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Italian younger national teams

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#1 ·
Well I just saw a major shock :eek: Italy U20 8-0 Switzerland U20

Now Italy at this level are good, but I didnt know that good, Switzerland have a good youth system and to win 8-0 is a major shock

With this Italy have won the four nations tournament hich Germany and England were also involved

The scores of the tournament so far are:
Switzerland 0-3 Italy - Calaio x2, Mesto
England 3-5 Italy - Calaio x2, Donadel, Piccolo, Quagliarella
Italy 2-1 Germany - Calaio, Berardi
Germany 3-4 Italy - Pepe, Quadri x2, Ruopolo
Italy 8-0 Switzerland - Altobelli, Breviario, Calaio x2, Pepe x2, Quadri, Vianello

Now that shows how Italy can do when we decide to attack - look at them scores :cool: England still to play but we've already won it
 
#2,956 ·
Allegri has been speaking highly of him in last 2 months of the season (while acting like he didn't exist prior). Miretti and Fagioli are only reason I'm looking forward to our pre season.
 
#2,962 · (Edited)
And 4-1

FT

There is little to add. The word which is used in Italian to describe our team after this game is "asfaltati". Our team was run over by France.
The first worry of our coach was clearly resting all the players he could and he rested first of all the midfielders (Faticanti, Casadei and Fabbian), with the consequence that our midfield today was poor. In defense, Mulazzi was banned, Ghilardi was rested, while Giovane, left back but also left midfielder when needed, came in late for a very poor Fazzini, at midfield. In attack Nasti didn't play at all while Ambrosino was replaced after 70 minutes by Miretti. Hopefully resting players will prove useful for the semifinal. What is certain is that the reserves today have showed to be a downgrade when compared to the starters. Nothing new, it is well known that selections at this level are hardly perfect and fringe players in particular can be awful choices.

Zanchi 6 - I can't blame him for one goal in particular, but luckily the forwards of France were wasteful!
Turicchia 6 - maybe the least bad of the defense, maybe he was also helped by Terracciano, maybe the French player in his zone was not the most dangerous
Stivanello 5 - the goal #2 is on him because he was late on Tchaouna
Coppola 5 - forget the post he hit with the header, forget my previous comments on him. The French forwards took him for a ride in goal #3 and #4. He must wake up!
Fontanarosa 4 - maybe Tchaouna was not the softer opponent he could meet, but everyone going down his flank overcame him pretty easily. Very poor at defending, showed the traditional qualities of the defender when going forward. Is he really the 2nd best Nunziata could find in Italy for the left side of the defense?
Terracciano 5.5 - helpful in defense but run over like all the midfield
Degl'Innocenti 5 - poor
Fazzini 4 - very poor, he doesn't help much Fontanarosa who would indeed need help (Giovane nv - in to help Fontanarosa, but it's late)
Baldanzi 5 - wasteful
Volpato 6 - classy goal, some nice touches but should also be more effective
Ambrosino 6 - a classy assist to Volpato for the goal and little more (Miretti 6 - he came in clearly nervous and the reason is obvious: he could hardly change the trend of the game)
 
#2,970 · (Edited)
2-1 FT

My ratings:
Desplanches 8 - surely we must thank him if Italy didn't concede more than 2 goals and could fight till the very last minute.
Turricchia 5.5 - started instead of Mulazzi and has a big fault on the equalizer (Mulazzi 6)
Ghilardi 5 - being the partner of Coppola at Verona gives him the priority on Stivanello, who had showed to be poor in the game vs France anyway. Big fault for him on the equalizer too, many fouls. Again very close to the red card.
Coppola 6 - this Euro has given me the feeling that he is good but maybe not so good as I thought him to be. He should be tested with a quality defender close to him.
Giovane 5.5 - as usual pushed a lot and conceded a lot (Fontanarosa 6 - not nearly as bad as he had been vs France)
Fabbian 6 - I tell it once more and for the last time: I prefer him to his team mate at Inter hyper-hyped Casadei (Baldanzi 6.5 - one great chance partially wasted and a fantastic shot which was saved by the goalie)
Faticanti 5 - this time Faticanti "ha hatto fatica" (struggled) against a very physical midfield (Fazzini 6 - few minutes in the loss time but some interestings things he had not showed vs France)
Casadei 5.5 - runs a lot, many plays go through him but he is neither particularly skilled nor particularly smart. The decisive assist for the winning goal of England is maybe unlucky but surely a disgrace
Miretti 6.5 - gained the penalty he laso took, some more good things here and there. Not so consistent as in other games.
Ambrosino 6 - I like this forward, because he has good skills but we would need a real striker or maybe a center forward (Volpato 5.5 - his skills brought to nowhere unfortunately)
Nasti 5 - useless in attack
 
#2,971 ·
I only saw the second half but there has been a theme to al four matches: insufficient creativity in the opposition half.

Overall, the results have been positive, especially qualification for the WC, but the emerging talent does not appear particularly exciting, at least based on the four matches here.
 
#2,972 · (Edited)
I only saw the second half but there has been a theme to al four matches: insufficient creativity in the opposition half.
I disagree completely.
The big problem of this team was the physical inferiority when compared to other teams such as France and England. Miretti, Volpato, Baldanzi and Ambrosino have huge quality but would need a strong center forward we do not have (Nasti is 1.79 and is more of a poacher). Then there is the defense which is average, poor or even very poor in at least 7 players of the 8 I watched. And the 8th is not Nesta either. This team would need to be completed with the big black Marcantoni France and England have and we have in the under 21 NT (Okoli and Udogie) but oddly not in this selection. Or at least with Scalvini, who belongs to this team.
 
#2,973 · (Edited)
The list of under 21 players for the friendly games with England (September 22, 17.30, Pescara) and Japan (September 26, 15.30, Castel di Sangro).

Portieri: Elia Caprile (Bari), Alessandro Plizzari (Pescara), Alessandro Sorrentino (Monza) Stefano Turati (Frosinone);
Difensori: Raoul Bellanova (Inter), Andrea Cambiaso (Bologna), Simone Canestrelli (Pisa), Alessandro Circati (Parma), Giorgio Cittadini (Modena), Caleb Okoli (Atalanta), Fabiano Parisi (Empoli), Lorenzo Pirola (Salernitana), Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Mattia Viti (Nizza), Destiny Iyenoma Udogie (Udinese);
Centrocampisti: Edoardo Bove (Roma), Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Fabio Miretti (Juventus), Filippo Ranocchia (Monza), Nicolò Rovella (Monza), Emanuel Vignato (Bologna);
Attaccanti: Nicolò Cambiaghi (Empoli), Lorenzo Colombo (Lecce), Sebastiano Esposito (Anderlecht), Luca Moro (Frosinone), Pietro Pellegri (Torino).
 
#2,977 ·
Italy 0-2 England

A friendly under 21 defeat in Pescara against a very strong opponent which will surely be among the favourites next summer.

Decisive were a very strong start by England which saw them score twice early on and some wayward finishing by Italy in the second half which meant they could not capitalise on their ascendancy in the second half and the 2 or 3 good chances they created. Need a quality striker!!!
 
#2,980 ·
I have finished to watch it now.
Well, England were 2-0 up after 5 minutes thanks to Bove (nomen omen), who first committed the most stupid foul in the PK area then lost a bloody ball at midfield. On the latter episode it was also crucial Viti not following Scalvini's movement forward but following Brewster instead and leaving him onside. Nothing new, if you have read this thread Bove and Viti have already been a disgrace before. In the first half England had a pair of opportunities for scoring another but Okoli saved on the goal line a shot of Conor Gallagher after Djed Spence had kidded around for the nth time with Parisi, then England hit a post with a header after a corner kick if I'm not wrong (and with Scalvini temporarily out, again if I'm not wrong). At the beginning of the second half Nicolato, who had already replaced an invisible Pellegri with Colombo during the first half (because of an injury of Pellegri, a sort of blessing in disguise), left out all the awful guys I mentioned and also Cambiaghi, a guy I like but tonight in my opinion he was not fit (he has just come back from injury) and replaced them with Cittadini, a lanky center back with two iron feet, product of Atalanta, Fagioli, Udogie and Sebastiano Esposito. The team improved but like James said in his post: the problem is the attack, as a whole. No shots on goal, just a few shots completely out of target. During the second half Cambiaso was replaced by a fresher Bellanova, who had a pair of good runs and one very good cross for a header which was over the bar (as usual) and a disappointing Miretti was replaced by Vignato. Red card near the end for Rovella who had protested with the referee for everything throughout all the game. The referee caught the chance to punish a bad foul with the red card and get rid of the disturber.

My ratings: Plizzari 5.5 - Okoli 6, Scalvini 6, Viti 5 (Cittadini 6) - Cambiaso 5.5 (Bellanova 6), Bove 4 (Fagioli 6.5), Rovella 6, Miretti 5.5 (Vignato 6), Parisi 5 (Udogie 6) - Pellegri 5 (Colombo 5.5), Cambiaghi 5 (Esposito 5.5)
 
#2,982 · (Edited)
No. I don't really think that they have more talent. They surely have more physical strength/speed as a consequence of having many more black players. For example, as soon as Udogie came in for Parisi, Spence stopped going "Gervinho" on our left flank. Brewster isn't really Mbappé. I see that the English under 21 team has the same exact problem of the Italian one: most of players are in the Championship or do not play in their Premier League clubs.
I also think that our starting lineup was pretty wrong, but I rate Nicolato highly and he is surely testing players.
 
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