This is a glorified freindly tourney If I am Prandelli I would bring as many Young guys as possible and give a much deserved rest to guys like Pirlo, Marchisio, and Buffon I would rather have them healthy in 2014
This is the national team version of the old club Cup Winners Cup which no one cared for.....its no wonder they got rid of it....
I did not realize that the Euro U21 tourney is going on at the same time so maybe Prandelli will have a hard time bringing in young players. I tell ypou I will be following that tourney more than the Confed Cup
I agree. Considering all the foreigners in the Serie A, he might also have a hard time finding a "B" squad who has national team quality. I mean you have two sets of players, middle of the road average players who could probably never make or aren't good enough for the national team and then the best of the lot who could play for their countries. With the youth guys involved in the U21, then there isn't many spots to go around.
ill watch the confed cup as i love international football but I couldnt give a flying ******** about it or friendlies. Look at our record in friendlies this year and look what we did at the euro. Coming into it we were demolished 3-0 by russia yet we made the final. Confed cup is a mickey mouse tournament we're a true tournament team and get it right when it matters. After our great euro cup performance bar the final ill never doubt us ever again.
Considering the national team only plays maybe 5-6 games in a full calendar year, I think playing more games together can only be helpful in cohesion of the team. It seems regardless of the Euro and WC finals, Italy always seems to lack a certain style of play that I believe is needed when it comes to crunch time. I'm not saying they won't advance in a tournament but maybe if the national team played together more often, they would develop team chemistry and wouldn't have to always go to pk's or for that matter, lose to a Spain 4-0? Just my opinion.
Italy usually has many juve players so i dont know how much cohesion gets affected I think it comes down to the formation and style a coach wants to play.
This is true although Juventus currently doesn't really have an all out national team striker. Quagliarella is a good one but I'm not sure about him on the national team.
No not always. For starters, two of those World Cups were over 70 years ago. Back to modern times, I feel if they had more team cohesion, they would have won easily in 1990, 94 & 98 but each time they bowed out on pk's. The team lacked skill and unity in the 1974, 1986 and 2010 WC nor IMHO were they impressive in 2002 either. The same can be said for the 1996 & 2004 Euro cup team as they were horrible and they failed to qualify for the Euros in 1992.
this is a great group....u dont want an easy group...its great practice for the team to play quality opposition...even Japan is a pretty good team with Zacheroni so im looking forward to it.
I disagree buddy. 1990 Italy definitely had cohesion and were one of the best teams if not the best team at the tournament. 1994 we were allover the place I agree. 1998 our game plan was simple keep it tight at the back and counter attack. 1996 and 2004 I agree but we had a little bad luck as in 96 played the czech's with ten men and went out on h2h record. 2004 trap was just a dickhead going defensive against sweden and we copped a late zlatan goal. Still only just missed out. Forget 2010 that was just a joke with a moron living in the past at the helm we didnt have the cattle there. I cant comment on 74 and 86 because I wasnt even born then too young lol.
Yeah I loved all of those teams but other than Baggio & Schillaci in 1990, we never dominated on the front line. Giving Maradona a chance to play at Napoli in front of his home fans losing to Argentina was another joke. Scoring for Italy though IMHO, has always been a problem and I've never seen Italy dominate and/or win a game 4-0 (as Spain did) in either a WC or Euro Cup tournament. I'm thinking playing together more often will definitely help the cohesion of the attack. Strictly my opinion but I think its a valid one. Bottom line, you don't score , you don't win or you bow out on pk's and Italy is proof of that losing 4 0ut of 6 times.
Italy could've killed Germany 4-0 in this past euro if marchisio, di natale and diamanti would've finished their chances. Problem with Italians is the emotional part that they cant control their excitement and on the reverse side when they go down they cant make a come back. I made a thread about this, it seems like when Italy goes down 1-0 or 2-0 best they can do is tie the game, i have rarely seen a great comeback win from Italy NT
yep weve always struggled goal wise and never smash teams. it annoys me too. even when we dominate like we did against germany at the euros all we did was win 2-1. should have been 4 or 5 nil.
I do agree but it must be noted in world cups not many of the big teams at least in recent history since 1990 have good come back wins or even win when going behind. I can hardly think of any. The thing is they hardly fall behind in the first place and in most games at the cup once you go behind youre pretty much finished. Germany in 2010 didnt have any come back wins. In 2006 they won from behind but only on penalties vs Argentina. 2002 they never went behind and when they did vs brazil stayed behind in the final. 1998 2-0 down vs Yugoslavia managed a 2-2 draw. 1994 drew with spain dowon 1-0 at half time. The thing is they managed to just draw not actually win. Brazil is probably the only exception but even still in recent history have won 3 games at world cups from behind with wins against turkey and england 2002 and japan 2006. Our only win from behind at a world cup since 1990 was beating nigeria 2-1 in 1994 { with ten men } and if you want to count the final vs france on penalties which finished 1-1. The same goes for many other big nations or nations in general. The odd come back here and there but mostly just drawn games when going from behind at best.
forgot to mention that yeah two of those world cups were a long time ago but that doesnt matter. They still count. Does that mean in 2040 or so that brazil's world cup wins in 58, 62 and 70 dont count? It doesnt work like that. in 50 years take away spains recent success then. Time doesnt erase accomplishments.