8/20 Germany-Italy [R]

[italia_in_02]

Has the squad for next week's friendly in Germany been released yet? I've seen Germany's, but not Italy's. But I have heard rumors that Cassano and Blasi may get surprise call ups. I for one would rather see our best squad out there with a few new faces, nothing drastic. We need to keep our core players together so that they can be comfortable with each come September and the matches against Wales and Serbia and Montenegro.

[strega]

http://www.euro2004.com/competitions/euro/news/kind=1/newsid=91452.html

here's the squad. no real surprises.

[SueB]

Leaving out Inzaghi and Di Vaio and continuing to select Delvecchio is a mild surprise. The squad:

Gk: Buffon, Toldo


D: Cannavaro, Ferrari, Grosso, Legrottaglie, Nesta, Oddo, Panucci


M: Ambrosini, Camoranesi, Tacchinardi, Zambrotta, Fiore, Perrotta, Zanetti


F: Corradi, Del Piero, Miccoli, Delvecchio, Totti, Vieri

[strega]

>Leaving out Inzaghi and Di Vaio and continuing to select Delvecchio is a mild surprise.


not really when di vaio has been playing badly for juve and delvecchio plays well with totti as seen in the finland game.
inzaghi, yes, that was unusual but he has been critical of trap.

[SueB]

I said "mild". Delvecchio will be lucky to even start for Roma and yet he's on the national squad. Mindful of poor old Pierluigi Casiraghi starting for the national team and on the bench at Lazio back a few years ago.

[SueB]

BTW, this game will be aired in the US on GolTV on same-day delay, at 4:30 pm Eastern. I don't think RAI is showing it.

[thespinydogfish]

What? No Tomassi? Has something happened to him physically or has his level play dropped off? Seriously, I've always loved the way he covered the midfield. He was tireless.

[SueB]

He's been pretty much out of then national team picture since the WC. The midfield that Trap took to the WC received a lot of the blame (well, after the refs) for the failure of that team, so there hasn't been a lot seen of Tommasi, Doni, Zanetti, or Di Biagio since then.

Then, Tommasi (and Roma in general) had a poor season last year, so nothing has occurred to really change Trap's mind. He has Gattuso and Ambrosini to play that role.

I agree that, for a couple of years, Tommasi was a wonderful forceful midfielder - when Roma won their Scudetto, and during WC qualifying. It's too bad that many remember him only for his poor WC showing. I remember one win on a muddy field in Romania during qualifying when Tommasi simply owned the midfield.

[thespinydogfish]

Originally posted by SueB
The midfield that Trap took to the WC received a lot of the blame (well, after the refs) for the failure of that team, so there hasn't been a lot seen of Tommasi, Doni, Zanetti, or Di Biagio since then.

It's funny, I never saw the midfield as being the problem. I thought the defense was anything but stalwart and the strikers were shooting blanks. The midfield wasn't as sharp as it could have been but it wasn't my choice for scapegoat

[Delenda Carthago]

Friendly Germany - Italy

Italy is leading by 1-0 after the first time with an incredible goal scored by Vieri!

Forza Azzurri!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SueB]

Did anybody watch it? What a first half by Italy. The two goals (for the one scored by Del Piero which was disallowed should NOT have been called offside) were beautiful displays of intricate one-touch interplay.

If I can remember the goal that counted - Tacchinardi tackles the ball away from Germany at midfield, Vieri picks it up and plays it out to Del Piero on the left, Del Piero gives it back to Vieri running toward the box, it's on Vieri's unfavored right foot, but he feigns as if to line up a shot, then instead touches it to Totti at the top of the box, Totti one-touches it back to Vieri near the spot, and in another instant it's past Kahn into the goal. When Brazil scores goals like that, it's crowed about forever. When Italy does it, nobody notices because ...

... the second half was entirely different, and Germany could certainly have scored. But I think the Italians sort of lost their legs (not in season yet) and the will to go forward purposefully (it was only a friendly, after all).

Anyway, I hope that first-half form continues into the next two critical matches.

[Dante]

It was nice to see six Juventini starting for the Azzurri.

[kotzunder]

It was the sixth straight win since they use the 4-2-3-1 formation (i'd liked to see Miccoli play in the second half though)

[italia_in_02]

Does anyone think that this friendly win coupled with Wales' loss to S&M will help us to go on to clinch first place and the automatic berth to the EURO 2004 Finals? As far as I feel, I think we can beat Wales in Italy, definetely Azerbaijan, it's S&M who seem to scare me now. They're coming off of a huge win against a good side in Wales, and IIRC, we only tied them at home 1-1 in the first game, and now that the game is away, it seems kind of daunting. I just hope that we can win out, because if we do, we've got first place wrapped up!