Prandelli explains reasons for Italy squad selection
Italy manager Cesare Prandelli gave a press conference this afternoon, where he explained the reasons for selecting his 32 man preliminary squad.
Prandelli has left out regular strikers Giampaolo Pazzini and Alessandro Matri, despite the duo having played in the Azzuri’s most recent friendly – a 1-0 loss at home to USA in February. “For me, six attackers are more than enough,” Prandelli told reporters. “We made our own assessments of players who can give 100 percent to the team. The players excluded were evaluated only on a technical level. I have made choices on form, I challenge anyone to tell me that I should not call Di Natale and Giovinco.”
The 54 year old explained the reasons for selecting his preferred attacking six, stating “Teams play a different style of attacking football today. Once the attackers had to stay in the centre, but today it is different. Balotelli can play that role but also on the outside, as well as Di Natale and Giovinco who have scored a lot during the season”
Italian media has suggested that Prandelli might try a variety of tactics, including the 3-5-2 formation that saw Juventus finish the season undefeated in Serie A. “I do not have much time to try several solutions, but we will base our tactics on those from the qualifiers,” Prandelli said. “A three man defence? We can try it, as it gives us more players in midfield. We’re a good team and we want to win, we want the national team to play a fluid attacking game.”
Prandelli then discussed the inclusion of certain individual players: “Cassano has recovered to 100 percent. Balotelli has played little in the last games of the season, but has won the Premier League. He is a talented player who we hope will shine during the Euros. Chiellini’s injury? I know Giorgio and I know he will do anything to be there”.
Juventus midfielder Simone Pepe has been omitted from the squad due to suspension, with the uncapped Emanuele Giaccherini taking his place. “Pepe is a major player if you’re going to put balls into the box. But Giaccherini can play in a number of roles and I hope will be an important player.”
The big surprise for many was the inclusion of uncapped 19-year-old Pescara midfielder Marco Veratti. “There are many reasons I have made the decision,” Prandelli admitted. “The first is that he is there on merit, that I want people to know that Serie B players can be called up to the national team. I want to make it clear that he is here as part of our long-term vision. Pirlo will be our key midfielder, but we must learn to find other ways to play.”
As for his other surprise inclusions, “Mattia Destro is not the classical central striker, but a modern striker. Diamanti in Bologna has been shown to have great tactical flexibility and personality. He can fill the playmaker role as well as the defensive midfield one. It is a reward for his fantastic season.”
Full Italian 32 man squad:
http://greenscene.me/2012/05/cesare-prandelli-named-preliminary-italy-euro-2012-squad/
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I don’t think it’s much of an exaggeration to say that if O’Shea was moved to play alongside Dunne and players were in our squad on merit, such as Ireland, Hoolahan, McCarthy and Wilson, we would not be far off Italy’s standard.
We would basically just need two full backs of a better standard and our first 11 wouldn’t be much worse than theirs, and I don’t know about Ward but Wilson is playing superbly at LB in arguably the best league in the world and they haven’t had a top class full back since the days of Panucci and Zambrotta.
Depth is the key word here but Diamanti? Really?
Are you serious propagandhi even attempting to compare the likes of Italy’s squad with Ireland’s??? what delusional Island (Ireland) do you live on? Maybe the Leprecorn (however u spell it) took your brain to his fairy magical land… Do not even attempt to suggest Italy and Ireland’s starting 11 are nearly the same quality… like saying you are as good a player as Messi or Ronaldo! Get a life!
Anyway, the fact is that Prandelli has chosen a balanced squad that looks great in all areas. I actually think that Italy’s defence is quite strong, and there are some great players in the squad. Coupled with their midfield maestro’s Pirlo and De Rossi, it is an exciting time for Italian soccer.
Forza Italia and Prandelli!!!
Forza: Prop is known for his extreme statements, I don’t think many Irish would agree with him about the teams – particularly the midfield. However, we do think Ireland can get a good result against Italy, like each of the last 3 meetings under Trapattoni.
Yes Prandelli. Last three games. A 2-0 win for Ireland in Italy. Granted neither team had their strongest 11s out but a win none the less on Italian soil. A 2-2 draw in Dublin in which Italy needed an injury time goal to equalize. A 1-1 draw in Italy in a game that Ireland should have won but I’ll allow for the fact that Italy had a man sent off. And of course what I believe was out last competitive game before that a 1-0 win for Ireland in USA 94. Before that a 1-0 win for Italy in Italia 90 WC 1/4 final in a close game. Fact is Ireland always play Italy tough even when they have strong squads and we expect this time to be no different but if the Italian team and fans go into the game thinking that they are much better than us and expecting a win, well then that will suit us just fine.
I’d agree that Italy’s starting XI looks strong. Prandelli favours 4-3-3 so Italy’s first team could look something like this:
Buffon
Maggio-Barzagli/Bonnucci-Chiellini-Criscito
Marchisio-Pirlo-De Rossi
Di Natale-Balotelli-Cassano/Giovinco
There’s also the possibility he’ll employ the 3-5-2 used by Juventus in their unbeaten title-winning season. Either way that would include four world cup winners in an impressive looking line-up.
However, the much maligned Whelan and Andrews more than held their own against De Rossi and Pirlo in Bari and Dublin, albeit Italy played with ten men for most of the first game.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Whelan man marking Pirlo. If you can stop the Brescian wizard from getting on the ball Italy usually struggle to create much going forward. Also, while Pirlo was majestic this year with Juventus and Marchisio grew in stature, De Rossi had a fairly indifferent season with Roma where he was played primarily as a centre-back.
Left-back is the area where I can see Ireland causing Italy problems. Criscito is ordinary at best and Balzaretti looks more comfortable attacking than defending. Duff and McGeady (and possibly McClean for the last twenty-five minutes) should target the right wing throughout the game. Maggio, however, is arguably the best right-wing back in Europe at the minute – although he is more comfortable playing as a wing back than in a flat back four.
Probably the most noteworthy point regarding the Italy squad is the lack of depth (especially in midfield) compared to previous tournaments. While the first XI looks strong (Buffon, Chiellini, Pirlo and Balotelli are world class in my opinion) there are a lot of ordinary players amongst those 32 names who wouldn’t have got close to a tournament squad from 1982-2006.
We will see come a few weeks time, however i was just saying that trying to compare the Italian team with the Irish squad is just crazy (no disrespect).
Granted that Ireland plays well against Italy, however our record in International tournaments is obviously much better. Even in 1994 when Ireland beat Italy we still came within a penalty shootout of being champions whereas i cant even remember how Ireland finished up.
My point is Italy will be right up there to challenge for the Cup, whereas i doubt Ireland will be.
I won’t argue with you there but we are a country of just over 6 million. Italy has 60 million. That’s 10 times our population and football isn’t even our national sport. Gaelic games are and most people play those so for us to be even giving a country like Italy where football is the biggest sport a good game is a testament to the sporting culture of the Irish people. For us to get out of our group will be an achievement where as Italy should be expecting to win the tournament. This is the natural order of things. Italy is just one of those teams that we never seem to be overawed by. We never have any fear playing you guys. Now as for Spain, I’ll need a few drinks before kick off that day.
Realistically every squad that we come up against in this tournament will be significantly stronger than ours. Our starting 11 is likely to contain Whelan, St Ledger, Andrews and Ward – all of whom have their merits but can you imagine any of those players making the Italy, Spain or Croatia lineup? The Ireland squad man for man is among the most limited at the tournament – we have some solid journeymen and a few experienced heads entering their twilight years but there are no real ‘stars’. Every game we play is going to be a huge challenge and we are relying on team spirit, a massive work ethic, Trapattoni’s experience and probably a lot of luck to help us narrow the talent gap.
Hahaha, I wonder if all Italian fans are as deluded as Forza Prandelli?
Germany, Spain, Netherlands and Portugal are the only teams that Ireland should fear.
Italy are not that good a team, as proven by their flaccid Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010 campaigns, when they were outplayed by such luminaries as Romania, New Zealand and Slovakia.
Pray tell, Forza, who should Ireland fear exactly? The Bundesliga flop Barzagli? The Premier League misfit Aquilani? The consistent team players Cassano and Balotelli? 60 year old Antonio Di Natale? Overrated Daniele De Rossi (consistently part of an underperforming Roma team)? Unproven at the top level Claudio Marchisio?
That leaves 30 somethings Buffon, Chiellini and Pirlo as genuinely World Class players. Given isn’t much worse than Buffon. Chiellini isn’t much better than Dunne and O’Shea. And what Whelan and Andrews lack in finesse, at least they work for the team unlike Pirlo, who may be marked out of our game in a months time.
Sorry Forza but Serie A is the 4th best League in the world, has crap stadiums, doesn’t have the best players and is quite frankly in a tailspin.
The majority of our players are playing in the best league in the world. The majority of Italy’s players would probably flop in the Premier League like Aquilani and Diamanti.
Is Maggio and erm Ballsaretti much better than Wilson? Eh I don’t know about that. Maggio is more of an attacker than a defender. Are Pirlo and Marchisio much better than McCarthy and Ireland? I don’t know about that now. Are Diamanti and Aquilani much better than Hoolahan? Hoolahan has been one of the best players on the pitch against the best teams in the world. Diamanti and Aquilani are good only against s**tty teams like Siena, Cagliari and Bologna.
None of what I said was wrong. Italy are better than Ireland, but not that much better, even though football is the 3rd most popular sport in our country and we have 55 million less people. Italy’s team therefore has better depth but Italy are selecting their best players and we aren’t.
As for the racist leprechaun jibes, I would love to have an Italian say stuff like that in Britain and Ireland but we all know, Italians are lovers not fighters and when they do try and fight, we have all seen the results. Make of that what you will.
@ IrishRI You made good points about how Ireland have more than matched Italy since 1990.
@ Forza Enjoy your crappy league and half empty stadiums.
so, who made the finals in the euro, and who finished last in the group. not even winning a game in the group…. propaghandhi, you are a complete dumbass. you know absolutely nothing about football, and to even consider one of the greatest midfielders of all time the same as hoolahan…. well that makes you a complete dumbass,stick to other sport cause you clearly know nothing about football.
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