Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] A team of players born in 1984 (younger U-21s) and coached by former national team assistant coach Pietro Ghedin will be participating in this summer's Mediterranean Games tournament in Almeria, Spain. These games are held every 4 years and bring together athletes from southern Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East. Italy's had pretty good success in recent editions. I don't know if there is an official restriction, but most teams send an age-level or amateur squad. In the last edition (2001), Italy finished as runners-up in this tournament to host Tunisia, with the U-20 team. I don't recognize many names from that side. Giuseppe Sculli, Cristian Zaccardo, Angelo Palombo - a few others. In 1997, the games were hosted in Bari, and Italy won the gold medal (5-1 over Turkey in the final) with a U-23 side containing many more familiar names: Buffon, Sereni, Birindelli, Zamboni, Innocenti, Dal Canto, Grandoni, Pesaresi, Giannichedda, Baronio, Longo, De Ascentis, Totti, Ventola, Fiore, Rustico, Lucarelli, Cocco, Binotto, Iannuzzi.
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] Here are the callups for the Mediterranean Games team (1984s) which is playing a friendly against the "Best XI" of Serie D on June 1. This is sort of a U-21 "B" team. BELOTTI MAURO A.C. PRATO BOLZAN RICCARDO A.C. SANGIOVANNESE BOVA DARIO A.C. IMOLESE CAPELLO DAVIDE A.C. BELLUNO 1905 CATACCHINI DAVID A.C. PISTOIESE CITRO DOMENICO CARRARESE CALCIO D’ASTOLFO ADRIANO VIS PESARO FACCHINETTI PAOLO A.C. MONTICHIARI GIBBS ALEX F.C. PARMA IANNOTTI NICOLA POL.ROSETANA IMPROTA UMBERTO A.C. BELLARIA I.M. MASINI SIMONE A.C. CESENA MORO ALESSANDRO U.S. FOGGIA PALAZZO MICHELANGELO OLBIA CALCIO PORCARI FILIPPO PISA CALCIO PULZETTI NICO U.S. CASTELNUOVO G. ROSSI ENRICO CALCIO PADOVA ROTA SIMONE A.C. PRO SESTO RUFFINI PAOLO A.C.PRO SESTO STEFANI MIRKO A.C. BELLARIA I.M. The Mediterranean games take place June 23-July 3. Italy is in a group with Libya and Morocco. Meanwhile, Claudio Gentile will announce his regular U-21 callups for the Norway European qualifier this Friday.
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] This match will be aired live on RAI Sport Satellite, live at 11 am Eastern US time on Wednesday. They are calling this team the "Experimental" U-21 team.
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] The U-21 "B" team which is training for this summer's Mediterranean Games beat a "Top 11" selection from Serie D last week, 2-0. I caught some of the game on the web but hadn't found a summary and wasn't sure of the final score. Here's an article about the game: http://www.cesenacalcio.it/sito/notizie/notizia.phtml?id=1117702493 The tabellino (they call it Under 20 in the above article, but they're all '84s):- UNDER 20 Sper. (4-3-1-2): E.Rossi (Padova)(1' st Capello (Belluno)); Citro (Carrarese)(1' st Facchinetti (Montichiari)), Stefani (Bellaria I.M. (1'st Bolzan (Sangiovannese)), Bellotti (Prato)(1' st Bova (Imolese)), Palazzo (Olbia); Porcari (Pisa), Moro (Foggia) (1' st Catacchini (Pistoiese)), Ruffini (Pro Sesto)(1' st Magnani (Castelnuovo G.)); Rota (Pro Sesto) (1' st Iannotti (Rosetana)); Paponetti (Acireale)(1' st Pulzetti (Castelnuovo G.)), Masini (Cesena). All. Ghedin. TOP 11 SERIE D (4-3-3): Mangiapelo (Rieti)(1' st Spina (Ostia Mare)); Musca (Gallipoli), Lanutti (Val di Sangro), Baronchelli (Val di Sangro), Balsamo (Cossatese)(10' st Guida (Pergolese); Rubinacci (Uso Calcio), Daleno (Val di Sangro), Salvagno (Rieti)(1' st Margherita (Itala San Marco)); Baldini (Casteggio Broni)(10' st Di Miceli (Gallipoli)), Tarallo (Uso Calcio)(1' st Castillo (Gallipoli)), Vasoio (Casteggiobroni)(1' st Innocenti (Gallipoli)). (A disp.: Beghetto (Bassano), Parlagreco (Modica)). All. Boccolini. ARBITRO: Sig. Giancola di Vasto. GUARD.: Mauro - Maruccia. MARCATORI: 12' st Iannotti, 20' st Magnani. ANGOLI: 3-3.
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] The U-21 "B" team begins play in the Mediterranean games in Almeria this week. Here is the final squad of 18 players selected: Portieri Capello Davide 27.09.1984 A.C. Belluno 1905 Rossi Enrico 04.04.1984 Calcio Padova Difensori Belotti Mauro 13.05.1984 A.C. Prato Bolzan Riccardo 01.09.1984 A.C. Sangiovannese Bova Dario 31.03.1984 A.C. Imolese Citro Domenico 17.09.1984 Carrarese Calcio Palazzo Michelangelo 09.03.1984 Olbia Calcio Peluso Federico 20.01.1984 Ternana Calcio Centrocampisti Catacchini Fabio 19.01.1984 A.C. Pistoiese Facchinetti Paolo 06.03.1984 A.C. Montichiari Galasso Gianluca 18.01.1984 Salernitana Sport Porcari Filippo 26.04.1984 Pisa Calcio Pulzetti Nico 13.02.1984 U.S. Castelnuovo G. Ruffini Paolo 03.03.1984 A.C. Pro Sesto Attaccanti Iunco Antimo 10.06.1984 F.C. Verona Hellas Masini Simone 23.10.1984 A.C. Cesena Piovaccari Federico 01.09.1984 F.C. Vittoria Vantaggiato Daniele 10.10.1984 F.C. Crotone Italy faces Libya in its opening Gorup A game on Thursday and Morocco on Monday. 2 of the 3 teams will advance to the quarterfinals, along with 3 teams from each of the other two groups. The other groups - B: Spain, Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Lebanon; C: Tunisia, Greece, Algeria, Malta.
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] Italy's U-21 "B" team got off to a flying start at the Mediterranean Games in Spain with a 3-0 win over Libya. The Italian goals were scored by Vantaggiato, Iunco and Masini (via Pk), the last two coming in the second half after Libya had been reduced to 10 men. Italy faces Morocco on Monday in their second and final group game.
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] Italy tied 0-0 with Morocco today at the Mediterranean games and advances to the tournament's quarterfinals, which will be played on Wednesday.
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] I finally managed to find some details on these two games. Remember, this is a team of '84s, a "U-21 sperimentale". Italy 3 Libya 0 1 - Enrico Rossi 2 - Domenico Citro (90' - Fabio Catacchini) 3 - Federico Peluso 4 - Mauro Belotti 5 - Michelangelo Palazzo 6 - Filippo Porcari 7 - Nico Pulzetti 8 - Gianluca Galasso 9 - Antimo Iunco 10 - Daniele Vantaggiato (89' - Federico Piovaccari) 11 - Simone Masini (C) Goals - Vantaggiato, Iunco, Masini (PK) Booked - Vantaggiato Italy 0 Morocco 0 12 - Davide Capello (GK) 2 - Domenico Citro (45' - Fabio Catacchini) 3 - Federico Peluso (45 ' - Paolo Facchinetti) 13 - Dario Bova 5 - Michelangelo Palazzo 6 - Filippo Porcari 17 - Paolo Ruffini 8 - Gianluca Galasso 9 - Antimo Iunco (79' - Daniele Vantaggiato) 18 - Federico Piovaccari 11 - Simone Masini (C) Booked - Iunco Libya defeated Morocco in the other game in the group, meaning Italy won Group A. However, they face a much bigger test in the quarterfinals, playing hosts Spain who came in second in Group B on goal difference to Turkey. The two teams drew 1-1 but Turkey beat Malta by more goals than Spain did. In the other three QFs (all on Wednesday), Turkey plays Greece, Libya faces Tunisia and Algeria plays Morocco.
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] Italy got ko'd from the Mediterranean games with a 2-1 loss to Spain today. Italy had led 1-0 at halftime but couldn't hold on. FWIW, Italy's two groupmates - Libya and Morocco - both advanced in their semifinal matches.
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] Hmmm. Must've been an interesting match. The game was called off after 87 minutes when Italy was reduced to just 6 players. Spain had also had a couple of players sent off. I'm guessing the Portuguese ref has had better days.
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] From what I can gather, it was a nasty game to begin with - Palazzo was ejected in the first half, along with a Spanish player. But the big problem occurred when Spain scored their go-ahead goal with an Italian player down on the field. Not clear if these ALL occurred at that moment, but four more Italians - Peluso, Pulzetti, Belotti, and Porcari - were sent off, along with Masini who was on the bench at the time. FWIW, the Italian goal had been scored by Daniele Vantaggiato in the first half. Team coach Pietro Ghedin and FIGC president Franco Carraro have both expressed deep apologies. Both of them pointed out that none of the players on this team had much international experience, and Carraro said that "probably some refereeing errors" played a part, but that this was no excuse and "when you put on the shirt of the national team, what happened yesterday should not happen. The situation will be evaluated by the FIGC. For the moment, I'd like to express my apologies to all of Italian sport in the name of the FIGC." Ghedin said "I hope nothing like this ever happens again. I'm depressed. It is a shameful and embarrassing situation. I apologize to the federation and Olympic committees .... the boys acted irrationally and from the heart. This can happen when agony and desire are combined with a lack of experience. I've never in my life seen this type of thing happen. Calcio builds and calcio destroys. At the end of the game, many players were crying."
Re: Italy's Class of '83-'84 (U-21s) [R] For what it's worth, the table from the game, from what I can tell. The minutes seem wrong for some of these guys, but I think 1 - Enrico Rossi 15 - Fabio Catacchini (45'? <- Domenico Citro) 3 - Federico Peluso 4 - Mauro Belotti 5 - Michelangelo Palazzo 6 - Filippo Porcari 7 - Nico Pulzetti 13 - Dario Bova 17 - Paolo Ruffini 10 - Daniele Vantaggiato 11 - Simone Masini (C) (84'? <- Gianluca Galasso) Goal - Vantaggiato (first half) Booked - Belotti, Catacchini, Masini, Peluso (2), Porcari, Pulzetti (2), Ruffini, Vantaggiato. Ejections - Palazzo (29'), Pulzetti (50'), Belotti (81'), Porcari (81'), Peluso (87'), Masini (?') - while on the bench. Palazzo's was a straight red, Pulzetti's was two yellows, Belotti and Porcari got sent off, I suppose, after Spain's second goal, while Peluso got his second yellow a few minutes later, reducing Italy to 6 men and ending the game. Just guessing that captain Masini was taken off before he could get a red card and eventually got one at the end.