I failed to mention Blasi, who is playing very well for Napoli atm and is a former National team player. And your friend is wrong considering Paolo Cannavaro, he's actually more versatile than Fabio, just watch the assist to Domizzi in that video I provided and his bicycle on Juve. Who does your Italian friend support? And yes, Iezzo is 34 but he's amazing. Napoli allowed fewer goals than Juve, and topped Serie B last season in that department playing with 3 backs. I'm not boosting my team here, I'm being honest.
the match was hard fought, and italy got the better of the duels by a hair, but the best part of their game was the great defense positioning... strange when they were the ones who needed 3 points! they had 9+buffon in the last 30 metres for the whole first half. they may have expected france to get impatient and fall into the trap but with the 0-0 in italy a good result for them, why would they? now france is still first and plays at home, italy is 3rd and had to go to ukraine. toni would have done better than del piero or inzaghi but i don't think even spiderman could have won the match for italy all on his lonesome, and that's what these two were: lonesome. starting diarra was a surprise move, the idea i suppose was to have someone faster and more enterprising than clerc on that flank... and along with some decent defending he was that, but not enough to matter with two azzuri defensive lines that spread from touchline to touchline to get through... landreau was very good, and the thuram - escudé charnière worked well; probably picked because they've been paired before. vieira and makelele got stuck in but not much else. abidal so-so. malouda pale, henry inexistant; benzema would have been a better choice to start and likely will against scotland. ribéry was in on most of the good stuff but was always one move away from getting anything done. perhaps all it was due to the sea of defenders, but this quartet left anelka high and dry he had zilch. too bad about what was probably just a small percentage of italian fans, booing the marseillaise and giving fascist salutes... with the comments by domenech and others, italy had a chance to show more class than france for once... raté!
Strange how many contrasting reports of this match I've seen. The 0-0 was logical, it was a tight physical match between two teams with not much in between them. France seemed much better on physical form and conditioning (having started their season earlier), but Italy generally seemed better from a tactical standpoint. Landreau did what he had to do and can be commended for another clean sheet despite being beaten on inzaghi's shot off the crossbar. In the french back 4 Diarra had a very good game and showed a lot of poise and coolheadedness faced with more experienced Italian wingers trying to junk past. Abidal wasn't bad either even though for some reason he seemed to be left out of the plays going forward, which is a pity considering that he's the best attacking defender of the 4. Escude had an average game. Thuram seemed out of it, even if a lot of that may have had to do with that knock he took on the head colliding with Escude early on. Vieira had an excellent game, Makele's was just as good if a bit foul ridden. Malouda faded in and out of the game, and Ribery took way too long to get going. If he had been subbed at the half instead of in the 75th, he'd have been the disappointment of the match on France's side (considering his current form) Anelka was class, did great with the litle he had to work with. Henry was phantomatic and reminded me of how Trezeguet has been in blue for the last 2 and a half years or so. On Italy's side, I don't have many comments to make other individual comments other than being impressed by Gattuso (despite him picking up the yellow) and happy to see Cannavarro rebounding from the Hungary match in the way he did. I think Italy's frontline worked with what was available to them, and its a bit unfortunate that Pirlo didn't take the match upon his shoulders as I thought he would. I think it was a mistake to start del Piero in the setup used, but I wouldn't say his performance was awful, simply nondescript. However I very much question Donadoni's tactics. The high Double defensive wall worked wonders on neutralizing the french wing and midfield attacks, but I get the impression that he conceded the French superiority before the first ball was kicked. At the beginning I said to myself that it was the usual tactic of playing dead and trying to make their opponents fall asleep that the Azzurri know how to do so well, but as the game went on, it became evident that the win was only icing for Donadoni. I can only assume that for him, France beating Scotland in the next game is a given and he's counting on searching the qualification in Scotland when hopefully the team will be at full strength, or for Scotland to screw up against Ukraine or in Georgia. Seems pretty risky to me.
Not sure if it was a small percentage or not, but either way it was humiliating. I only find solace in the harsh reaction that (Italian) players, media, and every day fans have had to the boos. Hell, even today while getting a haircut someone who was waiting commented "we owe France an apology..." And not trying to change the subject or anything, but comments by people like Domenech, Diarra, and Gallas last year didn't exactly make France look very classy either...but at least there you can blame only a small number of individuals. I'm sure more than three people at San Siro were booing Saturday night. Completely on a side note, while attending the opening ceremonies of the Torino Winter Olympics last year, my American friend sitting next to me immediately booed very loudly when the French Olympic team started parading around the stadium. Wonder what that says about Americans.
I cannot believe how much of a clown this guy is: Domenech: Italy Wanted A Draw The French national team coach continued his attacks on the Azzurri even after the final whistle of Saturday's encounter. zoom - galleria Raymond Domenech attacked, yet again, the Italian national side, this time because he believes that the Azzurri were after a draw against France due to the way the World Champions played on Saturday evening at San Siro. "It didn't go too badly for us on Saturday evening, but if we don't beat Scotland on Wednesday, the draw against Italy will serve for nothing," he declared. "The Italians wanted a draw, and that was good for us. At least, this was my impression. Maybe there was a strategy to send us to sleep, that's why we tried to play so that we don't fall in their trap." France currently have 19 points in Group B, one point more than Scotland and two above Italy in what promises to be a tight race till the last matches. Les Bleus cannot afford to lose points against the Scottish side in order to reach the qualification for the Euro 2008, whereas the Azzurri will be playing in Kiev against Ukraine on Wednesday. Italy wanted the draw!?? Italy played for a draw when they needed to win? FRANCE PLAYED FOR THE FUKIN DRAW AND ANYBODY WHO THINKS DIFFERENT IS CERTIFIABLY DEMENTED!
I think both teams have a bunch of classy guys, though obviously the media will highlight those instances of controversial comments or poor sportsmanship. Even though he had the worst performance on Saturday, one thing I've always liked about ADP is that he is seen as the consummate team guy. He is a calm leader who doesn't make a big deal if he's on the bench. I've heard that Barzagli is a very classy leader as well for his beloved Palermo. Among French players, I have to admit I was completely shocked that Diarra said what he did, as all his comments before that were always about how "he appreciated so much being on the team," learning his trade with the help of Maké, delight at getting a cap, etc. Gallas is typically pretty calm too, though I think he feels he has to step up as a leader now. As for Domenech, well, it'd be a bigger shock if he didn't say anything controversial ahead of a match. Actually, it's hard to think of a player on either team who hasn't made a controverisal comment, dived to draw a foul, attempted to elbow when they wouldn't get caught, tackled roughly. Even Thuram's had some malicious tackles during his long stretch in a France jersey. Overall though, I think there are classy guys on both teams, and one can only hope that class is extended to both sets of supporters as well.
I was happy to see the players getting along well after the game. I was also happy to read an interview with Toni a short while back where he talked about how him and Ribery got along particularly well at Bayern. More so than the players themselves, many of whom have been club teammates over the years, I would blame the media (oh, and Domenech...) for carrying this "rivalry" to ridiculous proportions. As far as stadium culture is concerned, Italian stadium culture has been on the decline for quite some time. While you also hear about incidents coming out of French stadiums, the problem in Italy is that the stadium environment has gotten so "rotten" in many ways for so long that the "good" people tend more and more to stay away, leaving a larger and larger percentage of potential troublemakers - or people who wouldn't think twice about jeering an anthem - to fill the stands instead...
With all the off-field (negative) hype surrounding the game (becoming all too common for Italy-France encounters for my taste), I neglected to even talk about the game itself. Italy wasn't in form. Toni's absence up front was huge, and if Del Piero and Inzaghi were the two most in-form strikers Italy had at its disposal (in their current form), well, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Italy didn't accomplish much up front. Del Piero for one was somewhat isolated out on the left side, and isn't up to handle largely physical encounters like this one. Inzaghi by himself up front isn't an ideal set up either. Combine that with the modest form of virtually everyone in midfield save maybe Pirlo (oh, and Gattuso, but he isn't offensive...), and it's easy to see where Italy wasn't going to make an impact. I too am saddened that the two matchups were scheduled early in their respective seasons. Would have been cool to see Italy-France in November...
to me this is more of an example of the media trying to stoke the fire of controversy. the italians did play very defensively based on the lineup and formation that they used, domenech is speculating here but admits that they might have simply been playing counter-attack. with all the criticisms thrown at Donadoni by italians fans for the style of play that he chose for this encounter i don't think this comment is particularly controversial. i definately don't think he's "attacking the azzurri" edited to add: maybe Domenech was right after all... http://www.sportinglife.com/footbal.../08/SOCCER_Ita-Italy_Quotes.html&TEAMHD=italy
In other interviews both before and after the game, Donadoni made it clear that the 3 points were the objective. I think what he is referring to in this case is that all things considered, a point against France isn't something to throw away, particularly in light of the difficulties Italy encountered in this game.
malouda had a decent all around game. Diarra was impressive as usual (still claiming he's one of the most underrated players). Ribery had his moments. Henry- are you kidding me? hows this guy still rated among the top 2-3 players in the world? completely nonexistent. italy- i forgot how much their players dive
well call me demented but when i see a team with 10 players behind the ball for over half the game, it looks like they're playing for a draw to me... of course they may have been hoping (as raymundo said) france would fall into their trap, but that doesn't mean les bleus were under an obligation to do so. italy may not have wanted a draw, but they didn't play in a way that would lead to any other result.
Italy pressured to score for good lengths of the game only France's back line are an excellent regiment of world class defensive players. On the offensive end France were happy to do little to nothing.
Offensive players usually take a little more time to get into game shape than defenders. Henry will come into his form. I wasn't a fan of the Gattuso dives in the games and he rightly received his yellow and stopped doing it. But come on, the French players were diving also.
Domenech should just be honest and say Donadoni doesn't know his ass from his elbow! France were obviously playing for the draw, so what does Don do? He plays a defensive tactic and formation and changes NOTHING at the half.
All ya'll can bitch and moan (Italian fans) about France playing for the draw.... But what would you expect when you're on the road and have a lead in the pool? Italy had to go get the result, and they looked as comfortable sharing the points as France did. 4 points in 2 games against Italy is a giant victory for Les Blues. Both sides have some work left to qualify, now perhaps you Italians should go back to your boards and discuss Ukraine.
I have to admit, I wasn't impressed with Donadoni's management at all. He didn't appear to know what he was doing, and he didn't show any emotion either.
uhh, france's back line saturday could almost as accurately been described as a ragtag throwing together of fill-ins and subs...
I have a bit of Italian blood, and I have nothing against Italy (which can't be said about the majority of supporters of Les Bleus), though I don't support any Italian club in particular, despite watching Serie A when I'm able to. I was in elementary school when Donadoni was a player, so I've only heard that he's held in high regard as a classy guy (though this is mainly through those who are more about MLS), so I suppose I don't have the appreciation for him others could have. When it comes to good players in yesteryear who are now managers though, I'd have to say Carlo Ancelotti, though not that terrific himself, is a considerbly superior option to Donadoni.
No worries. It's just that your comment about Donadoni was consistent with what approximately 97.3% of the Italian population feels about him. Must be the blood.
I think Roberto Gotta's article has it pretty much spot on. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=461720&root=euro2008&cc=5901