Enzo Bearzot, a legend of Italian coaching, died today. While I can’t say much about what I remember of him, I can say that he is certainly one of the greatest influences on Italian football. Although many coaches focus on drills, tactics, and fitness, Bearzot also made sure he created a tightly-knit group. One of the most human and relatable people to grace the game, Bearzot made sure that people understood his ideas, becoming like an older brother or a father for his players, and ultimately for all of Italy.

As a player Enzo Bearzot was hard-working and versatile. Bearzot had 251 appearances in the Serie A, playing for Inter Milan, Catania, and most notably Torino. He was an important piece in Torino’s side, playing often as a central defender, and helping rebuild the team after the tragic Superga air disaster. In his playing career he also earned one cap for the Italian National team in 1955. He wasn’t a truly fantastic player, but he had great ideas and skills which he utilized in his coaching career.

Bearzot’s greatest moment as a coach was without a doubt when he won the 1982 World Cup at the helm of Italy’s national team. When he first took the job, he was scrutinized by the media due to his, lack of inexperience in big coaching jobs. Italy had a poor start to the 1982 World Cup, and as the Italian media was wildly criticizing Bearzot, the coach issued a “silenzio stampa”, which means “silence to the press”, allowing him and his side to work in temporary silence. Bearzot eventually found the perfect combination with time, and Italy defeated favorites Brazil, then Argentina, and finally West Germany in the final. Enzo Bearzot conquered the 1982 World Cup, Italy’s third, ending 44 years of drought in which the Azzurri hadn’t been crowned as world champions.

There weren’t many other highlights like 1982 in Bearzot’s coaching career, nonetheless he was a man with the right ideals.

“The player profile has also changed, especially regarding loyalty to clubs, which have themselves become profit-making businesses. What’s more, football has now become a science, if not always exact, but for me, it’s

still first and foremost a game.”

I mentioned before that Enzo Bearzot was more than just a coach. He did his best to rid Italy of the tight and defensive catenaccio, instead trying to imprint a more fluid and attacking style, inspired by the Netherlands which played total football in 1974. While the Azzurri didn’t play total football, they became a more attacking side, entertaining crowds with exciting performances. In the end Enzo Bearzot had a simple philosophy regarding how his teams should play,

“For me, football should be played with two wingers, a centre forward and a playmaker. That’s the way I see the game. I select my players and then I let them play the game, without trying to impose tactical plans on them. You can’t tell Maradona, ‘Play the way I tell you.’ You have to leave him free to express himself. The rest will take care of itself,”

A simple yet wonderful idea of football from a true legend of the game. While Bearzot was often criticized at the beginning of the campaign of 1982, every Italian loved him by the end of the tournament. It wasn’t love just because of what he achieved, but it was a love which extends past the fact that many never knew him. Bearzot was a father figure for all of Italy, guiding the country while taking criticism by ones which would ultimately be proven wrong. Not only did Bearzot create a family with his players, he brought all of Italy closer together, winning a tournament which lives in a nation’s hearts.

Enzo Bearzot, born 27 September 1927, died 21 December 2010.

Italy boss Cesare Prandelli announced his 23 man squad for the friendly against the Ivory Coast which will take place on Tuesday in England. Many of the names chosen by Marcello Lippi were dropped.

Prandelli made some expected changes following the World Cup disappointment with Fabio Quagliarella the only striker remaining from the team selected by Lippi for South Africa 2010. Prandelli selected five strikers who were not part of the disappointing experience in the World Cup: Mario Balotelli, Antonio Cassano, Marco Borriello, Amauri and Giuseppe Rossi.

Lippi was urged and asked on more than one occasion why he would not pick Balotelli and Cassano yet the veteran coach never budged from his decision to exclude the talented duo. Critics felt their omission from the Italian squad led to the disastrous campaign which yielded two draws, including an embarrassing one against New Zealand, and a defeat against Slovakia.

While he was expected to select both Balotelli and Cassano, the former Fiorentina tactician sprung two major surprises by picking striker Amauri who had a dismal season with Juventus and former teammate Cristian Molinaro who is not exactly popular in Turin. Molinaro plays as a left-back and the tifosi were glad to see him move to the Bundesliga to join VfB Stuttgart. While no one can doubt Molinaro’s work ethic and speed, his defensive abilities leave a lot to be desired and his crossing is mediocre at best. Molinaro’s comical defending almost became part of football folklore due to some mind-boggling mistakes and miscalculated moves such as using a back-heel to give away the ball on the flank and frequently being tricked by wingers and attackers on their way to assisting on a goal or scoring themselves.

Aside from the debatable choices of Amauri and Molinaro, the Italian coach seems to have named the best set of players available for selection. The Azzurri fans must be delighted to see the return of certain players such as Rossi and the selection of new faces such as full-back Marco Motta who played for Italy at all levels, including the U-21 side which he represented on 39 occasions. Motta has never played for the senior team despite being called up in 2009 but he was an unused substitute.

The main concern will probably be on the defensive end as Gianluigi Buffon will be out for a few more months after surgery and those named include Federico Marchetti, Salvatore Sirigu and Emiliano Viviano. Marchetti did not impress during the World Cup when he had to replace the injured Buffon while the latter two lack the necessary experience to become regular starters. It might be worth giving Sirigu the start against the Ivory Coast to see how he can handle the spotlight as Italy’s goalkeeper while the legendary Buffon remains sidelined.

The defenders chosen lack the experience associated with the legendary Azzurri back-lines of the 1990s and even the 2000s with Giorgio Chiellini the most experienced having played 32 times for the national team. In the absence of the recovering Buffon and the unfit Andrea Pirlo, Roma’s Daniele De Rossi will most likely captain the side having represented the Azzurri on 57 occasions.

Below is the full squad selected by Prandelli:

Goalkeepers: Federico Marchetti (Cagliari), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo), Emiliano Viviano (Bologna)

Defenders: Cristian Molinaro (VfB Stuttgart), Marco Motta (Juventus), Luca Antonini (AC Milan), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Stefano Lucchini (Sampdoria),
Davide Astori (Cagliari), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Mattia Cassani (Palermo)

Midfielders: Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Ricardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Juventus)
Andrea Lazzari (Cagliari)

Forwards: Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal), Mario Balotelli (Inter Milan), Marco Borriello (AC Milan), Antonio Cassano (Sampdoria), Amauri (Juventus).

Feel free to comment below or contact me on Twitter @RamiSoufi for further discussions.

After the disappointing results in South Africa from the senior Italian team, the Italy Under 19s were looking to give the future a winning start at the European championships in France. The U-19 competition is slightly different from the senior level European championships, here’s how the competition works:

• There are two groups of four teams
• Each team plays all other teams in its group once
• First two teams from the groups go to semi-finals

• U-19 Euros also count as qualification for the U-20 World Cup
• The first three of both groups qualify for the U-20 World Cup

Here are the two groups:

Group A

France          6

Holland       3

England       3

Austria         0

Group B

Spain        6

Portugal  3

Italy          1

Croatia     1

Already two matches have been played, and Italy were unable to to score in both, losing 2-0 to Portugal, and drawing 0-0 with Croatia. The statistics for Italy’s U-19s are some of the worst I’ve seen, two matches played, one point, two red cards, zero goals. And now that Italy have played Portugal and Croatia, the Azzurini now have to play Spain, the masters of cultivating young talent who have already won three U-19 European championships in the 8 years it’s been around.

The strange thing is that there’s plenty of promising talent in the Italy U-19 team like Caldirola from Inter and Albertazzi from Milan, who both play in defense; Sala and D’Alessandro, both midfielders who play for Chelsea and Grossetto; and in attack there’s Destro from Inter Milan and Borini from Chelsea.

But plenty of misfortune has tainted the Azzurini’s hopes of qualifying for the U-20 World Cup, and Italy needs to win against Spain, and hope that the other match of the favours them. So while things may have gone badly at South Africa 2010, the U-19s might not even qualify for their World Cup.

Italy has been punished, thanks to their poor performances Italy has lost ground in the FIFA and UEFA rankings. La Gazzetta dello Sport is reporting that Italy has fallen all the way down to 11th in the FIFA rankings, behind Chile and Egypt. This is an anticipation that will most likely be confirmed the 14th of July, when the FIFA rankings are updated. As for the European rankings which were created two years ago by Michel Platini, it is expected that Italy will fall down to 7th, behind Croatia and Russia who by the way, didn’t qualify to participate in this World Cup.

So Italian football is spiralling down a very bad path with the cracks in the system only slightly covered by Inter Milan’s treble victory. The bad thing is, Inter Milan won the treble with practically no Italians, and although Balotelli had some appearances, Materazzi, Santon, and Toldo played no part in winning three cups for the nerazzurri. And what seems to be missing in the Serie A is a team like what Juventus used to be, Italy’s team, full of Italian players who played together during the season, and then went to the World Cup knowing each other well. This created a solid group of  Italian players that not only thrived in European club competition, but also played together to win international tournaments.

Sadly, a team that I’ve described above doesn’t seem to exist anywhere in the near future; Inter Milan have decided to stick with only foreign players, AC Milan are addicted to Brazilians like Ronaldinho, and Pato, Juventus are a strange mix with a sprinkle of Italian talent, and Roma are also lacking Italians. Only a few teams use Italian players, these being Cagliari, Genoa, and Sampdoria. Maybe there just isn’t enough Italian talent to go around, and maybe the talent there is, isn’t good enough.

But the Italian national team isn’t the worst off, France are expected to fall below the 20th mark with their terrible performances, but that’s about the only other big country that’s falling heavily. Italy are right in front of Greece (12th) and Serbia (13th), and for the EURO 2012 qualifications, Italy will be playing the Serbians. Italy will also be playing Sovenia, Northern Ireland, Estonia, and the Faroe Islands in the qualification for the 2012 EUROs which will be held in Poland and Ukraine. But the scary part is, that the draw for the qualification for Brazil 2014 will be affected by the FIFA rankings, therefore probably putting Italy with one of the stronger teams in the qualification group, and at risk of qualifying. I don’t want to see Italy in a qualifying group with Spain, Germany, or the Netherlands, because that means that we wouldn’t qualify if things continue the way they’re going.

As for the rest of the nations in the FIFA rankings, here’s what it will look like after the update on the 14th of July:

1. Spain
2. Netherlands
3. Brazil
4. Germany
5. Argentina
6. Uruguay
7. England
8. Portugal
9. Egypt
10. Chile
11. Italy

While Spain and the Netherlands will fight for first the World Cup final, all the other team’s positions should be like this come the next update. What are your thoughts on Italy’s future position in the FIFA rankings? Share your thoughts below.

During the World Cup, news has been leaking out about changes to the Lega Calcio Serie A, the newly independent league formerly know as simply Serie A.  Most of the announcements were overshadowed by the World Cup, but below are the changes that FIGC has announced over the past few weeks.

A few weeks back the new logo for Lega Calcio Serie A was unveiled.  As you can see, the new logo is slick and more modern, but American sports fans may see a resemblance to the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes logo.  Honestly, I have no feelings either way but the comment section is open for you if you do.

The league last week announced its outline of the schedule for the 2010-2011 season, and the biggest change is the addition of more Friday matches.  The league will now have one match on Friday evenings to allow for more rest between European competitions.  There will be one Friday time slot, two Saturday, and three Sunday.

The new season will begin on August 28/29 (less than two months away!) and conclude on May 22.  There will be a winter break from December 19 through January 6, and the four rounds of midweek fixtures will take place November 10, January 6, February 2, and March 2.

The most recent announcement, however, may be the most controversial.  FIGC announced over the weekend that it has reduced the number of non-European players permitted on each roster from two to one.  The goal, according to FIGC, is to force clubs to develop more Italian talent in the wake of the Azzurri’s disastrous World Cup.  Serie A voted against the change, and has been vocal in its disapproval of the new rule.  There are ways around the rule of course – sweep foreign players into the EU fold due to lineage or residency, but it seems like a knee jerk reaction to a bad World Cup.

Share your thoughts on any of the changes in the comments section below or via Twitter @roberthayjr.

With Italy out of the 2010 World Cup, we have plenty of time to plan for the future and avoid any mistakes we made in this tournament. So it’s important to know what Italy did wrong, the mistakes that cost us dearly in the World Cup, making us end up last in the group, behind New Zealand… So what should Italy avoid to do next time around?

1. Italy had little to no inspiration, and this was probably the biggest mistake of all. Lippi picked and played a team which lacked creative players; the type of players that can unlock the 0-0 stalemates and pick the team up with a moment of genius like we saw from Quagliarella. Italy missed a player which made defenders tremble with fear, a player that could dribble past two and finish with a blistering shot, a player to unlock defenses with a sublime chip or through ball. While Quagliarella was great, I think that Italy could’ve certainly used Cassano, Balotelli, or Giuseppe Rossi to add flair and creativity to the team

2. Italy’s second-biggest mistake was the age of the players involved, Lippi decided to go with his middle-aged buddies of 2006. While middle-aged might be a bit of an exageration, these players are old, tired, and just can’t run anymore. Cannavaro could’ve had more assists than any other player in the team, just with the slight problem that he gave the opposing team the goal-scoring opportunities with his mistakes. Camoranesi and Gattuso were about as dynamic as rocks in some parts of the matches, barely jogging around as they misplaced passes and gave the ball away. It was depressing watching a team walk around hoping that somehow in the end they’d find a goal. Lippi picked an old team and mixed in a few youngsters probably hoping that the less-experienced players would learn from the veterans, but I don’t think that idea turned out very well.

3. Tactical insecurity would probably be the best way to sum this point up: as I watched the games, I never felt like the players knew their tactical duties 100%. While the back-line was often relatively organized, with the full-backs rising up to attack when needed, it seemed like the forwards and especially the midfielders were confused about their positions. At the center of midfield Montolivo often disappeared at the beginning of games, leaving a distressed De Rossi to deal with way too many things at once. Marchisio for me was a disaster this World Cup with his inability to establish himself clearly in any position Lippi put him in. Pepe was running all over the place as he tried to help his teammates out in just about all the positions. Often things were in dissarray with Lippi constantly trying to change the formation from a 4-2-3-1, to a4-4-2, and then to a 4-3-3, all in one match.

4. The young talent isn’t shining as bright as it’s supposed to, many young players which could’ve and should’ve made their breakthrough this World Cup didn’t, they seemed nervous, scared, and inexperienced. I’m especially talking about Marchisio, a player I had a lot of hopes on, who just played terribly no matter what position he was put in. I also think that Criscito wasn’t performing well, and because of this Italy lacked a bit of width on the left, but he did a relatively good defensive job. When Pazzini was given 15 minutes to shine by Lippi, I don’t recall him touching the ball, I didn’t notice the fact that he was on until he went to get a drink of water from the bench near Lippi. I think that Montolivo only showed up in the latter stages of games, often spraying passes with imprecision during the first half giving the ball away to disappoint in his Pirlo-like role. I am being a bit harsh with the criticism on these younger players, but when I saw Ozil (21 years old), Khedira (23 years old), and Muller (20 years old) all play truly brilliant games for Germany, I’m a bit disappointed in our Italian youngsters.

5. I think a mistake that the FIGC made quite some time before this World Cup was calling back Lippi, I don’t think he was the right man for this tournament. When they called back Lippi, they called back his arrogance, his attitude, and his style, which for me are all disadvantages for Italy. While I can’t say who the FIGC should’ve put as head coach, I think that there were plenty of good choices like Ancelotti, Gasperini, or even Mazzarri. All three are quality managers that could’ve imposed a fresh new outlook and style for Italy, and even if they didn’t perform this World Cup with the young players, they could’ve carried them on to the Euro 2012 and maybe the 2014 World Cup.

Where do you think Italy went wrong? Do you agree or disagree with the points made? Feel free to share your thoughts by commenting below!

As the World Cup is attracting all headlines related to soccer, there’s always a small echo of transfer market news which now, after Italy’s elimination from the World Cup, becomes much more than an echo for Italy fans. And as you read about transfer rumors and deals, you hear the names like Di Maria, Maicon, Mascherano, and Kuyt, but none of these names are of Italian players…

Italy has always had a high amount of transfers from clubs within the Serie A, there’s always plenty of internal loan deals and low-cost transfers that take place in the Italian leagues. While this isn’t a bad thing, it’s something which limits the amount of foreign players coming in, and Italian players going out. While there are few big-name players coming to Italy, there’s even more that are leaving only to be replaced by aging players who used to be the real deal.

Kaka and Ibrahimovic, two players who could’ve been considered among the top five in the world, left the Serie A only to be replaced by an old Ronaldinho and Eto’o. The standard is just not good enough to attract the world’s best players, and if things continue like this, the German Bundesliga could overtake the Serie A. But this isn’t even touching on the true problem; there are no Italian players that other teams are interested in.

When a great player emerges from his country and moves to a top league, this attracts interest from scouts and other teams to take a look at that nation’s league and its players. This just isn’t happening, nobody is interested in Italian players from the Serie A. There hasn’t been a true Italian star that is considered at the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Rooney, Kaka, or David Villa for quite some time now. There isn’t an Italian player that people would put in their dream team, or in the top 20 best players, and maybe even in the top 25.

You might be asking why there aren’t any great Italian players, but the answer is simple, and we all know it deep-down inside ourselves; Italy just isn’t that good anymore, the players aren’t good enough. Italy has fallen behind, you watch young crops of players from Germany like Muller, Ozil, and Khedira all shine and lead their national team to victory at the young ages of 20, 21, and 23. Italy doesn’t spend money where it needs to, while Coverciano is good, it’s not good enough. Italy need to spend some serious money and build one of the finest academies in the world like France’s Clairefontaine academy, then in 10 or 20 years, we’ll begin to see a World Cup winning side.

While I may seem harsh, I do think that Italy have some good talent like Balotelli, Montolivo, and Rossi, I still don’t think it’s enough to win a World Cup. When Italy gets a top-level academy up and running, they’ll start producing world-class players, and then get exposure for the league and hopefully attract better players and bring in more money for what seems to be a dying league.

The Azzurri performed poorly throughout the World Cup and waited till the 80th minute of the match against Slovakia to start playing when it was too late to make a reaction to compensate for the failures in the previous 260 minutes of football. What is most troubling is the fact the Italian reaction was not due to team effort but rather down to a spark offered by Fabio Quagliarella who was behind one goal and scored another.

Italy’s squad lacked the confidence and played some uncharacteristic football dominated by loose marking, lack of communication amongst defenders and poor defending from set-pieces. The Italian team conceded 5 goals from a remarkable 6 shots on target which means almost every shot by opponents turned into a goal and that the Italian goalkeepers saved to make a single save. The Azzurri suffered from the absence of the injured Gianluigi Buffon who managed to play the opening 45 minutes before Federico Marchetti assumed the role of goalkeeper without making any outstanding saves.

Italy lacked creativity and invented little in terms of scoring chances inside the box before the second-half against Slovakia when Quagliarella was brought on to save Italy’s faltering World Cup campaign. The absence of Andrea Pirlo, despite his decline in form the last couple of years, was a massive blow for the team as he was limited to less than 45 minutes of playing time due to injury. When he entered the game, he was able to provide the Azzurri with more structured attacks despite his obvious lack of fitness. Italy’s attack which lacked creativity and produced nothing other than the penalty-kick converted by Vincenzo Iaquinta was pathetic in all three matches prior to the insertion of Quagliarella by coach Marcello Lippi.

Below is an assessment of the Azzurri players following all three matches in the group stage:

Gianluigi Buffon: N/A because he played in 45 minutes and had one shot which was very difficult to save against Paraguay. It was a defensive mistake by both Daniele De Rossi and Fabio Cannavaro.

Federico Marchetti: 5 out of 10. Marchetti did not commit any blunders but he did not make any saves either. From 5 shots which were on target, he failed to save 4 which were converted to goals. The third goal scored by Slovakia could have been avoided had he either rushed quicker to get the ball or stood his ground to attempt a save. He was left in no man’s land but the main fault lies with the defenders who left him exposed.

Fabio Cannavaro: 3.5 out of 10. This might be seen as harsh by some or as generous by others depending on how one views the goals conceded by Italy. The Germany 2006 version of Cannavaro had better sense of positioning and greater leaping power as well as better timing and most likely would have prevented both the Paraguay and New Zealand goals which came via set-pieces. The Kiwis scored after the ball deflected off Cannavaro’s knee. The former Azzurri captain was in no man’s land when Slovakia scored the second and third goals. His sense of marking deserted him and his leadership was quite poor considering he is the squad’s captain, most experienced player and a former best player in the world. Frankly, he was one of the main reasons behind Italy’s failure. He left Giorgio Chiellini with so much to do in terms of covering and tracking back.

Giorgio Chiellini: 5.5 out of 10. Chiellini had to cover for the deficiencies of the other defenders, mainly Cannavaro, and he covered time and again when Cannavaro was short or lost against Slovakia. He probably got used to having to carry the defensive line after Cannavaro’s poor showing with Juventus during the Serie A season when Chiellini had often had to save the Bianconeri but it does get tough after a while as witnessed by Juve’s miserable defensive record and the Azzurri shortcomings on the defensive end in South Africa 2010. He was perhaps a bit slow and, thus, maybe at fault for Slovakia’s second goal when he was late to cover the Slovak player Robert Vittek as he slotted the second goal for Slovakia. Other than that second goal by Vittek, Chiellini did what he could considering his partner was the aging Cannavaro.

Domenico Criscito: 5.5 out of 10. Did not commit any glaring mistakes yet he fell way short of the width, attacking impetus and overall impact offered by Fabio Grosso  in World Cup 2006. Obviously, both Grosso and Criscito had to take over after the world’s best left-back Paolo Maldini retired.

Christian Maggio: 5 out of 10. Was not at fault for any of the goals and only featured in the second-half against Slovakia. He showed the ability to go forward in spurts yet does not appear as a solid defensive option. Italy were stronger when Gianluca Zambrotta was on the right because of his experience and effort.

Gianluca Zambrotta: 6 out of 10. He actually performed much better than expected against both Paraguay and New Zealand to defy the critics who expected him to be horrible and a reason behind Italy’s failures. While Cannavaro disappointed as expected, Zambrotta stood his ground and performed consistently albeit nothing spectacular and way short of his impressive performances in Germany 2006. In the previous World Cup, Zambrotta was one of the stars and main catalysts as he threatened against Australia, Ukraine and Germany. Time for him to quit the national team without having to disgrace himself like Cannavaro who over stayed his welcome.

Gennaro Gattuso: 4 out of 10. He did not provide anything in the 45 minutes against Slovakia but the fault was not his because Lippi should not have started him after sitting the first two games and knowing Italy needed goals and not a defensive effort. Gattuso rightfully announced his international retirement before the World Cup. He deserves credit for making the decision and for being brave enough to acknowledge he is in free fall as he is only getting older. Poor performance on his behalf but it is not completely his fault because Lippi should have started someone else.

Claudio Marchisio: 4 out of 10. Marchisio did not do anything horribly but he did not contribute either. He was absent during the first two matches leading Lippi to bench him for the Slovakia match which was the right decision. The initial mistake was Lippi’s decision to play Marchisio out of position. A wasted player who perhaps could have performed better if properly used.

Riccardo Montolivo: 5 out of 10. Montolivo was better against Paraguay and the Kiwis when he attempted a number of long-distance shots which were saved by the goalkeepers on 3 occasions while one strike hit the post. At least he tried and hit the target on a number of occasions while someone like Alberto Gilardino did not have a single effort on target.

Daniele De Rossi: 5 out of 10. Italy’s greatest disappointment in the tournament. He does not perform as well for the Azzurri when compared with his passionate and gritty displays for his club Roma. He was at fault for Slovakia’s first goal. He gets a 5 for saving Italy against Paraguay and for creating the penalty against New Zealand. Overall, a tournament to forget for a player considered by many as Italy’s biggest hope.

Andrea Pirlo: 5.5 out of 10. Italy’s most creative force considering Antonio Cassano, Mario Balotelli, Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero were all left home. He played a portion of the second-half against the Slovaks and he showed he can provide the Italians with improved and structured play as well as more incisive passing. Too bad he was not fully fit and his injury forced him to miss the first two games. His absence was decisive in terms of Italy’s failure to break defenders and opponents.

Simone Pepe: 5.5 out of 10. Better than the other players in midfield or on the wing. Pepe tried to put the ball in the box through crosses and passes as often as possible yet for all his efforts and determination, he offered little in terms of useful possession or chances against opponents. He wasted the chance to score against Slovakia at the death as he could have perhaps reacted differently when the ball fell close to him instead of simply executing a disappointing mishit.

Mauro Camoranesi: 4.5 out of 10. Did not feature against Slovkia in a good decision by Lippi. He did come on as a second-half substituteagainst both Paraguay and New Zealand. He did offer more than Marchisio but nothing decisive except for a long-range effort saved by the goalkeeper of the Kiwis and some crosses in those two matches. He received a yellow card and risked a red card as he seemed to be unable to control his temper.

Giampaolo Pazzini: N/A as he barely touched the ball in the second-half against New Zealand while he did not feature in the other two games. He cannot be blamed for Italy’s failures because he played little but also because he is a finisher and to play him would have been a waste of his talents. At least, Lippi was right about not playing him much.

Alberto Gilardino: 3.5 out of 10. While Cannavaro might have been at fault on the defensive end, Italy’s struggling offensive performances might be down to his presence in the starting lineup. Gilardino cannot be held responsible 100% because the style of play and the system employed by the  Azzurri left him both useless and isolated. What he must be blamed for is his lack of effort as he barely hassled defenders or stopped the buildup when the opponents had the ball in their area and were attempting to get the ball out from their defensive positions. He was definitely a great disappointment in terms of his contribution. Lippi was right not to use him against Slovakia but it was too late to remove him before the last match as he should have been benched from at the break during the Kiwis.

Antonio Di Natale: 5.5 out of 10. He did offer more than Gilardino and Vincenzo Iaquinta but that was down to his characteristics and not his efforts. He gets the mark for converting the easy follow-up against Slovakia for Italy’s first goal in that match. He at least tried to move around but still he should not be playing for the Azzurri under Prandelli. He is also over 30 so he should not have been called up as that would mean Totti and even  Del Piero deserved to be on the squad since both have offered more to the Azzurri over the years.

Vincenzo Iaquinta: 5 out of 10. He gets the 5 for his cool conversion of the penalty-kick against the Kiwis. If Gilardino took he it, he probably would have missed considering he barely touched the ball in the World Cup. Iaquinta did try much harder than Gilardino  but was played out of position against both Paraguay and then New Zealand in the first-half. Even when he was moved to a more central role he still failed to deliver highlighting his lack of talent. He did run and he did move but he is lacking in terms of talent.

Fabio Quagliarella: 8.5 out of 10. He played only in the second-half against Slovakia but was Italy’s best performer in the tournament in the short time he played. He offered the Azzurri a lot in terms of movements and creativity. In the last 15 minutes, he provided the spark which Italy lacked in South Africa 2010. He had one shot cleared on the line, had a goal disallowed for a very close offside call as replays showed the Slovak defender’s foot was covering the leaning Quagliarella when he scored, was a key contributor to the first Italian goal as his shot was parried to the open Di Natale for the simple finish and scored a stunner in injury-time. Quagliarella’s goal was a sublime showing of his skills and his ability to create out of nothing as well as his composure. Another player would have rushed the shot or opted for force and power as opposed to a smart and delicate finish from outside the penalty box.

You can reach me on Twitter  @RamiSoufi for further comments or questions

What should be considered a fair result; Slovakia were better, and Italy were poor, it’s just as simple as that. In the end Italy ends up right where they deserve to end up, the bottom of the table, behind New Zealand, Slovakia, and Paraguay. Italy has not played well throughout their three games, only turning it on in the final minutes after they’d gone down a goal. Italy’s elimination in the end, was because of Lippi’s selection for me, whether it be the 30-man squad, 23-man squad, or the starting 11, for me they were all poor selections.

Lippi decided to go with a 4-3-3, the same back-line as the past two games with Zambrotta on the right, Criscito on the left, and Cannavaro and Chiellini in the middle. Lippi went with a midfield of De Rossi, Montolivo, and Gattuso who were behind the trident of Di Natale, Pepe, and Iaquinta in the middle. While this formation looked a bit better than past ones, it still wasn’t enough to beat Slovakia.

The first half was terrible, Italy were terrible, and Slovakia were taking advantage of that. I had forgotten De Rossi was in the starting line-up because he never got near the ball, the forwards were inactive as their first touch let Italy down, and Gattuso, well he just did what he does best, get yellow cards. It was truly depressing, and when Vittek scored thanks to De Rossi’s inaccurate pass, it felt just about right.

While I hoped that Italy could turn it on, I knew it wouldn’t happen so early, it just doesn’t work that way with Italy, everything has to be dramatic. So they continued playing terribly, all throughout the first half until Vittek scored again. The defense didn’t anticipate and Marchetti was frozen which Vittek tapped in a cross to lower Italian spirits even further. Lippi put Maggio in for Criscito and moved Zambrotta to left-back, he also put on Quagliarella for a bit of inspiration in the place of Gattuso, sliding Pepe back into the midfield.

It wasn’t until the 81st minute that Italy scored, Quagliarella providing a bit of inspiration to take it past a man, play a one-two with Iaquinta so he could go one on one with Mucha. His shot was well saved by the Slovakian keeper and Di Natale followed up to score Italy’s first. Italy began to click, it was nice to see some hope in the Italian team, and when Quagliarella had a goal disallowed for offside, you could finally see some passion and fight in the team.

But in the 89th, the Italian defence fell asleep and Kopunek chipped Marchetti, it had to be over now. The score at 3-1 it felt like Italy’s fight was truly over, there was little to do about it until Quagliarella had a moment of brilliance. From outside the box, Fabio Quagliarella goes for what looks like at first a chipped through ball, but then is actually a long range chip which gets over Mucha and into the back of the net.

When Quagliarella and Iaquinta go to get the ball from the back of the net,  Mucha decides to cause a little bit of trouble. He starts grabbing at the ball himself and eventually some pushing, shoving, and a little bit of kicking ends up with Quagliarella on the ground holding his face. Mucha and the Slovakian defender should’ve received red cards for using physical force to stop Quagliarella from getting the ball back, but referee Howard Webb decided to only give a yellow to the Slovakian goal-keeper.

After this there was hope with the score at 3-2, almost the entire Italy team in Slovakia’s penalty box, every player hoping they could become a national hero by scoring a goal. It could’ve been Pepe, the ball came to him at the back post, but the Udinese winger hit the ball badly and sent the shot wide as the entire Italy bench were up on their feet in anticipation. In the meantime, almost all the Slovakian players were trying to waste time, throwing themselves on the ground, feigning injury, and rolling around in efforts to wind the clock down.

It eventually ended 3-2 for Slovakia, and what should’ve been a loss where we could criticize Lippi and his selections almost became a comeback where he could prove us wrong.  But what’s important is that he didn’t prove us wrong, and because of this Italy, the holders of the World Cup won’t progress out of the group stages. We saw a creative player like Quagliarella revitalize the team, imagine if he’d have taken Cassano or Balotelli…

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Yet another disappointing result for the Azzurri, while they drew with Paraguay last round of matches, that result seemed acceptable because New Zealand and Slovakia drew as well. But a draw against New Zealand, knowing that Paraguay had beaten Slovakia 2-0 is definitely a bad result.

Lippi decided to start with a standard 4-4-2 formation, with a defense of Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Chiellini, and Criscito from right to left. The midfield was composed of De Rossi and Montolivo in front of the defense with Marchisio on the left and Pepe on the right as they supported the attacking pair of Gilardino and Iaquinta. A line-up that could’ve done without Marchisio and Gilardino for me, I’d rather have Di Natale and Quagliarella with Iaquinta in a 4-3-3.

The match started badly for the Azzurri, Italy were a goal down after just 7 minutes thanks to bad defending and bad goal-keeping. From a free kick swung in for the cross, Cannavaro was unable to clear the ball which allowed Smeltz to tap it past flailing Marchetti. A bad goal to concede with the only positive that at least now Italy had plenty of time to come back against New Zealand.

Italy went on to dominate possession, keeping the ball but not penetrating the New Zealand defence at all, Gilardino was invisible and Iaquinta often didn’t have support. Montolivo didn’t get into the game right away leaving the rest of the team with little direction and order. While Pepe ran his heart out all over the field, it was hard to find Marchisio as he often disappeared for large periods of the game.

But things weren’t going too badly, around the 20th minute Italy began to shoot towards the goal, with Montolivo even hitting the post. After that, De Rossi was brought down in the penalty area and the referee whistled for a penalty, a gift from above. As Iaquinta stepped up to take it, I was worried about whether he’d hit the ball closer to the corner flag or the goal, but the Juventus striker proved me wrong with a very well taken penalty which put the score at 1-1.

And so with a good hour of time to find the winner you’d expect the world champions to find a goal against New Zealand, but it was not so. Italy did try to score, but they were lacking creativity going forward, they were missing Cassano, Balotelli, Rossi, or any type of number 10. And so at half-time Lippi put on Di Natale and Camoranesi, taking off Gilardino and Pepe in hopes to inspire something. Although why he took Pepe off and not Marchisio I have no idea, to me Pepe was one of the best on the field, and Marchisio was truly missing in action.

Italy continued but again, they just weren’t able to penetrate through the defense like Spain, Brazil, and Germany can. Lippi eventually took Marchisio off and put on Pazzini to play a 4-3-3 with Pazzini in the middle with Di Natale left and Iaquinta right. Pazzini was the man I wanted to see, but sadly I didn’t see him at all, he was truly hidden amongst the New Zealand defenders, providing no spark or movement to the Italy attack.

The Azzurri were limited to Montolivo’s long-range shots as New Zealand were comfortable with the result. The New Zealand goal-keeper Paston was excellent at keeping at bay Montolivo’s goal-bound efforts along with a great strike from Camoranesi. Italy were without inspiration as they could only get a draw against New Zealand, a very negative result which makes the Slovakia game practically a “must-win”.