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Spain's Villa beats Italy 1-0 in friendly
Posted - 27th March 2008
"It'll be the same old thing - we'll win the friendly, but Italy will go on to win the Euro championships", said my Spanish colleague mournfully. He was right about the first part of the equation, so Italian fans will be hopeful for the rest. Cold comfort for the azurri, who lost their recent unbeaten form - they last lost against Hungary 7 matches ago - last night 1-0 to Spain.
Two themes dominate discussion of last night's game, from the Italian perspective, and both centre around coach Roberto Donadoni.
The first talking point is the continued wrangling between the F.I.G.C. (Italian football federation) and Donadoni regarding the renewal of his contract. Both sides are publicly downplaying any rift, but Donadoni rejected an offer on the table during the week. The question remains whether Donadoni will go into the Euro2008 Championships with or without his contract renewed for the World Cup qualifiers (which will see Italy play against the Trapattoni trained Republic of Ireland, amongst others). Constant speculation about the intentions of other top-class managers like Marcello Lippi, or troubled Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti, hardly help inspire confidence.
Related is the second point, which regards Donadoni's squad selection. Last night he played a fairly conservative squad, with Luca Toni the sole attack up front, backed by Udinese's Di Natale, and Juventus's Mauro Camoranesi on the flanks. AMongst the substitutes who came on were, predictably, Genoa's Marco Borriello (currently tied with Trezeguet as top-striker in Serie A this season) for Toni, Vincenzo Iaquinta for Di Natale. And so Donadoni's intentions for Euro2008 become clearer, and discussion centres more on who he's left out.
The two most notable absentees were Alessandro Del Piero from Juventus, and Sampdoria's Antonio Cassano. Del Piero has always played consistently well for his club, Juventus, while struggling to make it into the National Squad, and Donadoni's Italian selection is no different. He has, in theory, left the door open for Del Piero to play this summer, but his failure to select the Juventus player even for the bench last night make it unlikely that we'll see much of this firm fan's favourite with the azurri. Del Piero's problem is, largely, that he doesn't fit into Donadoni's tactical plan, which seems to be largely centred around Toni's goal scoring abilities and the tried and tested cattenaccio, with both Di Natale and Camoranesi well able to pull back into the midfield to bolster the team on a defensive footing.
Another firm fan's favourite, absent from the squad, is Antonio Cassano. Cassano has played relatively well since returning to Italy to play for Sampdoria, after his unhappy spell at Real Madrid. He's lost weight, and has played some great imaginative football that has helped bring the Genoa team into the UEFA Cup qualifying positions (though Cassano himself has, thus far, scored just seven goals - against, for example, Borriello's 15). Cassano's mercurial talent, according to his fans, is exactly what the relatively staid Italian squad needs - a fantasista. Press speculation had, until recently, been pushing heavily for Cassano's inclusion in the squad. Donadoni seemed reasonably open to the idea, playing him in two Euro2008 qualifying games (where he largely failed to shine). Cassano, though, confirmed himself to be mercurial in all the worst ways when he squabbled with a referee, threatening him and recieving a five match ban in Serie A. It seems reasonable to presume that this tantrum has also seen the Bari striker burn his bridges with Donadoni for the Euro2008 games, unless he's looking to gamble on a player who could either be the star of the competition or a handy scapegoat should things go badly.
Back to last night's game, though. There was plenty to be upbeat about in the first half, with Luca Toni scoring a goal that was disallowed (due to a foul by Cannavaro), and Mauro Camoranesi coming close on a couple of occasions. The Italian defence was solid, with Fabio Cannavaro and Gigi Buffon both showing themselves to still be world leaders in their respective positions. Marco Matterazi was more in form than he has been for his club, and managed to put in some good tackles whilst staying - relatively speaking - out of trouble (he did pick up a card, and was substituted in the second half).
Most dissapointing were those in the centre of the field, Milan's Andrea Pirlo, and Roma's Daniele De Rossi. Pirlo has been out of form for awhile, struggling alongside the rest of his team-mates at AC MIlan to bring the team to a respectable finishing point in Serie A after a disastrous start to the season. Last night he was still a long way off being that crucial playmaker that he was for the World Cup winning squad of two years ago. De Rossi meanwhile rarely seemed particularly involved in the game, perhaps choosing to save himself for AS Roma who are chasing a Champions League final and the possibility of catching Inter Milan for the Serie A scudetto. This, though, shouldn't have been much of a surprise for Donadoni, who could have perhaps experimented with the position.
At the end of the day the match was won by a superb goal by Valencia's David Villa, volleying a powerful shot, from a failed clearance by Cannavaro, leaving Buffon no chance of saving.
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