Italy's Class of '89 (U-18s) [R]

2005 Pepsi Tournament

Found the match schedule for the Pepsi tournament at the English FA's website:
http://www.thefa.com/England/U17s/FixturesAndResults/Postings/2005/08/EngU17_PepsiTournament2005.htm

Aug 31 - Italy vs USA
Sept 2 - Portugal vs Italy
Sept 4 - Italy vs England

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Here is Italy's U-17 squad selected for the upcoming Pepsi Tournament in England.

Portieri: Corradini (Parma), Delfino (Roma), Cadignani (Bologna), Pazzagli (Fiorentina);
Difensori: Cafiero (Roma), Malacarne (Milan), Mei (Inter), Pambianchi (Parma), Palumbo (Roma), Tagliani (Brescia), Tuia (Lazio);
Centrocampisti: Bolzoni (Inter), Caraglia (Milan), Loiodice (Roma), Palumbo (Napoli), Viola (Reggina);
Attaccanti: Fusciello (Atalanta), Marconi (Atalanta), Maritato (Juventus), Pasquato (Juventus), Eusepi (Roma), Camilluzzi (Lazio).

Many familiar names from the U-16 squad of last season but some new ones, too.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

This tournament got underway today, and it looks like Italy drew 3-3 vs the US. This is Italy?! According to an English fan who attended the game (link below), the US went up 2-0 in the first 10 minutes, then Italy came back to take a 3-2 lead, and the US equalized late. Will wait for word on the lineups and scorers.

http://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/forum.jsp?id=576&article=2741

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Must've been a nice performance by Maritato, I guess, with two goals. He was one of two '89s (with Max Tagliani) on the U-17 squad last spring which finished 3rd in Europe to qualify for Peru. He made two sub's appearances in the tournament. But coach Rocca opted to go with an all-'88 roster for the worlds, leaving Maritato to lead this new batch of U-17s.

Looks like the US was shell-shocked for about 7 minutes there (not to mention Italy in the first 10 minutes). Wonder how that played out. Sounds like it would've been a fun game to see.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Today's Italy vs Portugal match finished 0-0 while the US defeated England 1-0. Here's an article about the Italy-US game though it doesn't tell much more than I already knew:

http://www.concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=3141

In today's game, Italy had a first-half PK saved. The table with one game remaining per team:

USA 4 pts
England 3 pts
Italy 2 pts
Portugal 1 pt

The US will win the tournament with a victory over Portugal. If Portugal wins instead, England or Italy can win the tournament with a victory.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Italy beat England 2-1 today on goals by Palumbo and Tagliani. Here's an English report on the game:

http://www.cheltenhamtownfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10434~708736,00.html?

ITALY: Corrandini; Cafiero, Tuia, Tagliani (c), Pambianchi; Bolzoni, Loiodice, Cosmo Palumbo, Viola; Pasquato (Marconi 67), Maritato (Cristian Palumbo 59). Subs not used: Delfino, Mei, Caraglia, Fusciello, Malacarne.

I haven't seen the result of USA vs Portugal as yet to know if this was enough for Italy to win the tournament or not. Still, a promising performance from the youngsters heading into European qualifying.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Portugal beat the US, 2-1, meaning Italy won this tournament. A good boost of confidence ahead of the European qualifying trip to Ukraine at the end of this month.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Here are the players brought into camp for the 2006 U-17 European championship qualifying round which gets underway in Ukraine next Tuesday:

Portieri: Pazzagli (Fiorentina), Delfino (Roma);
Difensori: Cafiero (Roma), Gentili (Atalanta), Mignano (Juventus), Pambianchi (Parma), Tagliani (Brescia), Tuia (Lazio);
Centrocampisti: Bolzoni (Inter), Triarico (Lecce), Loiodice (Roma), Palumbo (Napoli), Viola (Reggina), Antoniol (Padova);
Attaccanti: Fusciello (Atalanta), Marconi (Atalanta), Maritato (Juventus), Pasquato (Juventus)

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

UEFA qualifying gets underway on Tuesday for this new edition of the U-17s. They are playing in the Ukraine and will start off against Latvia. There is little room for error in this competition as only the group-winners advance. Hopefully, the team will do as well as they did in winning the Pepsi Tournament.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Italy got off to a winning start in this qualifying tournament, beating Latvia 2-1. Goals:

4' - Tagliani (Italy)
60' - Pasquato (Italy)
81' - Opipsov (Latvia)

Next game is Friday vs Ireland.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Actually, the next match is TODAY, not Friday. Anyway, here was Italy's starting lineup vs Latvia

1-Riccardo Delfino
2-Claudio Cafiero
3-Francesco Pambianchi
4-Alessandro Tuia
5-Massimiliano Tagliani
6-Simone Loiodice
7-Vittorio Triarico
8-Cosmo Palumbo
9-Pier Giuseppe Maritato
10-Cristian Pasquato
11-Tobia Fusciello

Subs (don't know if or when any came in):
12-Edoardo Pazzagli
13-Matteao Gentili
14-Ivan Mignano
15-Nicolas Viola
16-Francesco Bolzoni
17-Enrico Antoniol
18-Michele Marconi

Coach: Antonio Rocca (NOT to be mistaken for Francesco Rocca, the coach of the u-17s in Peru)

Tagliani's goal was from a PK.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Italy drew with Ireland 2-2 in today's match. Italy and Ireland are tied atop the table heading into their last matches, so Italy must defeat Ukraine by more goals than Ireland beats Latvia, or score more goals in winning by the same amount. If both teams tie, whichever scores more goals would advance. If both teams win or tie with the same score, then LOTS will be drawn to determine who advances. Yikes. Hopefully, it won't come down to that.

Italy 4 pts 4 GF 3 GA
Ireland 4 pts 4 GF 3 GA
Ukraine 3 pts 2 GF 2 GA
Latvia 0 pts 1 GF 3 GA

Anyway, Italy's goals were from Tagliani (38', to make it 1-1) and then Pasquato (68', to make it 2-1). Apparently, Italy had some good chances at that point to make it 3-1, but Ireland equalized in the 73' and that's the way it finished.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Italy started the same team against Ireland as they did vs Latvia with the exception of Francesco Bolzoni starting in place of Tobia Fusciello.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

I had to look hard but I found today's result thanks to Ireland's FA. When it's not quickly posted anywhere in Italian news sites, that usually means bad news, and true again today. Italy drew with Ukraine 2-2 while Ireland beat Latvia 2-0, so Ireland finished on top of the group and Italy is out of the tournament already. So friendlies it'll be for this crew for the next couple of years. This year's remaining schedule (so far):-

Oct 25/27 - pair of friendlies in Czech Republic
Oct 30-Nov 4 - goalkeepers' training camp
Nov 6-9 - training camp
Dec 6 - friendly vs Romania (in Italy, site TBD)
Jan 30/Feb 2 - pair of friendlies in Portugal
Mar 2 - friendly vs Romania (in Romania)

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

I've never been so happy to be so wrong! Guess I misread (or didn't) read the regulations way back when and never went back to verify. Thanks for the correction. I was feeling very sad for these guys.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Against Ukraine, Italy made two changes to the starting lineup - Edoardo Pazzagli replaced Delfino in goal and Enrico Antoniol started in place of Bolzoni/Fusciello. Fusciello obviously came in at some point because he scored Italy's first goal in the 54th minute, which made it 1-1. Maritato scored again 2 minutes later to give Italy the lead, but Kovalov equalized in the 77th to make the final score 2-2.

Not sure when the draw is for the elite round or when it'll take place. I guess they have to complete the round before the end of March. I do know ONLY the group-winners get through the elite round. For sure.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Here are coach Antonio Rocca's callups for next week's pair of friendlies in the Czech Republic. The games are on Oct 25 and Oct 27. The players will meet at the Borghesiana training center on Sunday and leave for Prague on Monday.

Portieri: Pazzagli (Fiorentina), Chinchio (Sampdoria);
Difensori: Cafiero (Roma), Gentili (Atalanta), Barbetti (Atalanta), Pambianchi (Parma), Tagliani (Fiorentina), Tuia (Lazio), D'Urso (Napoli Soccer);
Centrocampisti: Della Penna (Roma), Triarico (Lecce), Crotti (Atalanta), Palumbo (Napoli Soccer), Costantini (Genoa);
Attaccanti: Marini (Inter), Bianchini (Roma), Maritato (Juventus), Pasquato (Juventus).

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (new U-17s) [R]

Italy lost to the Czech Republic in the first of two friendlies yesterday. The final score was 3-2. Italy's goals were scored by Marini and Della Penna in the first half. The result is disappointing mainly because Italy led twice before giving up two second half goals to lose.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (U-17s) [R]

Oh-for-2 for the boys in the Czech Republic as they lost again today by a score of 2-0.

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (U-17s) [R]

Well, things did start brightly this year with the win in the Pepsi tournament. And at least these guys are still alive in Europe.

Anyway, according to the excellent Inter youth team website ( http://giovanili.inter.it ), there is a joint U-17 and U-18 training camp this week, with the two teams facing off on Monday at La Borghesiana training facility in Rome. I haven't seen all the callups, but here are Inter's:

U-17
Francesco Bolzoni (Inter)
Gabriele Puccio (Inter)

U-18
Paolo Tornaghi (Inter)
Marco Dalla Costa (Inter)

 

Re: Italy's Class of '89 (U-17s) [R]

I finally found a full list of the players that were called up for this camp:

Paltemio Barbetti (Cisco Roma)
Francesco Bolzoni (Inter)
Mario Bruno (Torino)
Eros Corradini (Parma)
Francesco Checucci (Fiorentina)
Daniele Cuoco (Empoli)
Mario D'Urso (Napoli)
Mirko Eramo (Bari)
Federico Gabrieli (Padova)
Alex Guerci (Milan)
Michele Guerini (Milan)
Manuel Nocciolini (Fiorentina)
Fabio Niero (Padova)
Christian Palumbo (Roma)
Gabriele Puccio (Inter)
Jonis Khoris (Reggina)
Manuel Vallati (Torino)
Armando Visconti (Roma)

Italy's Under-17s host Romania in a friendly on December 6.