Italy Euro 2012 qualifiers squad announced

by Niccolo Conte on August 31, 2010 · 6 comments

Pran­delli has announced the squad of 23 which will face Esto­nia and the Faroe Islands this Inter­na­tional break for the Euro 2012 qual­i­fiers. The azzurri will face Esto­nia in Tallin Sep­tem­ber 3rd, and then the Faroe Islands in Flo­rence Sep­tem­ber 7th. While they aren’t the tough­est of oppo­si­tion, Italy will also have to even­tu­ally face Ser­bia, Slove­nia, and North­ern Ire­land as they attempt to qual­ify for the Euro­pean Cham­pi­onships being held in Ukraine and Poland.

Here’s the 23-man squad:

Goal­keep­ers:

Mar­che­tti, Sirigu, Viviano

Defend­ers:

Chiellini, Bonucci, Cas­sani, Bovo, Antonelli, De Sil­vestri, Gastaldello, Molinaro

Mid­field­ers:

Pirlo, De Rossi, Pepe, Palombo, Mon­to­livo, Cig­a­rini, Lazzari

For­wards:

Cas­sano, Pazz­ini, Gilardino, Quagliarella, Rossi

There’s quite a list of injured play­ers who could’ve been use­ful for Pran­delli: Buf­fon, Iaquinta, Balotelli, Amauri, and Marchi­sio are all unable to play for Italy due to injuries. But it’s impor­tant to think about the play­ers that Pran­delli called up, I’m look­ing for­ward to pos­si­bly see­ing a 4–3-3, with Cas­sano on the right wing, Pazz­ini in the mid­dle, and Giuseppe Rossi on the left, but that isn’t Lippi’s only option. He could go with a 4–2-3–1, using De Rossi and Pirlo in front of the defence, and Pepe on the right, Rossi on the left, and Cas­sano sup­port­ing Pazini. There are plenty of attack­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, but it’s impor­tant also to look at the rest of the team.

The squad looks solid in mid­field and attack, but if there’s an area that wor­ries me it’s the defence. The only well-known names among the defend­ers are Chiellini, Bonucci, and maybe Moli­naro, the rest are rel­a­tively new to the Ital­ian national team. While it’s pos­i­tive thing that there are new faces, and not the same old play­ers which Lippi used, I still worry whether the new play­ers will be able to play well wear­ing the azzurri jer­sey. It’s good that there are some qual­ity keep­ers though: Mar­che­tti has already played for Italy, Sirigu is unproven at inter­na­tional level but is strong for Palermo, and Viviano per­son­ally held Inter to a 0–0 draw this week­end play­ing in goal for Bologna.

What are your thoughts on the Ital­ian play­ers which Pran­delli has called? Can they do the job? What for­ma­tion will the coach use? There are plenty of ques­tions which will hope­fully be answered on Sep­tem­ber 3rd and 7th when Italy plays Esto­nia and the Faroe Islands.

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6 comments… read them below or add one

1 JoeGinto August 31, 2010 at 10:37 pm

You used the words “Iaquinta” and “useful” in the same sentence. That is a laugh!

You scared me when you wrote “…but that isn’t Lippi’s only option.” I’d like to remember ’06 Marcello and just delude myself into thinking everything that happened afterward was a dream.

It’s a shame Balotelli is injured and Marchisio isn’t up for it yet. He may never be. I still don’t know what they see in Pepe as I think he’s tits on a bull. The Azzurri will need 6 points from these matches and it shouldn’t be a problem but Italia typically has a stumble in qualifying, particularly early in the campaign. Something about this MF bothers me I can’t quite put my finger on it. I’d love to see Cigarini get some time as Mazzarri never gave him a shot at Napoli and he is a terrific passer of the ball.

FORZA AZZURRI!

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2 Niccolo Conte August 31, 2010 at 11:36 pm

Yeah, that was a mistake, I ment to put Prandelli instead of Lippi.

I agree that it’s a shame that Balotelli can’t make it and Marchisio just seems inadequate wearing the azzurri jersey. As for Pepe, I actually think he’s very useful: he covers a lot of space and is a dynamic player when needed.

No doubt that Italy should win with ease, but you never know how the team can mess it up. I agree that Cigarini is a smart inclusion, and I think that maybe this season will be his best.

As for the thing that you can’t put your finger on about the midfield, maybe it’s the fact that it’s the most similar to Lippi’s midfield from the 2010 World Cup. What do you think?

Great comment btw, keep it up.

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3 Yusoff August 31, 2010 at 10:52 pm

Well i am not too sure on the specific players but i do know that over time only a handful will be considered as a core of the team as a lot of the players picked are still for experimental stages…i only see few names there which might be certain for the next squad picks…

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4 Niccolo Conte August 31, 2010 at 11:38 pm

Yes, that’s a good observation, I think that when everyone is fully fit and into the swing of the Serie A season, about 1/4 of the squad could be different. As for the individual players, I repeat that for me, the defence is a weak spot.

Thanks for the comment, keep them coming!

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5 Sarcastro September 2, 2010 at 2:06 pm

Seems Prandelli is off the Juve kick a bit. Never could figure out why Lippi built the WC squad around the core of a very middling Juventus.

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6 Niccolo Conte September 3, 2010 at 12:04 am

Yeah, I’m really glad to see the Juve addiction gone, hopefully when they produce a few more quality players, then Prandelli will draw on them.

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