Italy - Page 8

***Sweey*** · 13-06-2006, 09:47

I was wondering what would happen - its dangerous and deserves a red as the player could've been badly injured but at the same time the call was made. We won though, that's what counts. Iaquinta isn't injured either. He might even start the next game

pbchillin · 13-06-2006, 10:52

Nice result, Grosso looked a bit dodgy, and we were quite wasteful in front of goal. To be fair Camoranesi played quite well when he came on.

**Bish** · 13-06-2006, 10:58

What did people think of Toni last night? I thought he looked like Italy's main attacking threat. Main reason i ask is cos he's in my dream team

***Sweey*** · 13-06-2006, 10:59

I thought he did very well and was lively. He took up good positions, used his physique well and deserved to score when he hit the underside of the crossbar. If Grosso and Gilardino would LOOK UP when they're in the box, Toni could easily have had two.

**Bish** · 13-06-2006, 11:04

Yeah. I said weeks ago i thought Italy would reach the semis at least. Nothing happened last night to change my mind. Cannavaro and Nesta is probably the best centre back pairing in the competition. Only thing lacking is a bit of pace going forward. If Totti is back to 100%, that could make up for it though. I think they'll comfortably beat USA now, winning the group will be crucial with Brazil waiting for the runners up, most probably.

Barry · 13-06-2006, 11:10

Italy's defence had trouble with Ghana's unpredictable attacking patterns. I hope for Italy's sake Zambrotta can show why he is the best leftback around.(Next to Gio, of course

) Given though, Cannavaro was quality.

Italy will meet someone from Brazil's group, and they(Brazil) are bound to win their group, so Italy better do that too or they will meet Brazil.

***Sweey*** · 13-06-2006, 11:26

Can't see us beating the Czechs unless some of the problems highlighted last night are fixed quickly. I fully expect a tough match from the USA. Bruce Arena isn't an idiot and will quickly rectify the problems they encountered against the Czechs. Not so sure Ghana will do the same. I just hope the Czechs struggle with Ghana's physical power. Nedved will be going down for the entire game, clutching his leg and crying in pain as he always does.

**Rambo** · 13-06-2006, 11:31

Italy should have no troubles with the USA

***Sweey*** · 13-06-2006, 11:47

Jan Koller is fit to play for the Czechs against us but will miss the Ghana game beforehand. Whether they'll risk him from the start remains to be seen.

**Original?** · 13-06-2006, 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbchillin

To be fair Camoranesi played quite well when he came on.

No he didn't, every time they got the opportunity to break Camoranesi stopped with the ball and wasted the chance. He is also a dirty little batard!

***Sweey*** · 13-06-2006, 11:57

I was waiting for that Original?

Barry · 13-06-2006, 12:10

Ever moment he got the ball and a Ghanese was running behind him, my fantasy took a run with me

(And Camoranesi would run and break every bone)

**Teekay** · 13-06-2006, 12:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by barryvs

Italy will meet someone from Brazil's group, and they(Brazil) are bound to win their group, so Italy better do that too or they will meet Brazil.

Hope we finish second so we can give the Brazilians an early exit

Seriously, Italy-Brazil would be my dream final.

Azurri players against Ghana:

Buffon - Stopped the few shots that Ghana got on target. Made a vital save when Ghana got their best opportunity with an Essien half-volley. Played it safe when the ball was played back to him, and his long balls were okay for the most time. Good consistent performance, that showed us that we can once more rely to Gigi if we are going to be in trouble.

Zaccardo - Hardly made an impact on the right. Seemed lost at times in the first half, thank god he gathered some focus to play better in the second half. His often left his man unguarded and some of his attacking decisions were pretty bad. Hope Zambrotta is back when we play against the US. Although Zaccardo might still get a start as Grosso played even worse yesterday.

Nesta - Good game from Nesta, nothing spectacular though. I guess it's always a good game for center backs when you don't concede any goals. Some good interceptions, and his opening passes were pretty good throughout the game, especially in the first half when Italy played more attackingly. Connected well with Cannavaro, which has not always been so self-evident.

Cannavaro - Great game for the Italy capitain. Lead the defense as usual, never made a mistake. Cleared the ball when he had to, and left much of the playmaking to Nesta when he had the time to play the ball.
Confident in his interceptions, and he didn't leave any doubts in headers either. Overall a very good start of the tournament to the Italian central defence. Both Nesta and Cannavaro looked very good.

Grosso - Not too many positive things to say about Grosso's performance really. His defending was unsure (better than Zaccardo's at times though), and his attacking lacked serious pace. Didn't make crucial errors, but didn't impress me either.

Perrotta - Didn't rise to his usual standards yesterday. Didn't really leave a mark in 90 minutes. I guess he did his job okay, but you couldn't really see him on the pitch. Made a good pass to Gilardino at the early stages, but Gila hit the post. Had a very good scoring opportunity when played through by De Rossi, but made a bad decision with his shot. Needs to make more of an impact, although I believe Gattuso will take his place when he gets fit.

De Rossi - Had a pretty good game in my opinion, although the start seemed quite slow with him. His passing game was pretty solid, and his positioning was often spot on. Matched the physical Ghana midfield outfit with his tackles, and showed he has the guts to take on anyone. Helped Pirlo with the defensive side of the game, and also played a good through ball to Perrotta after a nice interception. Made some good tackles, but unfortunately got a yellow card. I still waited more from him and Perrotta working together.

Pirlo - Player of the game at least according to Fifa. Had his moments, the goal was a very nice shot, and some of his passes were spot on as usual. One of his best matches in months, but he can still do better. Did his defending job surprisingly well without Gattuso. His passing was safe when needed but sometimes I feel Pirlo's playmaking slows down the game too much.

Totti - Admitted himself he wasn't going to be 100% fit, but Lippi decided to play him. Probably a good decision as Totti as always a morale boost to his team. Had a good free kick in the first half from about 35 metres, but some of his through passes left a lot to be desired. Hopefully he can reach his full potential as the tournament procedes.

Gilardino - Gilardino's performance was quite the picture of his spring campaign. Had some good chances but he ust couldn't score. Bad luck or bad skill? Maybe both. We know he can score, but he needs to get back on form. Connected well with Toni a few times.

Toni - Well everyone was expecting a goal from the Serie A top scorer, and he nearly scored. Should have got his foot in the way of Perrotta's pass in the first half. Later on he showed his best skills as he won the ball lifted up by Gilardino, and hit the crossbar with a clean shot. Although he didn't score in the game, he showed some dangerous moments, an I believe Lippi will have faith in him.

Subs:

Camoranesi - Played for over half an hour (still over half an hour too much) and performed better than in 90% of his games for Juve during last season. Made some good interceptions, and got a yellow card (Surprise!). His dribbling was appauling, but overall his performance was a lot better than I had expected.

Iaquinta - Played an awfully lot better than Gilardino, and scored after a good pressure on Kuffour. Received a horrible tackle from the Ghana defender, but came back to the pitch after a while and scored. Made some good runs, and was a constant threat to the tired Ghana squad.

On Ghana: Had some problems with organising both the attack and the defence. Some horrible tackles, especially by Kuffour on Iaquinta (should have been red carded even though the ref had already blowed the whistle

) and Essien on many occasions.

I can't see EPL games, but if that's what Essien has done all season, I cannot understand why anyone rates him at all. Without outstanding players by his side like Malouda, Juninho, Lampard and Makelele he is nothing!

**Original?** · 13-06-2006, 14:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Teekay-

Buffon - Stopped the few shots that Ghana got on target. Made a vital save when Ghana got their best opportunity with an Essien half-volley. Played it safe when the ball was played back to him, and his long balls were okay for the most time. Good consistent performance, that showed us that we can once more rely to Gigi if we are going to be in trouble.

Zaccardo - Hardly made an impact on the right. Seemed lost at times in the first half, thank god he gathered some focus to play better in the second half. His often left his man unguarded and some of his attacking decisions were pretty bad. Hope Zambrotta is back when we play against the US. Although Zaccardo might still get a start as Grosso played even worse yesterday.

Nesta - Good game from Nesta, nothing spectacular though. I guess it's always a good game for center backs when you don't concede any goals. Some good interceptions, and his opening passes were pretty good throughout the game, especially in the first half when Italy played more attackingly. Connected well with Cannavaro, which has not always been so self-evident.

Cannavaro - Great game for the Italy capitain. Lead the defense as usual, never made a mistake. Cleared the ball when he had to, and left much of the playmaking to Nesta when he had the time to play the ball.
Confident in his interceptions, and he didn't leave any doubts in headers either. Overall a very good start of the tournament to the Italian central defence. Both Nesta and Cannavaro looked very good.

Grosso - Not too many positive things to say about Grosso's performance really. His defending was unsure (better than Zaccardo's at times though), and his attacking lacked serious pace. Didn't make crucial errors, but didn't impress me either.

Perrotta - Didn't rise to his usual standards yesterday. Didn't really leave a mark in 90 minutes. I guess he did his job okay, but you couldn't really see him on the pitch. Made a good pass to Gilardino at the early stages, but Gila hit the post. Had a very good scoring opportunity when played through by De Rossi, but made a bad decision with his shot. Needs to make more of an impact, although I believe Gattuso will take his place when he gets fit.

De Rossi - Had a pretty good game in my opinion, although the start seemed quite slow with him. His passing game was pretty solid, and his positioning was often spot on. Matched the physical Ghana midfield outfit with his tackles, and showed he has the guts to take on anyone. Helped Pirlo with the defensive side of the game, and also played a good through ball to Perrotta after a nice interception. Made some good tackles, but unfortunately got a yellow card. I still waited more from him and Perrotta working together.

Pirlo - Player of the game at least according to Fifa. Had his moments, the goal was a very nice shot, and some of his passes were spot on as usual. One of his best matches in months, but he can still do better. Did his defending job surprisingly well without Gattuso. His passing was safe when needed but sometimes I feel Pirlo's playmaking slows down the game too much.

Totti - Admitted himself he wasn't going to be 100% fit, but Lippi decided to play him. Probably a good decision as Totti as always a morale boost to his team. Had a good free kick in the first half from about 35 metres, but some of his through passes left a lot to be desired. Hopefully he can reach his full potential as the tournament procedes.

Gilardino - Gilardino's performance was quite the picture of his spring campaign. Had some good chances but he ust couldn't score. Bad luck or bad skill? Maybe both. We know he can score, but he needs to get back on form. Connected well with Toni a few times.

Toni - Well everyone was expecting a goal from the Serie A top scorer, and he nearly scored. Should have got his foot in the way of Perrotta's pass in the first half. Later on he showed his best skills as he won the ball lifted up by Gilardino, and hit the crossbar with a clean shot. Although he didn't score in the game, he showed some dangerous moments, an I believe Lippi will have faith in him.

Subs:

Camoranesi - Played for over half an hour (still over half an hour too much) and performed better than in 90% of his games for Juve during last season. Made some good interceptions, and got a yellow card (Surprise!). His dribbling was appauling, but overall his performance was a lot better than I had expected.

Iaquinta - Played an awfully lot better than Gilardino, and scored after a good pressure on Kuffour. Received a horrible tackle from the Ghana defender, but came back to the pitch after a while and scored. Made some good runs, and was a constant threat to the tired Ghana squad.

I agree with this for the most part, only things I might suggest is that Iaquinta has received more praise than he deserved, let's not forget that by the time he was playing up front he had a lot more space as Ghana pushed forward. I also think that you've failed to give Toni quite enough praise, his movement up front was fantastic as usual and only due to a lack of vision by supporting players did he fail to score.

Camoranesi is also over praised, admittedly he did play better than we may expect, but let us not forget exactly how bad we expected him to play! He doesn't deserve to wear an international shirt, much like Owen Hargreaves.

Barry · 13-06-2006, 14:06

Most I agree with(again), only De Rossi being an exception. Sometimes his tackling brought Italy in danger(didnt he psuh that Ghana guy down in the box?) and sometimes his tackles were purely focused on the legs, like in the openingg 10 minutes or so where he cut this guy down on the edge of the box.