The international break is upon us and many Juventini are away on international duty. While Juventus will not be in action this weekend, there is always plenty to talk about. Italy and Brazil as well as Pogba The two most storied footballing countries in the world will faced off yesterday. Prandelli has typically used friendlies as an excuse to try as many players as possible, but Andrea Pirlo promises that Italy will take this friendly seriously. The match was once [...]
Italy won their third straight match Tuesday night as they dispatched Denmark 3-1 in a sparsely filled San Siro. Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli proved to be the decisive figure yet again for the Azzurri, assisting on the first goal and scoring one himself to seal the three points for Cesare Prandelli’s men. Prandelli deployed the same formation that he used last Friday against Armenia, eschewing the 3-5-2 in favor of his tried and true 4-3-1-2 but not without a [...]
Before the start of the European Championships this summer, many in Italy were feeling pessemistic about the Azzurri’s chances, not only with regards to the knockout stages, but towards getting out of the group itself, needing to navigate through the likes of a seemingly invincible Spain, a Croatia team that has always given Italy fits, and an Ireland side managed by the wily Giovanni Trappatoni. Between the difficult group, the exploding match-fixing scandal at home, and the departure of Cesare [...]
Alessandro Diamanti stepped forward to take the final penalty kick which would secure Italy’s semi-final berth and end England’s dreams. It had taken over 120 minutes to separate Italy and England and it came down to the lottery of a penalty shoot-out. After Diamanti had successfully converted the winning kick, England knew that history had repeated itself. It was to be another tale of tragedy for the English, but Italy could look forward to facing old foes Germany in the [...]
Once upon time a draw with Italy would have been considered a good result for Spain. In light of past results between the two nations, it still should be – Spain have never beaten Italy in normal time in a world cup or European championship match. But, they care little for history, their extraordinary success of late after decades of underachievement clearly suggests this. The country’s expectations have changed accordingly, too; they are now much higher. Trudging off the pitch [...]
A 1-1 draw against the reigning world champions can be counted as a good result for the Azzurri despite the injuries and off field distractions. Cesare Prandelli utilized the much talked about 3-5-2 after experimenting with the unorthodox formation in training last week, with the back three comprised of Juventus duo of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, plus Daniele De Rossi making his international debut as a center back. Up front the attack was also as expected, as was most [...]
The footballing world was rocked as 25-year-old Piermario Morosini collapsed on the field and was confirmed dead upon arrival to the hospital. Just weeks after Fabrice Muamba of Bolton suffered a similar situation, fans are once again reminded that football is just a game and there are more important things at play than just who puts the ball in the back of the net. While not the most well known player, his story is an inspiration and makes his death [...]
One of Europe’s most promising defenders doesn’t play for a powerhouse like Manchester United or Milan or Real Madrid, nor does he play for a club more known for unearthing (or producing) gems like Porto or Udinese; rather, he plays in Serie B for a team who hasn’t won a major trophy in nearly twenty years. He plays for Torino. Ogbonna would certainly be more widely known if he left the Piemontese side in the past couple seasons; however, he [...]
Roberto Mancini was born 27th November 1964 in the town of Jesi, of the Province of Ancona, Marche. This small town in central Italy was the place which saw Roberto first fall in love with the beautiful game. As a boy, his only two interests were football and religion. He was a committed Roman Catholic, and as such honoured his faith by being an altar boy at his local place of worship, the church of San Sebastian. His football club [...]
In the modern game of football, 600,000 Euros is an extremely insignificant price to pay for a player. It is a low risk, high reward situation for the club. If the player ends up as a failure then the loss was very minimal. However if the player goes on to be a success, than it looks like a genius move. Andrea Barzagli came in during last season’s slump and has made the most of his opportunity at Juventus, becoming the [...]
On October 11 last year in the provincial city of Pescara, Italy ended their qualifying campaign with a 3-0 win over Northern Ireland. It was the perfect ending as Italy finished top of their group. It was also just reward for coach Cesare Prandelli who managed to rebuild a strong Azzurri from the wreckage of the 2010 World Cup disaster. The undoubted star man for Prandelli’s new look Azzurri was Milan’s Antonio Cassano. A player who came to prominence at [...]
The number if Italians plying their trade abroad is steadily increasing. Yet despite this, there wasn’t a single Italian named on the Balon ‘dor short list last week. In one way this isn’t entirely surprising given the common disregard Serie A is held in nowadays. Since the hey-day of the last 80′s early 90’s, financial resources of Italian Serie A clubs have decreased significantly. The world’s top players are more likely to play in Spain’s primera for clubs like Real [...]
