Re: Italy's Class of '87 (U-19s) [R] I hear where you're coming from. Your post is well articulated and partially ratifies the general assumption as to why Rossi wants to play for Italy rather than the US. I encourage you to post this in the Yanks Abroad or USMNT sections. However, I will admit that as a USMNT fan I would rather see Rossi play for the US. I think it is equally important to understand that we US fans want Rossi to play for the US precisely because we are looking to build our own soccer culture in this country -- which is happening slowly but surely. Unlike in "developed" soccer countries, in the US, the establishment of a national soccer culture will require a greater drive from top down success (i.e. the USMNT challenging for a WC title) than from bottom up evolution (though that's important, too). That's why the loyal USMNT denizens of this board either want a potential superstar like Rossi to choose the US or react very emotionally and negatively to his current preference to play for Italy. In practical terms, Rossi could have a much greater impact on changing the soccer culture in the US than he could have on that of Italy's. So, while you and a few others may find some on the Yanks Abroad boards a bit disturbing, understand where they are coming from. As an American, I would hope you would join us -- a relatively small but rapidly growing group of fervently passionate fans trying to invoke structural change in American society in the name of the Beautiful Game. I would hope that you would help, Rossi-aside.
Re: Italy's Class of '87 (U-19s) [R] Italy's U-19s continued their poor form with a 2-1 friendly loss to Turkey on Wednesday. Turkey scored first in the 29th minute, but Inter's Matteo Momente' tied it four minutes later. But Turkey scored again in the 93rd minute to secure the win. Here was Italy's squad for this match: Portieri: Farinelli (Triestina), Sirigu (Palermo); Difensori: Antonelli (Milan), Belmonte (Bari), Bianchi (Padova), Brivio (Fiorentina), De Silvestri (Lazio), Rinaldi (Udinese), Rossi (Parma), Vitale (Napoli); Centrocampisti: Candreva (Ternana), Castiglia (Reggina), Maccoppi (Piacenza), Marsili (Roma), Prevete (Empoli), Ungaro (Reggina); Attaccanti: Florian (Treviso), Maniero (Juventus), Momentè (Inter), Tiboni (Atalanta).
Re: Italy's Class of '87 (U-19s) [R] Here are the rest of the Under-19s' results from last season. Very ugly. I can't imagine any Italian team having a worse season than this. 5-1 loss to Turkey? Losing to Cyprus? The Serie D Top 11? I'll only say they surely did a lot of experimentation with the lineups. March 15 - Italy 2 Norway 0 April 12 - Turkey 5 Italy 1 May 15 - Cyprus 2 Italy 1 May 17 - Cyprus 1 Italy 2 Squad list for the Cyprus friendlies: Ardemagni Matteo Milan Brivio Davide Fiorentina Campisi Luisito Atalanta Candreva Antonio Ternana Castiglia Ivan Reggina Consigli Andrea Atalanta Cremonesi Michele Cremonese De Silvestri Lorenzo Lazio Farinelli Lorenzo Triestina Gasparetto Daniele Atalanta Momente' Matteo Inter Piazza Federico Milan Prevete Felice Empoli Rinaldi Michele Udinese Rossi Marco Parma Soddimo Danilo Sampdoria Tedeschi Luca Bologna Tiboni Christian Atalanta June 2 - Italy 0 Top 11 Serie D 2 Game table: Consigli (Farinell); Pisano (Perticone), Esposito, Andreolli, Vicentini (Tedeschi); Costa (Giani), Botta; Acquafresca (Perna), Aurelio.
Re: Italy's Class of '87 (U-20s) [R] I sure thought I had posted this already but clearly not. The new Under-20 team will be playing again in the friendly Four Nations tournament with Austria, Switzlerland and Germany. I haven't seen a full game schedule, but the first match is tomorrow (Sept 13) in Visp, Switzerland. This squad is coached by Pierluigi Casiraghi, who also coaches the Under-21s, and is essentially a 'B' team for that age group. Here are the players called up for this match: Ignazio Abate (Modena) Robert Acquafresca (Treviso) Salvatore Aurelio (Genoa) Giacomo Bindi (Varese) Salvatore Burrai (Cagliari) Antonio Candreva (Ternana) Daniele Capelli (Arezzo) Alessio Cerci (Brescia) Domenico Criscito (Genoa) Andrea Giacomini (Roma) Flavio Lazzari (Modena) Alessio Manzoni (Atalanta) Claudio Marchisio (Juventus) Massimiliano Marsili (Roma) Lino Marzoratti (Empoli) Andrea Masiello (Siena) Daniele Padelli (Crotone) Alessandro Simonetta (Arezzo) Luca Tedeschi (Cremonese) Marco Zambelli (Brescia) I'm mildly surprised that Arturo Lupoli is not here, but I'm guessing it has to do with club conflicts since this is only a friendly match. Same for Matteo Momente', who was starting for this squad a year ago when they were Under-19s. He's on loan from Inter (where he helped to win the Primavera Cup last year) to Sambenedettese (in Serie C1), so maybe that's it, but he IS starting with their first team, so it's a little surprising to me.
Re: Italy's Class of '87 (U-20s) [R] Yes, Masiello is a defender from the Juventus school. Was on loan at Avellino last year (41 appearances/1 goal) and is now at Siena.
Re: Italy's Class of '87 (U-20s) [R] Italy's Under-20 side beat Switzerland 1-0 in the first match of this year's Four Nations Tournament. Genoa's Salvatore Aurelio scored the only goal. I haven't managed to find a complete game table. Previously in the tournament, Germany had also beaten Switzerland, so Italy and Germany are tied with 3 pts apiece, while Switzerland has 0 points, along with Austria who has yet to start. Italy plays it's next game Oct 3 in Austria.
Here are the birth years of the most recent squad. I see there are two 1985s on the squad, which makes some sense since the current U-21s go back to 1984. But the cutoff date for the current U-19s is 1988, so it's a little confusing to say the least. They should just start calling the Under-21 European championship an Under-23 championship since that's really what it is by the time of the final tournament. Ignazio Abate (Modena) 1986 Robert Acquafresca (Treviso) 1987 Salvatore Aurelio (Genoa) 1986 Giacomo Bindi (Varese) 1987 Salvatore Burrai (Cagliari) 1987 Antonio Candreva (Ternana) Daniele Capelli (Arezzo) 1986 Alessio Cerci (Brescia) 1987 Domenico Criscito (Genoa) 1986 Andrea Giacomini (Roma) 1987 Flavio Lazzari (Modena) 1986 Alessio Manzoni (Atalanta) 1987 Claudio Marchisio (Juventus) 1986 Massimiliano Marsili (Roma) 1987 Lino Marzoratti (Empoli) 1986 Andrea Masiello (Siena) 1986 Daniele Padelli (Crotone) 1985 Alessandro Simonetta (Arezzo) 1986 Luca Tedeschi (Cremonese) 1987 Marco Zambelli (Brescia) 1985
Here is Casiraghi's latest Under-20 squad for the next round of the Four Nations, Oct 3 vs Austria: Portieri: Bindi (Varese 1910), Consigli (Sambenedettese); Difensori: Criscito (Genoa), Freddi (Roma), Legati (Legnano), Motta (Udinese) Rinaldi (Udinese), Rossi (Parma), Tedeschi (Cremonese); Centrocampisti: Abate (Modena), Burrai (Cagliari), Carotti (Cremonese), De Ceglie (Juventus) Lazzari (Modena), Savi (Parma); Attaccanti: Acquafresca (Treviso 1993), Cerci (Brescia), Giovinco (Juventus), Lupoli (Derby County). See Marco Motta makes his return after being away from the national team setup for a long time due to injury. He had been playing for the U-21s before his injury. And Lupoli has apparently been deemed not quite ready for the U-21s.
Ha, I was just going to post that. Thanks. It'd be nice to see Italy's lineup to see if/how much Lupoli played, but I doubt the FIGC will post it. BTW, since Austria was knocked out of the U-21 UEFA tournament, a lot of the same players who played for Austria's U-21 team against Italy last month also were in this game. Not to excuse the loss, just thought it was worth a mention.
With some games being played in Toronto for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2007 I am disappointed they will not make the trip to my home town
Here's the remaining schedule of Four Nations Cup games for this team: Dec 3-6 - Italy vs Germany Jan 29-Feb - Italy vs Austria Feb 18-21 - Germany vs Italy May 13-16 - Italy vs Switzerland
Italy U20s beat Austria 2-0. As you know Casiraghi is also the coach of the U20s. They went on the field with a 4-2-3-1: Padelli; Cremonesi, Canini, Rinaldi, Rossi; Cigolini, Bentivoglio; Russotto, De Ceglie, Paonessa; Acquafresca. Goals came from De Ceglie and Acquafresca. Too bad Italy didn't qualify for the FIFA U20 cup, we would've had a pretty good team.
yea these players seemed to shine a little to late. Paonessa was very impressive today for Vicenza and De Ceglie has been excellent for the most part.