2006-12 he was spectacular. Carried Samp to a Champions league appearance. Was playing out of this world for Italy and Milan before that unfortunate stroke. Came back and pulled the strings for Italy at the euros...more so than even Pirlo. I remember Marchisio missing a couple glorious chances vs Croatia due to his vision.
For as long as I've followed the game, as a player, coach, referee, trainer and/or administrator you won't get good by not playing in actual games and it won't happen just by daily practice sessions. You need real games under your belt to gain both sharpness , form and help build confidence. Training alone with and against other players is ok to a point but it is nowhere near the same as playing in match day experience in front of 25,000 + people. That is true of every sport earth. We all know the level of the league is what it is but regardless of that, if Giovinco could be picked while on the bench at Juventus, I just don't see how or why he couldn't be picked to play for Italy while dominating in MLS. If anything, I think playing in MLS has helped him get stronger and become a be4tter player . Its definitely helped his confidence and the last time he appeared for Italy, he was on fire. I also don't believe if he were to be given a chance, he will have done any worse than anyone else who played against Germany. Le pagelle dell'Italia: Giovinco dà la scossa Le pagelle di Italia-Norvegia 2-1 - Qualificazioni Euro 2016 ...
Gabbs isn't just competing against Higuain. They typically play a 4-3-3. Gabbs can play anyone of the front three roles. He hasn't been able to beat out Insigne and Callejon for starting roles. Your point about career moves is well-taken. That said, the fact that he hasn't been able to break into the starting XI is telling.
I don't disagree. You can argue that Giovinco warrants a spot on this squad. My issue with the opinion voiced by a number of posters here is this naive belief that guys like Giovinco, Gabbiadini, Insigne...are world beaters. I don't have any qualms about giving those guys a shot; but let's not put them on par with our prior generation of strikers, at least not yet. They're not as good as the Del Piero/Totti/Inzaghi generation. And they're nowhere near the Baggio/Zola generation.
Yeah Giovinco, Gabbiadini and Insigne aren't total world beaters. They are good players but nowhere near the level of Del Piero, Totti, Inzaghi or Zola were. Baggio in my opinion was the best Italian player at least since 1970's onward and no one is even close to matching his skill. In the present state of Italian football , I don't think we will see these players again any time soon. Unless changes are made and they concentrate on developing younger players and graduating them into top teams like they once did, things may get worse. As far as Giovinco is concerned, I think he should be on the national team because he is in form and confident and can make things happen. I just don't subscribe to the theory that because he is in a lower level MLS that he isn't any good or that he wouldn't be up to par. Stephan El Shaarawy at Monaco had 0 goals in 15 games and no one thought a minute he would be in the national team, picture at the end of January. Now he is at Roma scoring 5 goals in 6 games and 1 with Italy. Mostly because he is talented and is playing with better players. Therefore, I just don't believe all these theories and if you put Seba in playing with other top players, I know he won't disappoint. Again, I doubt he would do worse than the other players did against Germany.
How do you know he won't disappoint? He's never really excelled for a long period of time in Serie A. Now that he's in MLS, things are finally clicking. Again, could be him...could be the league. I don't mind him getting called up come June but my biggest issue with Giovinco is if he can play at the highest level. And I really don't know..
What about Del Piero when he played in Serie B? His stats weren't that different from when he played in Serie A.
He carried Parma that one year with an MVP calibre season. When given steady playing time, he's proven himself to be one of the best. As far as his MLS success. He is surrounded by sub-par teammates and opponents can just zero in on him every game. Yet he still puts up numbers.
Why not? Just because he wasn't a regular at Juventus? How many players are on the bench at Juve? He did well at Empoli and Parma and I'm sure he can play at that level. Again, I doubt he would do any worse than anyone else that appeared against Germany. The way Italy played, they hardly played at this amazing "high" level. Thank you. This level of the league crap is so exaggerated its not even funny. Simon Elliot was man of the match when Italy played New Zealand in 2010 and he was even waived by my team in San Jose 3 months earlier. Heck Italy couldn't even beat Costa Rica in 2014 and they had a starting defender playing for the Columbus Crew. You either can or you can't play the game and I still don't see how he will have been picked to play for Italy while on the bench or as a seldom used reserve at Juve but not as an MLS MVP in Toronto. Or for that matter, what about Fiorentina's Christian Riganò? He went from leading scorer of the C2 at 29 years of age to scoring 23 goals in Seire B at age 30 and 19 goals at Messina at age 33. Granted he wasn't a national team player but he is an example that if you are a player and/or goal scorer at one level, you can play the game at any other professional level as well. Fabio Grosso played in the 5th division and literally won the World Cup for Italy almost by himself 8 years later. Also, MLS isn't Serie A and this has been proven but its hardly a cakewalk league like everyone likes to assume it to be. If it were, all the highly paid superstars would be excelling and more often than not, many have struggled. Giovinco though has been the exception and he has prospered , however.
Confidence has a lot to do with it as well. Players are more likely to reach their potential and then show it on a national level if they are succeeding at their club. The Giovinco on the bench for Juve vs the star he is at Toronto is a very different player for NT. Eder is another example, he's not clicking at Inter and is carrying that form over.
I honestly don't like the naturalized citizens on the national team but that is another story. Even if Eder did well at Samp and crappy and Inter, he shouldn't be selected. I mean Bearzot use to hang on to a same set of players forever but I think Sacchi did away with that. If you aren't on your game at the club level, I don't see how you can play or even be considered for selection at the national level either.
If that's what you got from my post you missed the point. But yeah club form is very important but so is international form/experience etc. I remember Casiraghi playing for the NT whilst he was on the bench at Lazio at one point.
No it really had nothing to do with your post. It was my opinion. Yes Cesare Maldini continued to pick picked Casiraghi because at the time, the saying went that there weren't any pure center forwards but he fit the mold. With the emergence of both Christian Vieri and Pippo Inzaghi around 97-98, Pierluigi Casiraghi was not selected to play at World Cup 1998 and when he left for Chelsea, he never played for Italy again.
I haven't been following that closely. Is Eder getting minutes at Inter this year or has he been relegated to the bench?