Group C - 13 June 2008 ITA 18:00 ROU Zurich The omens will undoubtedly favour Italy when the world champions meet Romania in their second Group C fixture in Zurich. • Italy have won ten and lost only two of their 14 previous meetings with Romania, including a victory in their only encounter on the élite European stage at UEFA EURO 2000™. • If Romania coach Victor Piţurcă would prefer not to dwell on statistics supporting Italy's status as favourites, he might also choose to forget the last time he faced Italy counterpart Roberto Donadoni on the football pitch, when his FC Steaua Bucureşti side were swept aside by Donadoni's AC Milan in a 4-0 defeat in the 1989 European Champion Clubs' Cup final. • Italy won the teams' UEFA EURO 2000™ quarter-final in Brussels 2-0, Francesco Totti and Filippo Inzaghi scoring against a Romania side who lost captain Gheorghe Hagi to a red card on his 125th and final appearance for his country. It was the last game Romania had played at a major competition prior to UEFA EURO 2008™. • The teams for that game in Brussels on 24 June 2000 were: Italy: Francesco Toldo, Mark Iuliano, Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Paolo Maldini, Stefano Fiore, Antonio Conte, Demetrio Albertini, Gianluca Zambrotta, Francesco Totti, Filippo Inzaghi. Romania: Bogdan Stelea, Liviu Ciobotariu, Iulian Filipescu, Constantin Gâlcă, Adrian Mutu, Dorinel Munteanu, Viorel Moldovan, Gheorghe Hagi, Cristian Chivu, Florentin Petre, Miodrag Belodedici. • Italy's Alessandro Del Piero and Romania pair Ioan Ganea and Ioan Lupescu all featured as substitutes. • Italy won the sides' three subsequent encounters, starting with home and away successes in 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying when Inzaghi inflicted further punishment on the Romania defence. • After scoring the opener in a 3-0 victory in Milan in October 2000 – when Marco Delvecchio and Totti also found the net – Inzaghi got both goals in Italy's 2-0 win in the return in Bucharest in March 2001. • Italy also prevailed 1-0 through a goal from substitute Marco Di Vaio when the teams met in a friendly in Ancona on 16 November 2003. • The starting lineups that day were: Italy: Francesco Toldo, Christian Panucci, Fabio Cannavaro, Matteo Ferrari, Massimo Oddo, Simone Perrotta, Damiano Tommasi, Franceso Totti, Gianluca Zambrotta, Antonio Cassano, Fabio Bazzani. Romania: Bogdan Lobonţ, Flavius Stoican, Adrian Iencsi, Mirel Radoi, Rǎzvan Raţ, Florentin Dumitru, Daniel Pancu, Dorinel Munteanu, Nicolae Mitea, Florin Bratu, Adrian Mutu. • Among the substitutes that day were Italy's Massimo Ambrosini and Andrea Pirlo and Romania's Nicolae Dicǎ and Ciprian Marica. • Romania's most recent win against Italy came in a March 1989 friendly in Sibiu. Ioan Sabău struck the only goal of a game in which Donadoni played. • Their only other victory against the Azzurri was in qualifying for the 1984 UEFA European Championship where Laszlo Bölöni's effort earned a 1-0 home win which helped Romania qualify for the finals. • Besides tasting defeat against Donadoni's Milan in the European Cup final, Piţurcă was also on the losing side with Steaua against two other Italian clubs: AS Roma in the 1984/85 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round and Genoa CFC in the 1991/92 UEFA Cup third round. • Romania captain Cristian Chivu and vice-captain Adrian Mutu both play for Italian clubs, the former with FC Internazionale Milano and the latter with ACF Fiorentina. • Chivu spent three-and-a-half years with AS Roma prior to joining Inter in July 2007. His team-mates at Inter include Italian international defender Marco Materazzi, while at Roma he played with Daniele De Rossi, Christian Panucci, Max Tonetto and Totti. • Mutu has worn the colours of five different Italian clubs: Inter, Hellas-Verona FC, Parma FC, Juventus and Fiorentina. He partnered Italy striker Luca Toni in the Fiorentina attack in 2006/07 and his current Viola team-mates include Italy pair Riccardo Montolivo and Franco Semioli. • Mutu has played with plenty of Italian internationals during his time in Serie A: Gianluigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, Fabio Cannavaro, Giorgio Chiellini, Del Piero, Gianluca Zambrotta (with Juventus); Alberto Gilardino, Camoranesi, Massimo Oddo (with Verona), Daniele Bonera, Gilardino (with Parma); Panucci (with Inter). • Midfielder Paul Codrea is the third Romanian international playing in Italy at AC Siena. He has also played for Genoa, US Città di Palermo and Torino FC. • Defender Cosmin Contra spent the 2001/02 season with Milan while goalkeeper Bogdan Lobonţ had a spell with Fiorentina in 2006. • Italy forward Tommaso Rocchi struck twice as S.S. Lazio came from behind to beat FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti 3-1 in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie in Romania last August. Dinamo had taken the lead through Romanian international Florin Bratu but eventually succumbed 4-2 on aggregate. • Italy have a positive recent memory of the Letzigrund Stadion in Zurich after defeating fellow UEFA EURO 2008™ finalists Portugal 3-1 there on 6 February this year. • Italy's best performance in the UEFA European Championship came in 1968 when they beat Yugoslavia to lift the Henri Delaunay trophy. They were runners-up in 2000 and semi-finalists in 1988 with a team featuring Donadoni himself. • Romania's best performance in three previous UEFA European Championship finals appearances was in 2000 when they reached the quarter-finals before losing to Italy. Time to forget the first game, and move on to the next! Biggest discussion right now is formation and starting lineup.
4-1-3-2 Buffon Zambrotta-Panucci-Chiellini-Grosso ----------De Rossi Perrotta/Gattuso-Pirlo-Di Natale ---------Cassano-Toni
A flat 4-4-2 ---------------Buffon-------------- Zambro--Gamberini--Chiellini--Grosso Cammo---Pirlo---Gattuso---DeRossi -----------Toni--DiNatale---------- or diamond 4-1-2-1-2 ---------------Buffon-------------- Zambro--Gamberini--Chiellini--Grosso -------------Gattuso--------------- Cammo--------------------DeRossi --------------Pirlo---------------- --------Toni--------DiNatale------ or defensive 4-2-2-2 ---------------Buffon-------------- Zambro--Gamberini--Chiellini--Grosso --------Gattuso-----DeRossi-------- Cammo-------------------------Pirlo -----------Toni------DiNatale------- or Attacking 4-1-3-2 ---------------Buffon-------------- Zambro--Gamberini--Chiellini--Grosso -------------Gattuso--------------- Cammo---------Pirlo----------DeRossi ---------Toni--------DiNatale-------- There are so many ways we can play .... so many ways except a 4-3-3. But those are my starting 11, and if I could chose then I would go with the 4-2-2-2.
I don't see why we shouldn't stick to 4-3-3. Once comptetent players came on the field the formation was effective, Donadoni just has to pick the right players. ----------Buffon --Zambrotta--Panucci--Gamberini--Grosso ------De Rossi--Pirlo--Gattuso ---Cassano-------------De Piero --------------Toni However, for me, our best performance during the group stages was when we played 4-2-3-1, with De Rossi and Gattuso in midfield. For the sake of continuity though, stick with the 4-3-3.
Yea I agree. We are already expecting big changes to the starting lineup. I don't see us changing the formation. It's asking a team to prepare in a week something that takes months to mold.
The formation for the match against Romania ----------------------------Buffon---------------------------- Zambrotta----------Chiellini--------Panucci------------Grosso Perrotta-------------------Pirlo--------------De Rossi Del Piero------------------Toni----------------Cassano forget Aquilani he has no experience
You guys are really dense if you think Italy can win with that system. That system is a proven failure in Tournament play.
If you're concluding this on the basis of one miserable performance, you need to calm down. IMO the problem wasn't with the 4-3-3, but rather with who was manning the 4-3-3. All I can cite is the vastly improved performance in the second half (not a game-winning performance, but...), and that was because of key substitutions (that came far too late *still bitter*) rather than a change in formation.
Look this not something that I am saying now after yesterday's disaster but something that I have been saying ever since Donadoni switched to that formation. Did Brazil win with Kaka Ronaldinho and Ronaldo all on the field in a similar type of system? You are talking about one of the best attack's ever and they did not get it done. That system leaves the midfield too open. To win in a tournament you must control the midfield and you are not going to do it with 3 midfielders. Second if he wants to play that system why not use 3 forwards instead of a midfielder playing out of position and guy who is no threat to score? What was proven yesterday is that Donadoni is not a good coach and in these tournaments coaching means everything. Italy have always had enough talent alone to do well in these tournaments but sadly even though their coaches get alot of praise when they step up to coach the National team they are clueless unless your name is Lippi. Even he understood after the USA game that his similar system with 3 forwards would not work.
You've made a lot of valid points. The midfield yesterday was an absolute joke, and I'm not completely sure whether De Rossi can make it work or not. But I do know that Donadoni is incapable of fielding another formation, and that a new formation would take months to perfect anyways (time which we don't have). I hate the 4-3-3, but at this point, I'm fairly positive that that will be what Donadoni fields on Friday. Whether he'll also put out the players that can make the 4-3-3 work remains to be seen. Damn Donadoni for scheduling one feel-good friendly. Damn him.
Regardless of formation you know Romania will play for a draw. They will stack the back like there was no tomorrow. Then they will hope Netherlands have already clinched before the final game and field a lesser squad.
I just think this defense needs help and using a 4-3-3 does not help an unreliable defense. At this point what does Donadoni have to lose by doing something totally unexpected but if he decides to stay with the system then just put the best players out there meaning Chiellini Gamberini Aquilani De Rossi Cassano and Del Piero. Hard to win when 6 of the best players in Italy are sitting on the bench while a bunch of crap is on the field.
Absolutely, they have no reason not to play for a draw. But I've seen their bunkering, and it's beatable. Even lethargic France had good scoring opportunities that they couldn't put away. But this match either dooms this Euro for us or salvages it... with this determination, I think we can win it. Edit - Artemio, I think that that's what we'll see on Friday... still a 4-3-3, but the best players out there as well. Hopefully, it'll make the difference. But I'm pretty sure Di Natale will start over Del Piero.
----------------------------Buffon---------------------------- Zambrotta----------Chiellini--------Gamberini------------Grosso Perrotta-------------------Pirlo--------------De Rossi Di Natale------------------Toni----------------Cassano I was so angry when I saw the Milan MF in there I couldn't see straight. I love Rino but we have better options in the MF. Not playing De Rossi is just criminal. He's a whiny player and I don't like him personally because he cries entirely too much but he's one of the best MF in Italy and not having him out there is just criminal. Ambrosini is a worker and I respect him but he doesn't have the quality we need in the MF. Perrotta should be able to expose Romania down the flanks and having Cassano out there from the beginning is just a no-brainer, IMO.
yea, they will play for a draw and hope they can get something from a set piece or on the counter. I would like to see Italy play Aquilani, maybe not as a starter, but as a super sub at the 65th minute. Same goes for Del Piero. Cassano should start, in his limited minutes he created more chances than Di Natali and Camoranesi combined. If Italy want to beat the stingy defense of Romania, they will need the creativity of a Cassano. Gattuso should not play, he is a red card waiting to happen.
Donadoni could play anyone in any formation, the only thing that matters to me is that Grosso STARTS and Chiellini plays next to him at CB.
Absolutely... Get Cassano on from the start - he needs more than 15 mins. We need to open it up and create more chances. As well more urgency is needed on this team. We started to come out better in the second half, but too little too late. Friday there will be no choice, it's a must win - they will need to come out guns blazing and show no mercy.
I dunno, most people are still too devastated by the blitzing we got yesterday. I would be too but I never had really high expectations for this Euro anyways. I knew that when people kept earmarking Italy as the favorites that we would get too comfortable and lose the fighting spirit that makes us great. Oh yeah, and Donadoni
This is do or die, Italy wins - they have a shot, a draw is almost a guarantee early exit in the group stages.
You're kidding right? We've just switched to the 4-3-3 a couple months back. We've been playing other formations as a National team for years. On the field you have players that are used to a 4-4-2 system. We won't win with a 4-3-3 and to say that the Italian National team that won the world cup 2 years ago can't switch to a 4-4-2 when that's the formation they used to win it, is ridiculous. We have most of the same players from the World cup with a couple of new players. We can play that formation.
I guess winning becomes a habit and I can't remember the last time The Azzurri were 2 goals down in a tournament. A touch of reality could be a good thing in the long run.
Worldrenowned Italian famed coach Nereo Rocco once was asked if he thought the better team should win......he said I hope not I hope we win...... Vinca il migliore????? Speremo de no, speremo de vincer noi........ especially after yesterday, this is the way I feel every time Italy plays......
The question was never whether we couldn't play another formation, but whether Donadoni would be willing to try another one. Let's face it, if we're still trying to work out the formation in a must-win game for us, we could very well be screwed. Maybe months is a bit long, but those different players are in important positions out on the field and need to get acclimated. I would love it if we played anything but 4-3-3, but I don't know if it's possible to switch back at such a crucial point when we saw with our own eyes how much the Azzurri improved in the second half with different players out there. Donadoni IMO won't change the formation, just the starters.