apparently taught well and who quite happily seems be carrying the scoring torch at Milan. With his two goals today (one more spectacular than the other) the “Duck” rises to 14 goals in this Serie A season, just five behind capocannoniereMarco Di Vaio.
Oh, and for those still confused about my “Super Pippo” and “300″ reference: no, this isn’t another Zack Snyder movie. Simply, Serie A goalscorer extraordinaire Filippo Inzaghi just bagged his 300th professional career goal Sunday. Say what want about Inzaghi (he’s always offside, he dives, etc.) but… Mazel Tov! Few people can make that claim about their football career.
Don’t trust the numbers you read between Milan and Werder Bremen in the title: the scoreline may say 2-2 but this was match with only one team on the grass. And it certainly wasn’t the Rossoneri. For not only did Werder fight back from an (undeserved) 0-2 half-time deficit: the German side had literally every other goalscoring chance of the 90 minutes, capitalizing the playmaking skills of Diego and lethal aerial ability of Claudio Pizarro.
The idea of winning the only silverware missing from Milan’s trophy room might have been tempting, but Berlusconi has to come down to the sad reality of things: this is a team in need of change, and team needing change fast. “Experience” and “name prestige” just don’t do it anymore.
Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sportrated the Azzurri players at the end of their European adventure. Along with Gigi Buffon, positive scores were obtained by Chiellini and Grosso. All the strikers flunked the test, while some midfielders could have done better. The overall form however, was never great.
VIENNA (Austria), 24 June 2008 – The best? Gigi Buffon. Our European campaign won’t leave any great memories, but once again everyone’s talking about the Azzurri keeper. On Sunday evening at the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna, there was a heated debate in the press over whose skills were better: the Azzurri captain’s or Iker Casillas‘. A duel right down to the last save, but even though the Real Madrid keeper managed a miracle on Camoranesi’s close-range effort and saved two of the Azzurri shots from the spot, the Juventus nº1 still seems have the edge as World’s best. When accounts are settled, Buffon remains the guiding thread of the Italian national side, and a certain starting point for the next World Cup in 2010.
Riddled with shots by Holland, not even Superman himself could have held out with no protection in front of him. Then came the Mutu penalty save, other fabulous interventions, and the hope he gave Italy fans by saving Guiza’s spot-kick during the shootout. What more could he have done?
It wasn’t the Championship he was dreaming of. After an inadequate start against Holland on the left, the new AC Milan recruit became productive on the right side. Then there was that error against Romania which led to Mutu’s goal. Against Spain he couldn’t fully display his abilities.
Exceptional against Spain, he played a true veteran’s game. At the end of the Championship the youngster can be certain of his starting place in the national team. At the heart of the defence, he was relentless. A Cannavaro nº2.
As ever, he tracked along the wing for the Azzurri. With him the national side relived moments of World Cup glory, and against Spain he once again showed a cool head for penalties.
Curse that stupid yellow card against France. A bad start against Holland, then continuous improvement. Without him, the team lost its direction and its decisive touch. Irreplaceable.
Among the best players of the championship, though he had some problems against Spain. Unfortunate to miss his penalty, but the Roma player, who is always willing to take a spot kick, was suffering a muscle problem.
Once he came on, the match against Spain took a new turn; perhaps if he’d played from the start things would have been different. Improved throughout the tournament, with a great goalscoring chance and a perfect penalty.
The mystery of the tournament. Heavy and ungainly, he never achieved acceptable form. Though he did win the penalty against France and Abidal’s resulting red card, not enough by LucaBomber standards.
Coming on against Spain, he revitalised play as only he knows how, making up for his poor start against the Dutch with several crosses and going close to goal. Shame about the penalty.
At the end of the day, another disappointment after much promise. Only the good performance against France remains to his credit, but in Vienna a more practical and less flashy Cassano was needed.
He had a great chance against Romania and messed it up. Absent.
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Do you agree with Gazzetta’s ratings? Let us know in the comments.
I’ll get you started: I would give Camoranesi and Ambrosini 6.0 (not 6.5). Ambro did his job but made a few mistakes too many, and Camoranesi had a fairly okay game vs. Spain (and good penalty) but really not much else before that. In his defense, Donadoni was playing him as center attacking midfielder, not exactly his ideal position.
Finally, too generous on Di Natale (5.5 for me) since the Udinese striker was absent vs. Netherlands and seemed too psychologically affected by the boos vs. Spain. And too harsh on Cassano and Del Piero (an extra 0.5 for me), even though I will agree that a lot more was expected from them.
France 0-2 Italy. Ladies & gentlemen, this is how you mix a “Blue Lagoon”: 1 oz Vodka (Pirlo), 1 oz Blue Curaçao (De Rossi), cherry (Buffon’s save on Benzema), 1 part Lemonade. Don’t have any lemonade? We’ll settle for some Oranje zest (Huntelaar and Van Persie). The Azzurri’s Euro 2008 adventure continues to the Quarter-Finals. With rage. That of Andrea Pirlo, master sniper from the spot, and Daniele De Rossi, serving a thundering set-piece drive into the net.
It would be hasty to say “the World Champions are back”, but they’re on the right track. Today, the team looked in better shape, more motivated, more concentrated. And luck, the factor the Azzurri were so cruelly lacking until now, finally lent a helping hand to Roberto Donadoni & Co. France’s match went from bad (Franck Ribery’s injury in the 10th) to worse (Eric Abidal’s foul on Luca Toni inside the box, and resulting red card) in less than 15 minutes, and Thierry Henry’s deflection on Daniele De Rossi’s 62nd-minute free-kick was just the ultimate insult for Raymond Domenech, who will undoubtedly have to step down following his team’s elimination.
Not Roberto Donadoni. The Italian coach lives to fight another day with the Azzurri, who will now be facing Spain in the Euro 2008 Quarter-Finals. With still some doubts to erase (Who will replace the suspended Pirlo and Gattuso? When will Luca Toni finally release his goalscoring power?) but with a significant morale booster. Beating France will always do that to ya…
Tactically, Italian coach Roberto Donadoni decided to make two changes for today’s match: full confidence in Gennaro Gattuso and Antonio Cassano. Italy’s 4-3-2-1 formation looked a lot like AC Milan’s Xmas tree formation, with Talentino and Simone Perrotta providing support behind Luca Toni. In midfield, except for Daniele De Rossi this was vintage Rossoneri set-up: Gattuso and Pirlo providing the core of play for the Azzurri (the former to win the ball back, the latter to distribute it forward). As for the back line, no doubts there: Zambrotta and Grosso on the wings, Panucci & Chiellini in the middle.
On the other end, France’s Raymond Domenech made a bold move by leaving veteran center-back (and captain) Lilian Thuram on the bench. Some may say Thuram’s past his expiration date, but his replacement today (Eric Abidal) would later prove playing center-back’s not his thing. Other changes made by Les Bleus included François Clerc replacing Sagnol as right-back and Karim Benzema subbing in for Florent Malouda.
France started the match with rage. Concentrated. Motivated. The Azzurri weren’t inferior to the task. Italy’s passing experts (Pirlo, Cassano, Zambrotta, Grosso) immediately got to work, and it took them only 4 minutes to set up Luca Toni in the clear (after a missed touch by Abidal), precisely through a deep pass of the Lyon wing-back. LucaBomber however shot wide, adding to his unfortunate series of missed chances at Euro 2008 (a list which would only get longer as the match progressed).
In minute 8, the first turning point of match: Franck Ribery went down while trying to challenge Zambrotta off the ball (getting entangled in the Italian wing-back’s legs). Knee injury and game over for Franck, enter Samir Nasri. 30% of France’s penetration power had just been stretchered off, something which the Azzurri certainly weren’t lacking today. Christian Panucci tried to put his golden noggin to work (minute 11), finding only Makelele to deny him the joy of his second at Euro 2008. 10 minutes later a good service by Pirlo was narrowly missed by Perrotta inside the box. The Azzurri were fighting.
In minute 25, the second (and decisive) turning point: a great ball by Pirlo found Luca Toni through on goal inside the box. Luca hooked the ball and was ready for the finish, until Eric Abidal upended him from behind sending the Bayern giant flying. Penalty and red card for the Barça full-back, every France fan regretting Thuram. From the spot Andrea Pirlo made no mistakes, and sent it flying into the top left corner. 1-0 Italy.
Counter-measures for Domenech had to include patching up the gaping defensive hole, so Samir Nasri promptly left his place (his matching lasting only 15 minutes) to Jean-Alain Boumsong. That effectively left Henry and Benzema rather lonely up front, with Sydney Govou as the only real solution of passing support. Not enough. The Azzurri were just having a field day meanwhile: in minute 27, Daniele De Rossigrazed the crossbar, one minute later a Cassano cross from the right found Toni inside the box, connecting with a stylish heel/bicyle flick (not sure what it was) narrowly wide of the post. Then once again Toni (exploiting a Pirlo pass) was through on goal, and once again… missed the target. Not Luca’s day obviously.
France reacted with French pride, keeping the Italian defense on their toes. A good run by Thierry Henry sent the Barça man through on the right, but his diagonal shot was inches wide of Buffon’s left post. A warning for Giorgio Chiellini, his marker on the occasion. Meanwhile, De Rossi and Gattuso were operating as the “Azzurri lions of midfield”, the latter living up to his “Ringhio” pitbull reputation and the Roma man acting almost as an added stopper (with the occasional runs forward). On one of these runs, Italy obtained a good free-kick on the edge of the box, whichFabio Grosso carefully aimed at the bottom-left corner of Gregory Coupet. France’s keeper got a hand to it, deflecting the shot onto the post. After 45 minutes, France 0-1 Italy and Romania 0-0 Netherlands: the Azzurri had their ticket to the Quarter-finals, but anything could change.
In the second half, France was back with a vengeance: first Karim Benzema exploited a good right-wing cross and connected with a slamming a howitzer wide, then Thierry Henry gave shivers to Azzurri supporters with a low shot to the ground (easily saved by Buffon). Italy was suffering in midfield (overpowered by the physical presence of Makelele and Govou) and fear was slowly re-surfacing. Time for some changes: out Andrea Pirlo (accumulating fatigue over the past 3 games), enter Massimo Ambrosini (another defensive midfielder).
Then suddenly in minute 56, some more good news arrived for the Azzurri: Netherlands had just opened the score vs. Romania through Klaas-Jan Huntelaar! Even better news would arrive just 5 minutes later, as Daniele De Rossi went for power on a Cassano-obtained free-kick, finding Henry’s boot on the way to goal. Fooled by his teammate’s deflection, Coupet was sent the wrong way, powerless. 2-0 Italy!
Cue some more changes for Donadoni: out Perrotta, enter Mauro Camoranesi. Domenech replied with Nicolas Anelka on for Govou. Not much of a change for France, who were more or less keeping afloat thanks to the creativity of Karim Benzema. His curling right-footed effort in minute 73 was destined for the top corner, but Gigi Buffon once again proved why he is the best keeper around. Then came the news of Holland’s 2-0 goal, and everyone wearing Azzurro in Zurich went nuts.
Other changes made by Les Bleus included François Clerc replacing Sagnol as right-back and 
In minute 8, the first turning point of match: Franck Ribery went down while trying to challenge Zambrotta off the ball (getting entangled in the Italian wing-back’s legs). Knee injury and game over for Franck, enter Samir Nasri. 30% of France’s penetration power had just been stretchered off, something which the Azzurri certainly weren’t lacking today. 
France reacted with French pride, keeping the Italian defense on their toes. A good run by Thierry Henry sent the Barça man through on the right, but his diagonal shot was inches wide of Buffon’s left post. A warning for 
Time for some changes: out Andrea Pirlo (accumulating fatigue over the past 3 games), enter 
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