Italia-spagna - 06/22/08

yay about time....less than 24 hours ago most of us, me definitely included, would have anticipated discussing our exit from the euros and analysing where it all went wrong.

Well we are in the qtrs and we are starting with a clean slate.

My first question, who will be officiating this match?

 

Ahò, Forza Italia

 

same here I almost counted the azzurri out after I seen the holland lineup for todays game but even with their subs they cannot be beat they sure are the team to beat-it was enough for me to see us finally defeat france in regular time after 30 years!

on another note without pirlo for the next match - I am extremely worried-really there is no one who can feed balls like pirlo, how are we going to get forward without him?

 

that means nothing these post are nothing but annoying to me

 

But as we've found out the hard way, and the happy way, history doesn't mean anything.

The Netherlands hasn't beaten Italy in 30 years about....and they defeat us 3-0 in the opening game.

Italy hasn't defeated France in 30 years (90 mins, though in 2006 we totally deserved it to be), and yet we won 2-0 tonight.

I think Italy has picked up a lot of momentum from this historic game, and will be amped, ready, and brimming with confidence against Spain.

 

Some points

-De Rossi is going to have to come up big to replace Pirlo.

-I think we can surprise the spanish. Pre-tournament i would have told you that our team was tailor made to beat them. I hope that still rings true

-The fitness and form of some of our players still worry me

-Panucci has to have the game of his life

 

exactly my thoughts, and I really only see us playing down the wings once again and then feeding toni with crosses..we need more creativity if where going to get past spain

 

D.Villa must be contained and Spanish defense aka Real Madrid/Barcelona is definitely manageable as Toni will have a huge size advantage which he would not have against Germans or Dutch.
Ambrosini and Camoranesi must do their parts, but so is everyone else. The only other good FK taker is DP for corners and free kicks, as he can curve the ball better than De Rossi.

 

god please no! I rather see grosso take the free kicks

 

I think now is the as good as time as any to let our YOUNGER talent try and pick up the slack. Pirlo and Gattuso are out? Then let De Rossi and Aquilani carry the weight in the midfield! Also, I say continue to let Cassano start. He wasn't brilliant by any means today, but he truly does have a gift when the ball is at his feet to completely control the flow of the game to whatever level he wants. If Toni can finall start finishing his chances then it'll only make Cassano all the more dangerous.

One other thing I'd love to see is for Di Natale to finally get another shot at starting. I still think it is completely unfair that he hasn't seen even one minute of playing time since that match against Holland, and this would be as good a time as any to let him prove his worth. The fact that he has now had well over a week to rest will only make him all the more dangerous for us!

 

Lol, indeed. Even Aquilani or De Rossi would be great options to take free kicks. They are both very dangerous from set pieces.

 

I doubt italy will keep a clean sheet, but I think toni will break his duck this match...just will it be enough?

 

Aquilani has started in the Champions League, I think he'd be just fine out there.

 

I would like to see.........

-----------------Buffon------------------
-Zambrotta---Panucci---Chiellini---Grosso-
----------------De Rossi-----------------
------Aquilani-----------Perotta---------
---------------Cassano-----------------
-----Di Natale----------Toni-----------

I cant bring myself to include Camoranesi or Ambrosini in the starting 11 just atm.

 

no doubt there is no way we will be able to keep spain of the score sheet Villa is on fire we have no one who is scoring- A defender, a pk and a deflection! any alarm bells ringing yet!

 

this is what i was thinking. I like this lineup alot! I really hope donandoni will use it!

 

Defintiely not a bad side in my opinion.

Not like we have that much of a choice now in the midfield, anyway...

I would probably go with this as well, substituting Perrotta in the second half for Camoranesi again, like in the France game (if it is needed).

 

Buffon
Zambrotta Panucci Chiellini Grosso
Aquilani De Rossi Perotta
Cassano
Toni Di Natale

I would be fine with Ambrosini starting in place of Aquilani as long as he is subbed out around the 60th minute and as long as we start with that formation. Donadoni got a little bit closer by putting Perotta in the middle (which in and of itself is amazingly dumb), but now we just need to put Cassano in the middle behind Toni/Di Natale and let him work the magic that he has shown thus far in the tournament.
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