<div style="float: right;margin-left: 5px"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/sports-news-august-2010/image/9534705?term=Serbia+football" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright" style="border: 0px initial initial" src="http://view2.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9534705/sports-news-august-2010/sports-news-august-2010.jpg?size=500&amp;imageId=9534705" border="0" alt="Aug. 12, 2010 - 06309920 date 11 08 2010 Copyright imago Aleksandar Djorovic 11 08 2010 Serbia Serbia Greece Friendly Match Gojko Kacar Serbia during Match PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxSER Football men National team international match Belgrade Action shot Single cut out Vdig 2010 Square Highlight premiumd." width="210" height="168"></figure></div></a></div>
<p>Tomorrow Italy will be playing it’s final match of this international break, a qualifier for the European Championships of 2012 which will be taking place in Poland and Ukraine. The Azzurri will be facing Serbia at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris of Genoa, and the Sampdoria players like Cassano and Pazzini are looking forward to playing in front of their fans.</p>
<p>This match is important in many different ways, not only does Prandelli want to bounce back after the relatively <a href="http://www.serieatalk.com/northern-ireland-hold-italy-to-0-0-draw/3223">disappointing draw against Northern Ireland</a>, but he also needs to make sure he finds the right system with his players. With plenty of talented players to play as forwards, Prandelli needs to make sure everyone gets playing time, and that the forwards find a way to score some goals.</p>
<p>Right now the group is pretty tight, and although Italy are first right now, they could be overtaken if they don’t perform against Serbia. The group has Italy in first place with seven points, then Estonia just one point behind at six points, and then Slovenia, Serbia, and Northern Ireland all tied with four points while the Faroe Islands are at the bottom with zero points.</p>
<p>In the other matches taking place tomorrow of the group, you can expect Northern Ireland to win against the Faroe Islands, and it’s possible that Estonia will win at home when they face Slovenia. This forces the Azzurri to get a win, because if they don’t they could fall all they way down to third place in the group.</p>
<p>As for the team which Italy will be facing, Serbia have actually been going through a bit of a bad time recently. They first only managed a 1-1 draw against Slovenia, and then they were defeated at home 3-1 by Estonia. Serbia had gone a goal up in the second half against Estonia, and you’d expect them to hold onto the lead, but Estonia instantly fought back with three goals, disappointing the Serbian fans.</p>
<p>So Prandelli will have to take advantage of Serbia’s slump in form, but how will he do that? It seems possible that Pazzini will start along with Cassano, with Borriello also in the frontline. Prandelli experimented with a 4-3-3 in practice before the match starting Cassano on the left, drifting in inside to play as a “trequartista” behind Borriello and Pazzini.</p>
<p>This was accompanied by the midfield three which started in Ireland, Pirlo, De Rossi, and Mauri, and a defence composed of Zambrotta, Gastaldello (Bonucci received a knock against Northern Ireland, nothing serious though), Chiellini, and Criscito. And it seems like Prandelli would like to stick with Viviano in goal, but this entire formation could have a few changes by the time that the players begin to play Serbia.</p>
<p>To me the team looks good, Criscito is on the rise (as was Cassani, but Prandelli seems to have chosen Zambrotta instead), Cassano and Pazzini will be able to link up well, with Borriello wanting to make up for his missed chance in Ireland. My only disappointment is that yet again, Giuseppe Rossi probably won’t be part of the starting 11. He’ll most likely be used as a super-sub, which isn’t that great of a chance to prove himself.</p>
<p><em>What are your thoughts on the possible formation that Prandelli will put out? How do you think Italy will do against Serbia? Share your thoughts by commenting below!</em></p>


Italy To Face Serbia At Home In Important Qualifier

Italy To Face Serbia At Home In Important Qualifier - World Soccer Talk

<div style="float: right;margin-left: 5px"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignright" style="border: 0px initial initial" src="http://view2.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9211198/italy-soccer-federation/italy-soccer-federation.jpg?size=500&amp;imageId=9211198" border="0" alt="Italy&apos;s soccer federation president Giancarlo Abete attends the news conference in Irene June 25, 2010 .  REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini (SOUTH AFRICA)" width="300" height="203"></figure></div></div>
<p>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…</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>


No Eye-catching Italian players?

No Eye-catching Italian players? - World Soccer Talk

Latest news from Rossi. Find out about all the news related to Rossi on worldsoccertalk.com

ALL POSTS TAGGED "Rossi"

News

Italy To Face Serbia At Home In Important Qualifier

News

No Eye-catching Italian players?