Italy v. Slovenia (R)

[retnicf]

Italia 0 - Slovenia 1 (33' 1T Cimirotic)

ITALIA (3-4-1-2)
1 Buffon
2 Panucci
6 Nesta
5 Cannavaro
11 Brighi
4 Di Biagio
8 Tommasi
3 Coco
10 Doni
9 Inzaghi
7 Del Piero

Allenatore: Trapattoni

SLOVENIA (3-4-1-2)
Dabanovic 12
Vugdalic 4
Bulajic 5
Cipot 2
Gajser 14
Sukalo 7
Pavlin 11
Karic 19
Zahovic 10
Siljak 9
Cimirotic 21

Allenatore: Prasnikar

Arbitro: Brugger (Aut), Guardalinee Guardalinee, Schwab, Struz

Sostituzioni

46' (1T ) ACIMOVIC per CIMIROTIC (Slo)
1' (2T ) INZAGHI per DI VAIO (Ita)
1' (2T ) DEL PIERO per MARAZZINA (Ita)
1' (2T ) TOMMASI per AMBROSINI (Ita)
1' (2T ) DI BIAGIO per GATTUSO (Ita)
1' (2T ) PANUCCI per IULIANO (Ita)
1' (2T ) CANNAVARO per MATERAZZI (Ita)
1' (2T ) BRIGHI per ODDO (Ita)
21' (2T ) SUKALO per RADOSAVLJEVIC (Slo)
31' (2T ) KARIC per CEH (Slo)
31' (2T ) COCO per ZAURI (Ita)
41' (2T ) M. MAVRIC per GAJSER (Slo)

Ammoniti

15' (1T ) SILJAK (Slo)
16' (1T ) PAVLIN (Slo)
36' (1T ) ZAHOVIC (Slo)
41' (1T ) PANUCCI (Ita)
48' (1T ) ACIMOVIC (Slo)
12' (2T ) AMBROSINI (Ita)

[italia_in_02]

I'm a HUUUUGE fan of the Azzurri, and I was just wondering whether other people were worried about this result.........Yes....we didn't have Totti or Vieri, yet I still think we should have been able to beat a weak squad like Slovenia!

I'm starting to worry about our Euro 2004 qualifying campaign.....are our players psychologically exhausted from the letdown at JK 2002 and the delay of the season, or is Trap not playing to his player's strong points??

I just hope that Totti and Vieri are 100% for our qualifying opener in the coming weeks!!!

[Bruble]

You should worry a little more because Slovenia was playing without their entire defense from previous qualifications: Knavs, Galic, Milinovic(retired). This defense was the strongest point of the team and lack of any of them on WC was more than evident. Rudonja, Novak, A.Ceh, all midfilders, all 1st team players, were also missing, there wasn't Osterc and Cimirotic was, like always injured while scoring teh goal :>
I still can't belive this result. There were at least 4-5 players playing who never played outside the slovenian league and slovenian league is not-so good. Doh.

[retnicf]

Seems to me that the Azzurri always play down to their opponent. When was the last time they stepped up and crushed an inferior opponent? When the game is meaningless, they play that way.

Anyone out there actually see this match?

[Jawz10]

I saw it and at half time I was MAJOR pissed off. Trappatoni doesn't seem to have any motivational skills at all, all the players were flat except maybe Nesta and Cannavaro.

On the Slovenian goal the scorer absolutely roasted Panucci on the left side of the penalty area, waltzed in and shot into the far side netting. Ridiculous. The crowd (Slovenian) were retarded as well, throwing flairs onto the pitch at least 6 times, stopping the game. At one point the police intervened and their were scenes of Slovenian fans getting hit with batons. A slovenian fan ran out on the pitch and when the police caught him they beat the crap out of him and the Slovenian players came to intervene.

Anyway. After the first half I didn't watch anymore. I heard the result and started spewing insults about every player, the coach, the federation and Italians in general. This isn't the first time that Italy have dissapointed their fans in a friendly match. So I went back and watched the rest of the second half, whole sale changes. Alas, Italy were great! Doni, while still whining like crazy started to create and hit the post from a flick on by Marrazina. Ambrosini was crushing everything in his path in the midfield. Matterazzi, Nesta and Iuliano didn't let Slovenia have a single shot on goal. The most impressive player to me was Oddo, his insertion in the second half gave Italy a little width. He is quick, crosses well, and works hard up and down his flank. His crosses caused problems for Slovenia on more than one occasion. Marrazina was good too, a hard worker with flashes of skill. He backheeled a ball out of the air to Doni who played Amrbosini through on the left and his cross narrowly missed Di Vaio.

So, yes I'm dissapointed in the result, but after the break Italy got some spurs and in actuality looked more lively than I've seen them in a long time.

Ambrosini and Oddo should ALWAYS be on the national side. IMO.

[italia_in_02]

Originally posted by Bruble
You should worry a little more because Slovenia was playing without their entire defense from previous qualifications: Knavs, Galic, Milinovic(retired). This defense was the strongest point of the team and lack of any of them on WC was more than evident. Rudonja, Novak, A.Ceh, all midfilders, all 1st team players, were also missing, there wasn't Osterc and Cimirotic was, like always injured while scoring teh goal :>
I still can't belive this result. There were at least 4-5 players playing who never played outside the slovenian league and slovenian league is not-so good. Doh.

I was just wondering.....do you support Slovenia or are you just familiar with the team?

[SueB]

This was not your normal friendly!

The Slovenians were not the same nice little, pretty playing team that Katanec led to Euro2000 and three and out in the WC. The players were trying to impress the new coach, getting stuck in, and in general, playing like - sure hope this doesn't insult anybody - Yugoslavia. That's sort of meant to be a compliment and a complaint at the same time. The players celebrated at the end as if they'd just qualified for the WC all over again.

And, US fans are always complaining about playing away matches at home. This was such a match. I haven't seen any figures on the crowd, but it was clearly a pro-Slovenia crowd.

Now. As for Italy, it looks like a difficult cycle is beginning, and I don't believe Trap is the man to lead the way back. I actually like him, and if anybody can remember, when he started a couple years ago, he was praised for his team's "attacking" attitude vs Dino Zoff's. I don't know whether it's a motivation problem, simple lack of talent at the moment, distractions with all the Serie A difficulties, or what. But I think the sooner a move is made, the better off for the Azzurri.

[bert patenaude]

SueB,

I agree with everything you wrote. The decline of the Italy national team is shocking. There is no distribution from the midfield. Trappatoni's tactics have not evolved in the past ten years.

You cannot blame the referee in this debacle. All the Italian Americans in my neighborhood have been furious at Trappatoni since the World Cup.

A shakeup is needed and quickly.