Road to Euro 2012

Here's my NT as of now:

----------------Marchetti--------------------
--Santon--Bonucci--Chiellini----Antonini--
---------Pirlo----------De Rossi-------------
----------------Giovinco---------------------
------Balotelli------------Cassano----------
-----------------Pazzini---------------------

Subs:
GK: Amelia, Sirigu
DF: Ranocchia, Cassani, Antonelli, Gamberini, others
MF: Palombo, Pepe, Marchisio, Aquilani, others
ST: Acquafresca, Miccoli, G. Rossi, Macheda

Originally Posted by Elmago99

Here's my NT as of now:

----------------Marchetti--------------------
--Santon--Bonucci--Chiellini----Antonini--
---------Pirlo----------De Rossi-------------
----------------Giovinco---------------------
------Balotelli------------Cassano----------
-----------------Pazzini---------------------

Subs:
GK: Amelia, Sirigu
DF: Ranocchia, Cassani, Antonelli, Gamberini, others
MF: Palombo, Pepe, Marchisio, Aquilani, others
ST: Acquafresca, Miccoli, G. Rossi, Macheda

Bold players:
- Viviano and Sirigu, nowadays, seem more solid than Marchetti. And the career of Marchetti is in trouble as Cagliari won't use him until January ... So no Marchetti in NT for all these months, giving time to Sirigu or Viviano to take the place, and then, with Buffon coming back, it will be very difficult for Marchetti.
- Santon isn't ready for the NT. When was his last game in Inter (I know he has been injured, but when will he come back ?!) ?
- Giovinco can't play there IMO, I think he's a pure AM or even a winger, but he can't play in the midfield 3, because he won't be efficient there, and because the midfield is going to be VERY weak, imagine a game against the physical monsters of Ghana ?! The midfield is going to be in big trouble with both Giovinco and Pirlo ...
- Balotelli never showed anything showing he is worth being a starter in NT. He should maybe start to be a starter in his club ...

I'd give another chance to G.Rossi in attack, or if Giovinco performs really well in Parma (his new club ?), he could have his chance there too.

In midfield, I think the team needs a "destroyer", Pirlo isn't, De Rossi isn't (he has more and more responsability, he is no more a DM), but I don't know who ...

In defence, at RB, I don't know again who can play there.

And for the GK position, well, I said my thought ...

Originally Posted by GeoTav

Bold players:
- Viviano and Sirigu, nowadays, seem more solid than Marchetti. And the career of Marchetti is in trouble as Cagliari won't use him until January ... So no Marchetti in NT for all these months, giving time to Sirigu or Viviano to take the place, and then, with Buffon coming back, it will be very difficult for Marchetti.
- Santon isn't ready for the NT. When was his last game in Inter (I know he has been injured, but when will he come back ?!) ?
- Giovinco can't play there IMO, I think he's a pure AM or even a winger, but he can't play in the midfield 3, because he won't be efficient there, and because the midfield is going to be VERY weak, imagine a game against the physical monsters of Ghana ?! The midfield is going to be in big trouble with both Giovinco and Pirlo ...
- Balotelli never showed anything showing he is worth being a starter in NT. He should maybe start to be a starter in his club ...

I'd give another chance to G.Rossi in attack, or if Giovinco performs really well in Parma (his new club ?), he could have his chance there too.

In midfield, I think the team needs a "destroyer", Pirlo isn't, De Rossi isn't (he has more and more responsability, he is no more a DM), but I don't know who ...

In defence, at RB, I don't know again who can play there.

And for the GK position, well, I said my thought ...

Understandable at the GK position.. shame about Marchetti as he was supposed to be the next great Italian GK...

Also understand a bout Giovinco..although in my 4-2-3-1...it's very attacking obviously. Cassano and Giovinco both play similarly in that they don't really play as MF's.. So if you're looking for a "destroyer" I don't know anyone besides Palombo...

I really hope Santon can be a great RB/LB for Italy. I know he plays for Merda, btu he really showed some great things 2 years ago..shutting down CR7... I can't see anyone else as being a top class RB/LB

As for Balotelli he will be a Forward for Nazionale..it's just a matter of time... G. Rossi too.. the three of them will fight it out for a starting role occupied in probably 2 positions (Rossi, Balo, Cassano)

I think Pirlo's days are numbered for Nazionale..

Well Im of to Dublin now for the game against Russia , Im hopeful for a win but a draw will a good result , Idealy I'd like a win tonight and a draw away to Slovakia that would be good.I just want to go another tournament , our team is fairly void of quality but Trapp has mediocure players punching above their weight.I don't expect a classic but An t-adh leat Eire.

Originally Posted by Jay Crisp

Well Im of to Dublin now for the game against Russia , Im hopeful for a win but a draw will a good result , Idealy I'd like a win tonight and a draw away to Slovakia that would be good.I just want to go another tournament , our team is fairly void of quality but Trapp has mediocure players punching above their weight.I don't expect a classic but An t-adh leat Eire.

Ireland deserves to qualify for a big competition, at least because of what happened against France before the WC ... and also because it's funny to have teams who never give up in big competitions. So many teams manage to qualify and suddenly become bad once they are qualified, they don't fight to win, with Ireland, we would be sure to have a "small team" with a big fighting spirit !!

Ireland and Turkey are IMO the best two examples in Europe of these "small teams" (not really actually, I mean by small team that they never won any big competition and don't manage to qualify all the time) being entertaining to watch because they always fight until the last second.

I know of at least two big soccer commentators who said Slovakia had a good World Cup, I completely disagree and look at this today

Armenia 3 - 1 Slovakia

Russia had too much class , we were static slow and most importantly had no fight.

The 28th day of this month, we'll know what will happen to Serbia ...
What could have been a very good game was simply destroyed by a group of idiots who shouldn't be allowed to be in a stadium.

The most probable decision is probably going to be:
- 3-0 for Italy
- Serbia can't play home games with a crowd (or they will have to play their home games in another country)
- Serbia can't have supporters anymore when they play away

If the country was to be disqualified of the competition, it would be a too big punishment for the team/players, and as they will probably not qualify for the Euro (given their first results), there is no need to disqualify them now, I even think it would be a "win" for these hooligans.

Originally Posted by GeoTav

The 28th day of this month, we'll know what will happen to Serbia ...
What could have been a very good game was simply destroyed by a group of idiots who shouldn't be allowed to be in a stadium.

The most probable decision is probably going to be:
- 3-0 for Italy
- Serbia can't play home games with a crowd (or they will have to play their home games in another country)
- Serbia can't have supporters anymore when they play away

If the country was to be disqualified of the competition, it would be a too big punishment for the team/players, and as they will probably not qualify for the Euro (given their first results), there is no need to disqualify them now, I even think it would be a "win" for these hooligans.

Agree on all accounts....

Originally Posted by Elmago99

Agree on all accounts....

Serbia disagrees ...
It seems they will ask to play again the game with no crowd.

While the Italian police/politics/federation/... say everything was done in the rules, the Serbian politics/federation/... say they adviced Italy to reinforce the security for this game and that it wasn't done.

Who is right ? We don't know.

The decision is 3-0 for Italy, two games without crowd for Serbia, one for Italy.

Originally Posted by GeoTav

The decision is 3-0 for Italy, two games without crowd for Serbia, one for Italy.

This makes so much sense...not. How are both at fault?

Originally Posted by Reza

This makes so much sense...not. How are both at fault?

For Serbia: because it's people from their country who stopped the game (I don't call them "supporters" because they are not).

For Italy: because they didn't control well enough the people coming in the stadium ... probably not enough policemen too, it was ridiculous to see so few policemen in the stadium.

Trouble makers will make trouble. Inside or outside stadium, 10 police or 1000 police. It's like saying it's my fault that I use 1 lock instead of 2 locks on my house door.

Originally Posted by Reza

Trouble makers will make trouble. Inside or outside stadium, 10 police or 1000 police. It's like saying it's my fault that I use 1 lock instead of 2 locks on my house door.

But there are rules made by UEFA to avoid this kind of problem, if Italy is punished too, that means they didn't respect all the rules ...