Start from last years U21's! 1 GK Francesco Bardi 18 January 1992 (age 22) 13 0 Italy Novara 2 DF Giulio Donati 5 February 1990 (age 24) 19 0 Italy Grosseto 3 DF Cristiano Biraghi 1 September 1992 (age 21) 5 0 Italy Cittadella 4 MF Marco Verratti dagger 5 November 1992 (age 21) 3 0 France Paris Saint-Germain 5 DF Marco Capuano 14 October 1991 (age 22) 17 0 Italy Pescara 6 DF Luca Caldirola 1 February 1991 (age 23) 26 1 Italy Cesena 7 MF Alessandro Florenzi dagger 11 March 1991 (age 23) 13 4 Italy Roma 8 MF Luca Marrone 28 March 1990 (age 24) 30 1 Italy Juventus 9 FW Ciro Immobile dagger 20 February 1990 (age 24) 12 7 Italy Genoa 10 MF Lorenzo Insigne dagger 4 June 1991 (age 23) 11 6 Italy Napoli 11 FW Manolo Gabbiadini dagger 26 November 1991 (age 22) 19 10 Italy Bologna 12 GK Simone Colombi 1 July 1991 (age 22) 2 0 Italy Modena 13 DF Matteo Bianchetti 17 March 1993 (age 21) 4 0 Italy Hellas Verona 14 FW Mattia Destro dagger 20 March 1991 (age 23) 14 5 Italy Roma 15 MF Nicola Sansone 10 September 1991 (age 22) 2 0 Italy Parma 16 MF Andrea Bertolacci 11 January 1991 (age 23) 6 0 Italy Genoa 17 FW Alberto Paloschi 4 January 1990 (age 24) 28 9 Italy Chievo 18 MF Riccardo Saponara 21 December 1991 (age 22) 19 2 Italy Milan 19 DF Vasco Regini 9 September 1990 (age 23) 2 0 Italy Empoli 20 FW Fabio Borini dagger 29 March 1991 (age 23) 15 4 England Liverpool 21 MF Fausto Rossi 3 December 1990 (age 23) 20 1 Italy Brescia 22 GK Nicola Leali 30 June 1993 (age 21) 0 0 Italy Virtus Lanciano 23 MF Marco Crimi 17 March 1990 (age 24) 9 0 Italy Grosseto
As a Juve fan I for the past few years have been disappointed with the way we devolpe young Italian talent or let it ride on the bench when it comes to the forward/striker positions so as an Italy fan I'm happy Berardi will not be called up this year and will continue to grow like Ciro did as well. I'm getting tired of the excuses for Balotelli it's time to realize he will never grow up, he will only get more lazy and last but most important he will never be a good teammate. I assume the majority of us here all live in America so how often have we seen a Balotelli type in the 4 major sports already? I'm in Philly and lived through Allen Iverson, who had a the baggage of Balo from the start and we heard year after year how he will change but he never did. He was also not a great teammate too which is why we never won a nba title with him. There is a major differance between the 2 however. Despite all the baggage Iverson lived up to his hype and potential and more and as far as on the court nobody in any sport I watched showed more heart and put it out there on the court like A.I. did, Balotelli has never showed me a minute of heart in the 6 years I watched him now.
I know people are fearful of the future, myself included, but my desire to see Italy win another trophy during my lifetime exceeds that. So now, whenever I get down about our chances in the future, I have found some solace whenever I think of the Greek team from 2004. They did not have any Messi's or Ronaldo's but they still won by beating some top teams and the hosts. They were united in their belief and played with one of the stingiest defenses we have seen in the modern game. I think Italy should use that as an inspiration.. Not necessarily the playing style, but that a team of unknown quality can still win something if they work hard and believe in themselves.
Denmark have managed to win a euro too and they haven't really done anything since. To me it's funny how teams like Greece and Denmark have won the euro because imo compared to the WC I believe the talent is more concentrated in the Euro and harder to win, especially in euros before the next tournament is set to expand from 16 to 24 teams in 2016 Although the way this WC 2014 is panning out so far it's likely a team never expected before to win could actually end up winning this WC....we'll see
Well, they actually tied Costa Rica after making it to the 2nd round, so maybe thinking they are beneath us is the type of arrogant mentality we need to rid ourselves of. It's fine by me if Italy stop winning after I'm dead. At that point, that's their problem.
scorp unless you are past the age of 60 and/or in poor health I think you will live long enough to see Italy win one more WC and perhaps a euro too...
More Italians should come play in MLS. Please, no bullshit about how it's a weak league. I'll believe that when I see a young Italian prospect that is loaned out to an MLS team break the scoring record ala Chinalgia. BTW, The goal is the same size here as in serie A. Italians want to get some international experience without slumming it? Give MLS a chance!!!
I think history has proven that teams like Denmark and Greece don't win the World Cup because its a much harder tournament overall. I've heard some people say the Euro Cup is more difficult, but that is only in the group stages. Once both tournaments get to the knockouts…one of them doesn't have Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay in it. We are talking about three nations that have almost half the victories historically. Add in the periodic strengths of Chile, Columbia, and Paraguay….plus the weather factor of playing outside of Europe and its no contest IMO. With the addition of 8 more teams in the Euro its now not even up for discussion. Hypothetically, I would trade in two Euro's for a World Cup. Saying all that, I'm dying for Italy to win their second already. Still a massive accomplishment when it comes to international football.
yes I agree and should have elaborated the first time....In the group stages when the euro consists of just 16 teams the talent is more concentrated and harder but in the KO of the WC you have teams like Brazil, Argentina etc potentially to face. In the end I think they balance each other out in diffuclty with the exception of the euro having only 3 KO games as opposed to the WC 4 KO, but next Euro there will be 4 KO games with a round of 16. This balancing each other out of course doesn't take the weather into account. However in the end we can all agree that we need to add this trophy again to our cabinet. One Euro is not acceptable when Germany has 3, France 2, and now Spain 2 with Greece and Denmark having won as well.
1 Euro trophy is not acceptable, I agree; but on the bright side we have manage to won Germany in every single major tournament matches. With the Germany, we are their kryptonite, and it will always be that way until they can find the key to unlock the omen. Let's see if those aggrorant Germans can beat us in Euro Cup 2016. For some reason, seem like when it come to World Cup, we just can't advance out of the Group draw round. This is what we need to WORK on, big time. Seem like all Europeans team have trouble when facing African team. Maybe their cultural difference or style of play or what? But we have weakness, even the Germany struggle big time with the Ghana draw. Statistic show that Germany lost more Semi and Final matches than us, but they always advance well in the group draw round. I give credit to Germany being a balance and stable team from their fotball records. But Germany have weakness too, they get shaky when it come to team that have patient, good defend and keep the ball well with fast attack. We did just exactly that to beat the Germans, remember Balotelli 2 goals in the semi-final (Euro 2012)? I don't like it when a team enter the match with the mental thinking of loosing even before the match start. Don't think Germany can beat us just because they are the current WC'14 holder. It is the Germans that have to show to the world that they can end the hoodoo to at least beat us 1 time in a competitive match. Is Balotelli still playing for the national Italy team? The coach need to work on this boy attitude, even though he is a great fotballer, but I find it hard to love him as a person. But I say keep him though, just love 2 goals in the semi-final (Euro 2012) that crush Germany dream as well as their streak, when the whole media were in favor of them wining, but darn it, they just can't beat Italy, LOL! And keep De Rossi, he can tackle those Germans, a great help for us if we crash with Germany team in the future.
Hypothesis that I'm sure everyone thinks about but never really mentions... Question: What if the Italian national team get together more often , or rather more than 5-8 times a year and play more friendlies and/or tournaments? I know the USA traditionally anyway since 1990, usually plays at least 15-20 games a year bringing in and changing 5 -6 different players each time but they keep the same core players and interchange the other 4-5. They use to do that because tey weren't all that good and needed all the help they could get but I think that would be great if Italy does more of that. I remember Sacchi proposed that the national team get together for stages once a month but I can't really recall it lasting since he left. Just a thought.....
I agree of course, but @Scorp makes an excellent point. Italia has always been more about the team than the individual players. We had no great team unity this cup, and it was rather obvious. If we had known this at the time, most of us would have been less surprised at their results I think.
Good idea which I endorse as well as the ones to model Serie A more along the lines of the Bundesliga. But just wondering if you falvo or any of the other fluent Italians on this forum can tell me. What has the reaction in Italy been to this disaster of a campaign? Apart from the usual counterproductive finger pointing has there been any talk in terms of actions that will be taken? Ideas from journalists, past players, prominent officials or is it more of the same, in other words "Meno un Cazzo".
There have been a lot of different stories but the bottom line is, they are blaming Prandelli and that his selections were all wrong picking below quality national team players. I don't know much about tactics or strategies and don't really care about them either way as I feel at this level players should be prepared . I still say the same thing and the way I see it on practical terms , if you score 0 goals in 2 group games, you won't win or advance and we have seen it.
Anything besides finger pointing at Prandelli though, or are they saying/implying that things will magically improve if he is replaced by a competent coach.