Italy has a friendly scheduled on Feb 9, a month or so ahead of their next World Cup Qualifier vs Scotland. To date, nobody has been lined up that I know of. Lippi has stated he'll call the first team to this match. So who would be a good opponent? Here's the status of some possible opponents:- British/Irish teams: Wales - playing Hungary England - playing the Netherlands Ireland - playing Portugal Northern Ireland appears to be available Scandinavian teams: Sweden - playing France Denmark - playing Greece Finland and Iceland are available (no, thank you) Top European teams: Among other qualifying group leaders, only Serbia&Montenegro does not have a game scheduled (per fifa.com). Among second-place teams: Romania, Slovakia, Poland and Belgium seem to be free. The best teams in other confederations are either involved in qualifying or pretty much already lined up. I haven't checked out every single one. I suppose China would be available, but a trip to Asia for a mid-week fixture doesn't seem likely, and they're probably not in the mood to travel to Europe. My preference - I hope they try to get the best team available and play Serbia&Montenegro. They are always a difficult test for Italy. If that doesn't work out, I guess my next choice would be Northern Ireland, as they might be considered to be stylistically similar to Scotland.
Re: Who should Italy play Feb 9? Alas, San Marino has a WC qualifier vs Spain on that date. I've also seen rumors of a Scotland vs Northern Ireland friendly that might happen. I still think Serbia/Montenegro would be a good challenge. The Serbs also have an important qualifier vs Spain on March 30 to prepare for, so they might welcome a challenging friendly opponent like Italy.
Re: Who should Italy play Feb 9? I think that the US will be playing a hexagonal WC qualifying match that date. (yes, it's confirmed - US will be playing Trinidad & Tobago that day).
Re: Who should Italy play Feb 9? Looks like Italy has signed up to play Russia on Feb 9. The site has yet to be determined although Cagliari tops the list of possible venues with Cesena and Catania among the other choices. The venue for the March 26th WCQ vs Scotland is also to be determined with Milan and Genoa apparently among the possibilities. Russia is a good choice. They are currently 3rd in their WCQ group behind Portugal and Slovakia but are coming off a 4-0 win vs Estonia in November.
We should play a challenging team like Brazil. I would love to see an Italy-Brazil friendly. Or why not France? Or England? or some BIG team. But i guess Russia is suitable...
A little hard to get primo opponents like that at this late date. England is already set to play Holland, while France has a date with Sweden, Germany is playing Argentina. I'm not sure what's up with Brazil - they aren't listed as having a match on that date at fifa's website. It could be Italy doesn't want SUCH a big challenge right in the midst of the league season. There is a friendly scheduled with Germany listed on the Italian federation's website for March 2006.
i think this is a good test. if wanted this roster fielded can again be an experimental one to see more players. or we can use it to field a stronger squad for the first time in a long time and see how much work there is to be done iwth team chemistry. any thoughts? forza inter
Lippi said after the last game vs Finland that, for Feb 9, he intends to call in the number one squad that he expects to use vs Scotland in the March qualifier. Of course, injuries and club commitments will play a big part in determining who is available.