Both excited and nervous. Any streams for the draw?
I’ve been very impressed with the job Prandelli has done as Italy manager but recently doubts have started to creep in, managers can be notoriously loyal to players and Prandelli suffers from this. Italian football is in a much better position than it was when he took over and this is largely thank to Prandelli but he must also accept this and pick the best players for Brazil
Guys like Gilardino, Giaccherini, Motta, Diamanti, Osvaldo and Giovinco should really not be going - maybe if Osvaldo puts some form together he might have a case. If Marchisio does not pick his form up then he is floating on thin ice. Cassano and Totti must go if they continue playing like they have so far and are in a good physical state.
We definitely have the players to win in Brazil but giving this horrid draw we must be managed perfectly and Prandelli has made some really illogical choices lately.
Immobile and Destro making strong cases for World Cup places.
Immobile has now netted 8 goals from play this season in Serie A and Destro has 3 goals in the 150 odd minutes he has played since his return from injury.
Both much better options than Gilardino, Giovinco and Osvaldo who have been squad regulars under Prandelli.
I was listening back this week’s World Football Phone-In today and learned that Italy are basing themselves in Rio. Surely that’s an absolutely crazy move?
Italy’s three matches take place in Manaus, Recife and Natal, all in the north of Brazil.
Rio to Manaus is 1,771 miles by air, Rio to Recife is 1,165 miles and Rio to Natal is 1,296 miles.
That’s 7,168 miles of internal air travel in Brazil they’ll have clocked up by the time they play Uruguay in their third match, not counting the return journey from that match and the initial trip from Italy (5,715 miles from Rome).
England, also based in Rio, will by contrast only have clocked up 4204 miles of internal air travel by the time they play Costa Rica in their third match.
That means England will have had to travel 3,000 less air miles than Italy by the time of the teams’ respective third matches, although obviously both teams will be on a level playing field for the first match in Manaus.
Added to that, training in the more temperate winter of Rio will not have prepared Italy very well for two 1pm kick-offs in Recife and Natal, both well over 1,000 miles north, where it will be much hotter.
I’d suggest the suits in the Italian FA have selected Rio as their base primarily based on the choice of extra-curricular activities for the suits, rather than for the team’s benefit.
Rossi doesn’t need surgery on his knee, he is due to be out of action for the next two months but this is great news on the whole for Italy and Rossi.
Prandelli has a big conundrum when it comes to picking his attackers this summer, Rossi and Balotelli are certainties to go if fit but there is then a pack of about 15 players who would be in contention for the remaining 3/4 positions.
On the scoring front the top Italian players are:
Rossi - 14
Berardi - 12
Cerci - 10
Immobile - 10
Gilardino - 9
Balotelli - 9
Cassano - 7
Gabbiadini - 6
There are then the likes of Destro, Insinge, Borini, Diamanti, El Shaarawy Osvaldo and Pazzini in contention as well but wouldn’t feature as prominently in the scoring charts for one reason or another. I have omitted the likes of Totti, Toni and Di Natale as I don’t think Prandelli will bring them on account of age.
It’d be a real fairytale story for the former Sunderland stalwart to make his World Cup bow so late in his career.
Destro, Immobile and former Liverpool defender Gabriel Paletta look set to be called up for the friendly with Spain when the squad is announced this evening,
Goalkeepers:Buffon (Juventus), Perin (Genoa), Sirigu (Paris Saint Germain);
Defenders: Abate (Milan), Astori (Cagliari), Barzagli (Juventus), Bonucci(Juventus), Chiellini (Juventus), Criscito (Zenit San Pietroburgo), De Sciglio(Milan), Maggio (Napoli), Paletta (Parma);
Midfielders:Candreva (Lazio), Giaccherini (Sunderland), Marchisio(Juventus), Montolivo (Milan), ThiagoMotta (Paris Saint Germain), Parolo(Parma), Pirlo (Juventus), Verratti (Paris Saint Germain);
Forwards:Cerci (Torino), Destro (Roma), Gilardino (Genoa), Immobile (Torino), Insigne (Napoli), Osvaldo (Juventus)
Don’t think Osvaldo and Giaccherini deserve to be there if I am honest.
Spain: Casillas; Azpilicueta, Javi Martinez, Sergio Ramos, Alba; Busquets, Thiago Alcantara; Pedro, Fabregas, Iniesta; Diego Costa
Spain bench: Victor Valdes, Reina, Albiol, Juanfran, Xavi, Negredo, Xabi Alonso, Koke, Santi Cazorla, Silva, Navas
Italy: Buffon; Maggio, Paletta, Barzagli, Criscito; Marchisio, Thiago Motta, Montolivo; Candreva, Osvaldo, Cerci
Italy bench: Sirigu, Perin, Chiellini, Abate, Immobile, Gilardino, Astori, Parolo, Insigne, Bonucci, De Sciglio, Pirlo, Destro, Giaccherini, Verratti
Prandelli’s obsession with Osvaldo is annoying, he is a good player but he is a very untrustworthy character, is out of form, not playing regularly and quite frankly there are better players available than him. The same applies to Giaccherini.
Paletta is quite ordinary, there are better Italian defenders around than him I feel. Hope Destro or Immobile get at least 30 mins tonight, it would be far better giving them a start tonight. Very happy to see Criscito and Cerci start though. This game is live on Sky Sports 1 now.
[quote=“Il Bomber Destro, post: 912483, member: 2533”]Spain: Casillas; Azpilicueta, Javi Martinez, Sergio Ramos, Alba; Busquets, Thiago Alcantara; Pedro, Fabregas, Iniesta; Diego Costa
Spain bench: Victor Valdes, Reina, Albiol, Juanfran, Xavi, Negredo, Xabi Alonso, Koke, Santi Cazorla, Silva, Navas
Italy: Buffon; Maggio, Paletta, Barzagli, Criscito; Marchisio, Thiago Motta, Montolivo; Candreva, Osvaldo, Cerci
Italy bench: Sirigu, Perin, Chiellini, Abate, Immobile, Gilardino, Astori, Parolo, Insigne, Bonucci, De Sciglio, Pirlo, Destro, Giaccherini, Verratti
Prandelli’s obsession with Osvaldo is annoying, he is a good player but he is a very untrustworthy character, is out of form, not playing regularly and quite frankly there are better players available than him. The same applies to Giaccherini.
Paletta is quite ordinary, there are better Italian defenders around than him I feel. Hope Destro or Immobile get at least 30 mins tonight, it would be far better giving them a start tonight. Very happy to see Criscito and Cerci start though. This game is live on Sky Sports 1 now.[/quote]
Why is Osvaldo in the team let alone the squad when others are left out for breaching the code of conduct or whatever they call it
Candreva is on the left and Cerci is on the right, thought it might have been the other way around.
Usually depends on the time-frame it occurs in but it is a good point. Prandelli has been happy to indulge the likes of Balotelli and Osvaldo while punishing others.
Cerci very unlucky there after lovely play.
Embarrassing from Osvaldo there. Get up, you idiot.
Poor defending from Pedro there and Paletta covers well and gets the block on Costa’s shot.
What is it with British commentators and their constant whinging about keepers not tyring to catch the ball - sometimes when can be quite awkward and dangerous to attempt so.
Paletta doing really well.
Osvaldo comes close there with some nice play. He does have that quality about him but by fuck is he frustrating to watch.
I genuinely feel Osvaldo could end up murdering someone in his life.
Paletta has done really well but the two full backs, particularly Criscito, have been given a tough time and Pedro has caused him all sorts of problems.
Osvaldo has shown moments of class but he doesn’t get involved enough or work hard enough for me. He doesn’t move enough but he has that class to score great goals out of nothing. In many ways he is similar to Balotelli, I’d really like to see Immobile or Destro come on now, moreso Destro as his movement would give Ramos and Martinez real problems with the high line they have kept.
Decent performance though.
Few changes at the start of the second half:
Candreva, Maggio and Criscito off.
Pirlo, Abate and De Sciglio on.