6/11: Finland-Italy, Euro2004 qualifier [R] - PBP

[SueB]

Here are the 25 players called in for camp ahead of next week's critical qualifier. Nice to see Fiore back again. He must've done good enough for Trap in yesterday's friendly. Same with Di Natale. Notable in his absence - Pippo Inzaghi.

Portieri Buffon, Toldo.

Difensori Birindelli, Fabio Cannavaro
Grosso, Ferrari, Legrottaglie, Nesta,
Oddo, Panucci.

Centrocampisti Ambrosini, Camoranesi,
Zambrotta, Di Natale, Fiore, Nervo,
Perrotta, Tommasi, Zanetti.

Attaccanti Corradi, Delvecchio, Totti,
Del Piero, Di Vaio, Miccoli.

[Dante]

How can he include Ferrari and not Pessotto?

Trap amazes me sometimes, and it's not necessarily in a good way.

[SueB]

Miscellaneous news about this match - Camaronesi is injured and will likely miss the match. Panucci and Zanetti have injuries and are still under evaluation. Rumors have it that Trap and Gattuso had a blow-up and Gattuso may be sent home (ironically, Trap mentioned Ambrosini - who Gattuso keeps out of the starting lineup at Milan) may take his spot - and .... last but not least, Trap has mentioned he may start both Totti and Del Piero, with Del Piero playing a wider role and Totti playing behind Corradi.

[SueB]

Finland threw down the gauntlet today, crushing Serbia-Montenegro, 3-0, and bringing hope to their previously-lackluster qualifying campaign. Current standings:

Wales 12 pts (4 played)
Italy 7 pts (4 played)
Finland 6 pts (5 played)
Serbia-Mont 5 pts (4 played)
Azerbaijan 1 pt (5 played)

Suddenly, Wednesday's game takes on even MORE meaning. Hope Trap doesn't opt to go for the tie.

[Spartak]

Where's Pirlo? Is he hurt?

[SueB]

I think, with Del Piero and Totti both available for a change, it may have just been a choice by Trap to not include him.

[Spartak]

Originally posted by SueB
I think, with Del Piero and Totti both available for a change, it may have just been a choice by Trap to not include him.
I think Pirlo has proven that he can play alongside other attacking mids this year with Milan. I think it is a big mistake to leave him out by Trap. Italy don't have many creative midifleders to begin with and he leaves one of them out.

Pirlo certainly should have a spot over Perrotta or Nervo.

[fischetts]

Perrota is playing some of the best football in the midfield in Italy these days. If anything Pirlo deserves a spot over the mediocre Tommasi.

Pirlo is good, but at Milan he hasn't shown since the winter break.

Although I think he could possibly play well with zanetti/gattuso/perrota in this 4-2-3-1 in this formation.

[Spartak]

Originally posted by fischetts
Pirlo is good, but at Milan he hasn't shown since the winter break.

He was injured for a long portion of the second half of the season. So he hasn't been that bad. I think in order for Italy to do anything in thier group they are going to have to find a way of playing Pirlo, Totti, and Del Piero together. They need someone to act as a linchpin between the attack and defense. And Italy has no one who can do it better than Pirlo.

[SueB]

Fiore can play this role and has in the past and seems to be back in favor. He has the added bonus of being able to tackle a little bit. Pirlo certainly brings a better free kick, but you already have Totti or Del Piero for that.

[SueB]

Sounds like that's what Trap has in mind, actually, according to this article:

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jun8c.html

It amazes me that Trap could ignore Fiore for so long and suddenly name him as the key player. :confused:

Actually, reading the article more closely, Fiore may play a right-wing role opposite Del Piero, surrounding Totti and behind Corradi. Perrotta and Zanetti would be the other midfielders. I guess this 4-2-3-1 really doesn't have a spot for a "regista" behind the attacking players, as Pirlo has been doing for Milan.

[Jawz10]

Basically, Trap has found more use of Juventus's template (4-2-3-1) than Milan's (4-1-2-1-2/4-3-1-2). I can't blame him, Juve won the title and more tellingly Italy has played better with the former than the latter. Pirlo has no place, unfortunately, in the Juve template.

[Spartak]

I think Pirlo is versatile enough to fit into any formation. And if Trap wants to play more like Juve then where is Tacchinardi? He is much better than C. Zanetti, imo. I don't see what Zanetti does that Ambro, Gattuso, or Tacchinardi can't do.

[thespinydogfish]

I may be showing my ignorance here - which I justly blame on FSW for no longer showing Serie A - but what happened to that big idiot, Vieri? Why is he not included? Not that I would want him - I put the onus on him completely for Italy losing to South Korea in the last WC. How many open shots on goal was he going to miss?

And where is Cassano? Once again I was unable to follow ANY Roma games this year (may a just and merciful god smite the producers of FSW) and so I wasn't able to keep up with his progress, but he had such promise!

[SueB]

Vieri is still injured. Cassano hasn't even been called up for the U-21s lately. So far, in his career at Roma, he's mostly demonstrated that he is a prima donna and a head case. But he still has great potential - Totti overcame those same liabilities. :)

And don't blame FSW, blame the Italians for overestimating the demand for Serie A games in the US and putting too high of a price tag on their product for the American marketplace. I agree that it's too bad.

[Dante]

Originally posted by SueB
Vieri is still injured. Cassano hasn't even been called up for the U-21s lately. So far, in his career at Roma, he's mostly demonstrated that he is a prima donna and a head case. But he still has great potential - Totti overcame those same liabilities. :)

Totti's still a prima donna and a headcase... Cassano is just taking his lead from Totti.

[SueB]

I didn't say Totti stopped being those things, just that he overcame them and yet still became a successful player!!!

[phillips10]

I'm interested to see how this works out for Trap...using four strictly offensive players finally..

Corradi up front with a threesome of:
Del Piero -- Totti -- Fiore

as midfielders behind him...This is way more offensive a look than Italy would normally use on the road...

[thespinydogfish]

Originally posted by phillips10
I'm interested to see how this works out for Trap...using four strictly offensive players finally..

Corradi up front with a threesome of:
Del Piero -- Totti -- Fiore

as midfielders behind him...This is way more offensive a look than Italy would normally use on the road...

And hopefully this will be the final nail in the coffin for all those detractors who bleat on endlessly about the "brutto" calcio catenaccio and how tiresome it is. I want Italia to go on the offensive and score some freaking goals and leave the defending to Maldini and the lads of the back line. It's when really talented teams like Portugal and Spain play conservatively that they get burned in the big games.

[SueB]

Maldini retired from the national team after the World Cup last year. Sad way for him to go out, getting beaten on Ahn's golden goal.

And, by the way, one thing I've learned over the years is that those nay-sayers about Italian football will NEVER shut up, no matter what. :(