I have decided, we are now gonna have a pinned topic for the Italian National team. All NT discussion goes in here. Discussions such as, the future of Italys World cup winners, Donadoni's squads for the future internationals, friendly and competitive games, players quitting International football and who should/should not be playing.

Ive started by posting up the National teams forthcoming fixtures for the European Championships. Also note that friendly games are also listed.

Oh and if someone can come up with a better descritpion than World Champs 06, please inform me

august 16, 2006 - FIFA/UEFA dates for international friendly matches

Italy - Croatia


september 2, 2006 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Italy - Lituania


september 6, 2006 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

France - Italy


october 7, 2006 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Italy - Ukraina


october 11, 2006 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Georgia - Italy


november 15 , 2006 - FIFA/UEFA dates for internationalfriendly matches

To be decided


march 28 , 2007 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Italy - Scotland


june 02 , 2007 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Far Oer - Italy


june 06, 2007 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Lituania - Italy


september 08, 2007 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Italy - France


september 12 , 2007 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Ukraina - Italy


october 13 , 2007 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Italy - Georgia


november 17, 2007 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Scotland - Italy


november 21 , 2007 - 2008 E.C. Qualifications

Italy - Far Oer

I am quite curious to see what happens with the squad in Euro2008 and WC2010. Will we be hungrier for another title, or sit back because of our current one? I'd personally like to conquer Europe and catch up to Brasilia.

Me too. What players are gonna retire, obviously Del Piero will probably go, but will Canna or Totti? They will be important players to replace if they do go. I dont think they should, but waht i think rarely matters to these guys

Both are important players. It is also important to strengthen the new comers we've had and bring in a couple other younger guys to build their experience while we are Champions and we can work with them - even if they don't get major tournament playing time.

Does anybody know where the Italia-Croatia game will be played?

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jul19m.html

Just found your answer on Channel4.com.

Rather appropriately....its in Livorno. Nice decision by whoever made it!

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jul24i.html


Casiraghi named as U-21 coach. This is a big risk. Both the senior team and the U-21 temas are now coached by guys with relatively little experience. While Donadoni doesnt really surprise me really, this appointment does, plus the genius and extremely likeable Zola, who doest even have qualifications yet, as a "Technical Consultant" strange but not necessarily bad for the Italian future!

Any comments people?

well near enough to 100" of these retirement:

peruzzi
del piero
totti
cannavaro
materazzi

nesta will have to take the armband in the euro to lead from the back as fabio did at this world cup.

Well,a s good a servant as Peruzzi was, i dont think he will be missed much as Todlo, Buffon and Amelia are still around, plus De Sanctis. But he ahs served Italy well in his time.

Del Piero shouldnt even have gone to the world cup and did one or two things alright but was for the main part, quite shit i thought, Totti despite never really showing what he could do for Italy is probably the only other major loss there to match Canna. Matrix...couldnt care less about despite his impressive performances in the World Cup, i'll just never like him, plus i like Barzagli too anyway

just to point out toldo retired two years ago from international football, the only way italy will have to worry about keepers for atleast the next 6 years is if buffon dies. to be blunt.

but i think matrix and canna will be a loss as one is world class and one is just a very good defender. canna won't be replace give Barzagli time and he'll be as good if not better than matrix was at the world cup.

Oh yeah, i forgot about that Toldo thing. Ooops. But yeah, even then i dont think Italys NT will worry too much about the Goalkeeping position, though whoever comes in would probably be a step down

Very True. But again the Italians won't have to worry about a goalkeeper for a long while. Del Piero might retire. I am not too sure. Cannavaro is not retiring though. Hes playing in the 2010 World Cup & thats going to be it for him. Donadoni is very close to convincing Totti to stay with the Nationa team for the Euro2008 & WC 2010. He probably will then he will retire for sure. Materazzi is probably going to play in the 2010 WC then retire. But Del Piero is the guy thats most liekly to retire at the moment.

I highly doubt Cannavaro will be at the next WC, he will be like 37-38 by then?

The squad for the Croatia friendly will be named any day now. Considering alot of the players who participated in the World Cup will not be available for selection who do you think Donadoni should give a call up to? I think Bonera, Cassano & Marchionni will be called up.

Im not so sure, Cassano hasnt really had a chance to change anything since the world cup and Marchionni is a Serie B player, though probably the best outfielder in that league now. I do think Bonera will get a chance and i also reckon Lucarelli will get a call up.

After that i dont really see too many surprises

Under 21 side for the Croatia friendly.

This will be the first game under Gigi Casiraghi


Goalkeepers: Consigli (Sambenedettese), Curci (Roma)

Defenders: Andreolli (Inter), Coda (Udinese), Ferronetti (Parma), Mantovani (Chievo), Pisano (Cagliari), Potenza (Fiorentina), Dellafiore (Palermo)

Midfielders: Aquilani (Roma), Defendi (Atalanta), Lazzari (Cesena), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Nocerino (Piacenza), Padoin (Vicenza), Rosina (Torino)

Strikers: Lodi (Frosinone), Pazzini (Fiorentina), Pozzi (Empoli), Rossi (Manchester United)

I havent really watched many U 21 games, and htere arent many names i recognize there, bar Curci from the Roma fans here, Aquilani who i think is an excellent player, Montolivio who i have been very disappointed with and Rossi who doesnt look like he is ever gonna get a chance with United.

Who are the names to watch for other than those guys and who has a realistic chance of going places?

I pretty much just know the guys you mentioned but also Pazzini is probobly the best player in the team. Very good young player. His goal against Juventus last season was class.

Italy squad for Croatia friendly.


Goalkeepers
Marco Amelia (Livorno), Flavio Roma (Monaco)


Defenders
Daniele Bonera (Milan), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Giulio Falcone (Sampdoria), Manuel Pasqual (Fiorentina), Christian Terlizzi (Sampdoria), Luciano Zauri (Lazio), Cristian Zenoni (Sampdoria)


Midfielders
Massimo Ambrosini (Milan), Gennaro Del Vecchio (Sampdoria), Massimo Gobbi (Fiorentina), Fabio Liverani (Fiorentina), Stefano Morrone (Livorno), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Franco Semioli (Chievo)


Forwards
Andrea Caracciolo (Palermo), David Di Michele (Palermo), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Mauro Esposito (Cagliari), Cristiano Lucarelli (Livorno), Tommaso Rocchi (Lazio)


Also the World Cup will be on display for all the fans to see.

Oh yeah, Pazzini, i know him too, He is class. Hardworking and a real good finisher.

As for that squad, crazy stuff. All new bodies from the WC Squad bar Amelia. A few players have deserved all ups though, Chielleini, Pasqual, and Di Natalie and Di Michele for me had shown flashes of class.

Bonera will not feature in the Italian's friendly clash with Croatia after picking up a knock with Milan, Gamberini of Fiorentina will be taking his place.

I'm glad to see Di Michele getting another shot at the squad. Very interesting line-up for the friendly for sure. Wish I got more games so I could see these guys playing.

Totti extends Azzurri career Friday 18 August, 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Francesco Totti has reportedly confirmed he will return to the Azzurri squad after agreeing to delay his international retirement.

“I am ready to play for the Azzurri again. Let us meet and talk about it,” he is said to have told new Coach Roberto Donadoni this morning.


The Roma star had said he was “90 per cent sure” he would retire from the Italy side after the 2006 World Cup victory.


However, Donadoni tried to convince him that at the age of 30 he was still able to give a great deal to his country.


“I thought long and hard after the World Cup and I am ready to come back, but first I want to recover completely from the injury I suffered in February.”


His performances in Germany were hampered by a fractured ankle that had kept him out of action for three months.


Totti made his senior Italy debut in the 2-0 win over Switzerland on October 10, 1998 and has until now notched up 10 goals in 58 caps.


He is expected to feature in Donadoni’s first official tests, the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Lithuania on September 2 and France in Paris on September 5.

the link

Dude this is the second time you have posted this in the wrng place, if you want to talk about it it sould either be in the Roma sub forum where there are TWO Totti threads adn in here it should be in the Azzuri PINNED thread.

MOVED, come on man at least try adn put it in the right place

Azzurri: Don recalls Cassano Sunday 27 August, 2006

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Roberto Donadoni has recalled Antonio Cassano in the squad for the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Lithuania and France.

Real Madrid boss Fabio Capello had hinted that Cassano would return to the Italy set-up and it’s his first call since a 0-0 draw with Norway in a June 2005 World Cup qualifier.


Cassano is among the new faces along with Tommaso Rocchi of Lazio,who impressed in his debut against Croatia, Juventus winger Marco Marchionni and Sampdoria’s Emiliano Bonazzoli.


World Cup winners Francesco Totti, Alessandro Del Piero, Mauro Camoranesi and Luca Toni have been left at home so that they can regain their full match fitness, while Alessandro Nesta is injured.


Totti this week decided to postpone his international retirement, but warned that he will only play when he has fully recovered from that fractured ankle he sustained in February.


Marco Materazzi is unavailable due to his three-match ban for ‘provoking’ Zinedine Zidane in that Berlin clash.


These will be the new Coach’s first official matches, having lost his debut 2-0 to Croatia in an experimental friendly earlier this month.


The Azzurri will take on Lithuania at Napoli’s Stadio San Paolo on Saturday evening, a match officiated by Swedish referee Hansson.


They then travel to Paris for the crunch tie with France on Wednesday and German referee Herbert Fandel has been assigned to what is sure to be a tense encounter between the World Cup Finalists.


There are 10 changes to the 23-man squad that lifted the trophy on July 9 - Christian Abbiati, Dario Dainelli, Manuel Pasqual, Massimo Ambrosini, Marchionni, Franco Semioli, Bonazzoli, Cassano, David Di Michele and Rocchi.



Italy squad:
Goalkeepers: Abbiati (Torino), Amelia (Livorno), Buffon (Juventus)
Defenders: Barzagli (Palermo), Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Dainelli (Fiorentina), Grosso (Inter), Oddo (Lazio), Pasqual (Fiorentina), Zaccardo (Palermo), Zambrotta (Barcelona)
Midfielders: Ambrosini (Milan), De Rossi (Roma), Gattuso (Milan), Marchionni (Juventus), Perrotta (Roma), Pirlo (Milan), Semioli (Chievo)
Forwards: Bonazzoli (Sampdoria), Cassano (Real Madrid), Di Michele (Palermo), Gilardino (Milan), Inzaghi (Milan), Rocchi (Lazio)


---------------------

wat do u guys think? i have watched cassano play for madrid recently and he seems world class and have lost some pounds... im happy hes in the squad ...as for bonazzolli he deserves the call up of what he did in the beginning of last season...

i think we will play like this:

---------------- Buffon ------------------

Zambrotta----Barzaghli--Canna---Grosso

Marcchioni-----Pirlo---DDR-----Perrotta

-----------------------------Cassano(free role)

------------SuperPippo

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/aug28h.html

Good to see there is still ambition in the already well decorated Italian players. Though to be fair, Canna is the one player who would not expect to get lackadaisical with his achievements.

Also to respong to your post 7akoom, yeah Cassano now has a chance to show the world why Roma paid the bones of £20 million on him. Although if Totti doesnt retire, squad meetings could be interesting!!!

It must be said though that Cassano looks a different player now that Capello is coaching him again

cassano was amazing 4 the first half of the lithuania game i think that because capello has gon to real madrid cassano can become a great star for italy

France 3 - 1 Italy

Sidney Govou 2 Alberto Gilardino 20
Thierry Henry 18
Sidney Govou 55


Attendence: 78800
Referee: Herbert Fandel

Team Lineups

France Italy


* 23 Gregory Coupet * 1 Gianluigi Buffon
* 19 Willy Sagnol * 19 Gianluca Zambrotta
* 5 William Gallas * 5 Fabio Cannavaro
* 15 Lilian Thuram * 6 Andrea Barzagli
* 3 Eric Abidal * 3 Fabio Grosso
* 4 Patrick Vieira * 7 Franco Semioli
* 6 Claude Makelele * 21 Andrea Pirlo
* 7 Florent Malouda * 8 Ivan Gattuso
* 22 Franck Ribery * 20 Simone Perrotta
* 9 Sidney Govou * 10 Antonio Cassano
* 12 Thierry Henry * 11 Alberto Gilardino



Subs Subs

* 1 Mickael Landreau * 12 Christian Abbiati
* 2 Jean-Alain Boumsong * 22 Massimo Oddo
* 13 Francois Clerc * 13 Dario Dainelli
* 17 Gael Givet * 15 Gennaro Delvecchio
* 18 Alou Diarra * 4 Daniele De Rossi
* 11 Sylvain Wiltord * 9 Filippo Inzaghi
* 14 Louis Saha * 17 David Di Michele


France accentuated Italy's post-World Cup hangover following a 3-1 victory in Wednesday's Euro 2008 qualifier, with Sidney Govou in superb form for the hosts.

It took the Lyon striker just 69 seconds to make his mark in a rematch of this past summer's World Cup final.

But the goal was not without controversy. William Gallas appeared to be in an offside position when receiving the ball on the left hand edge of the area.

Play was allowed to continue, however, and the controversial defender crossed for Govou to direct a shot into the far corner of Gianluigi Buffon's net.

The lead was doubled in the 18th minute after Buffon could only parry Florent Malouda's shot and Thierry Henry tucked home.

Respite for Roberto Donadoni's side arrived just two minutes as Alberto Gilardino headed in Andrea Pirlo's cross.

Ten minutes after half time, Govou got his second goal - heading superbly in under challenge from Fabio Cannavaro.


********************************************************************************
*******

Well this is Sky Sports review of the game. In truth Italy looked like a team whose players arent back in season yet. France were fitter faster sharper and probably deserved the victory. But i wouldnt judge Donadoni just yet. I believe once the players are fully match fit and Donadoni has Toni back then the shit will start to fly for Italy.

On the up side, Gila got a beautiful header and it was good experience for Semioli and Barzagli who i feel do have something to offer for The Azzuri

buona fortuna Italia

-please beat Scotland and Ukraine . Both team are very ambitious by underestimating the quality of the Italians and French team

Italy was out of shape, and missing many regulars..but more then that France was very tempered obviously about the WC06 happenings and were soley focused on revenge. Lastly, the game was played with a French crowd of course..the majority of the calls just happened to go their way, with Malouda diving in the box and not getting called but Gila getting tripped yet carded for diving...

on an upside, Pirlo with that perfect feed right on to Gila's head...beautiful

Pretty much what i thought too. Malouda getting away with a blatant dive about 2 minutes after Gila gets booked was a bit of a joke. Saying that though, Pirlos free kick was almost undefendable with the quality of the cross. I'll take 20 of those goals for Gila next season in a Milan jersey

LOL. Man... France... I'm starting to go from "they are a good respectable squad" to it's time for a heated rivalry. Italia is kinda playing like crap to be honest - minus some players still shining. It's time to get the boys back in shape after their fun in the sun this summer. I wanna see the hard hitting defense and calculated attacks.

FORZA AZZURRI!

I dont like Donadoni unless he does something Amazing Which he still has not Managed to do that, So Far, Donadoni is Looking like more of Aragones of Spain.

I'm not quite sure Donadoni has earned enough respect and confidence amoung Italians fans and the players. It's a little too early to tell, but I don't see him jiving all that well. I think he has potential, but I am curious to what he's doing. He's a little too vocal about his plans and feelings regarding some issues in the media thus far IMO. He has opened up a little too early. He needs to focus on doing what he does and leave the media alone until he gets the team working well together and winning.

Welll we all know by now that the opening fixtures under Donadoni havent gone so well, but i have faith. In the meantime, here are pictures of Italys somewhat sluggish performance against the French.

Franck Ribery contnued to impress and was a constant thorn in Italys full backs



Semioli could be one of the players to benefit under Donadoni. Involved in one of the controversial moments of the match, should he have had a penalty?


Gilardino scored a nice header to maintain his decent International scoring form of 23 games and 10 goals (I think!)



This time, Henry probably had the ebating of Cannavaro...wait til he gets match sharp and the return WILL be different


The Azzuri starting line up acknowledge Giacinto Facchieti with a minutes silence


Cannas performance earned him a booking. Ah well!


Donadoni still remains defiant and confident despite his poor start...give him time and have faith...i do!


Cassanos erratic form continues as only flashes were served up in Paris of what he can do

Gattuso rallying cry
Thursday 5 October, 2006
Gennaro Gattuso knows that Italy’s next two matches are crucial, but he has called on his teammates to prove who the world champions are.

“We are faced with two difficult matches and we know it won’t be easy, but I am sure we can win against both Ukraine and Georgia,” said the World Cup hero.

“Our position in the group worries us, but we are eager to prove that we are the world champions and deserved the title in July.

“We have the chance to make up for the previous matches and we know we can do well.

“Roberto Donadoni is training us to fight for 90 minutes and that is what we will do.

“Ukraine are a strong side but we have already defeated them in the World Cup,” continued Gattuso, referring to the victory over Andriy Shevchenko’s side in the quarter-final match in Germany.

“What impressed me is that the Berlin victory was so quickly forgotten – the only thing that matters in football are the three points.

“After the draw with Lithuania we were criticised for our performance, but I think we played well.

“We all have faith in our new Coach and want to do well,” concluded Ringhio.

Meanwhile, Barcelona defender Gianluca Zambrotta believes that an increase in fitness will prove to be the key to success.

“The team has improved from a physical and athletic point of view in the past two weeks and we do not want to fail,” said Zambrotta.

“We are worried, but are sure we can make up for our poor start. We need to win the next two matches as the six points are fundamental for us to get back on track.”

More than 35,000 tickets have been sold for the Stadio Olimpico clash with the Ukraine and the FIGC has granted free entrance to 6,000 children.

The special fans will be seated in two specific sectors of the stadium and will wear blue and golden jerseys in order to form four stars, representing La Nazionale’s World Cup triumphs.

Channel4.com

Italy and Donadoni more need the points rather than the performance right now. 2 wins is a must if the Azzuri are to get back into contention to win the group

Tomorrow is the game "Georgia - Italy". Guys, what do you think about the game?
I guess it's obvious that I will cross my fingers for Georgia, but to be honest I'm not very optimistic. We don't have much high class players, but even those which we have, will miss this game. Shota Arveladze and Malkhaz Asatiani are injured and Levan Kobiashvili will miss the game because of the two yellow cards.
Only good news is that Kaladze is back.

Well, i think Donadoni badly needed that victory against Ukraine and i rekcon now Italy will start to get back into top shape and should really make easy work of Georgia. Toni scoring and players getting fit and confident is a bad recipe for Georgia

Meant to post these up earlier but hadnt gotten around to it til now. Here are some pics of the game against Ukraine and the Azzurini against Spain!

Starting XI against Ukraine, Back Row L to R:
De Rossi, Oddo, Iaquinta, Toni, Materazzi, Buffon.
Front Row L to R:
Zambrotta, Pirlo, Gattuso, Del Piero, Cannavaro ©


Donadoni doesnt exactly look under pressure, but what pressure he had was eased somewhat by the 2-0 scoreline over Ukraine


Shovkovsky and the rest of the Ukraine held firm for as long as possible, but Toni in particular showed why he is one of the most difficult players to play against in world football.


Oddo had the confidence to step up and take the penalty after Del Piero had gone off to score his first International goal.


Pirlo as cool and confident as ever played well in the centre of the park


Tonis goal put the game outta sight for the Ukraine who struggled a offensively without Shevchenko


After a Toni goal, comes the Toni celebration....


Super Pippo couldnt work his way onto the starting 4-3-3 line up. But as ever, if Pippo gets a chance, he will take it!


Pierluigi Casiraghi looks to be feeling a bit of the pressure as Spain help Italy scoreless at home...as i post these pictures, he'll be glad to know that Italy are 2 goals up in Spain


A number of chances went astray for the Azzurini as they just couldnt find the back of the net against the Spaniards

Anyone know of a good place to find pics of the Azzurri celebrating with the World Cup after winning the final this year? I'm looking for something I can work with to make into my signature-- the more triumphant the better, I'm looking for the kind of thing that'll show my pride in the NT and remind all the Italy-haters of how we're Champions of the World.

Edited to add:

Nevermind, I just discovered the graphics forum, which seems like a more appropriate place to post this kind of thing.

A recap of today's friendly vs. Turkey, from http://www.goltv.tv/en_index.php?target=en...mp;newsid=17646



I guess we're almost back to the same form we started the WC with, since once again, no one can score against Italy except... Italy.

Annoyingly, TV here showed just about every international match that happened today except this one. If anyone else got to see it, is this report about right? Anything interesting happen that they didn't mention?

It was pretty much what had happened. To errors, and from those two errors where two goals. a typical Materazzi own goal! Gila worked hard and had a few chances. Do Natale looked very good. Brocchi did very well! Aquilani always is impressive, he worked really hard. Italy just couldn't find that extra touch or luck to get the second goal! But well done to them and to Turkey for putting up a fight!

If you want to find a place for photo's try out the Gazzetta dello sport site: http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/

then on your left you will get a bar with a whole lot of headings linking to places. Click on the 3rd one from the top that says video/gallery. it will open up a page. Then on the left hand bottom corner it will say audio, video foto etc. Click foto (it's the last one) THen it will have pics at the bottom. Click where you see Cannavro and the rest of the Azzurri holding the trophy. There will be photo's of us winning the world cup! Hope you like it! THis is were i got most of my pics!

Thanks so much for telling me where to get the photos! I haven't had time yet to look through all of them, but it's exactly what I was looking for. Grazie!

I've seen the highlights now from the Italy vs. Turkey game, and actually I didn't think Materazzi's own goal was as awful as it could have been. It seemed like he was just unlucky to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Plus, he later cleared a ball from Turkey that could have gone in, so I'm not too mad at him for the OG. (It's funny though, two Inter OGs in one day, the Materazzi one and also one from Maicon in the Brazil game... )

That's great about Brocchi, I'm glad to hear his international debut was a success and glad to hear that everyone else was in good form too. Of course I wish we had won rather than just tied, but if we played so well then that's good news even without the win.

Anytime you need foto's go to the Gazzetta site. I get all mine from there and the Calcio Italia site! Milan's site also give nice ones but you must be registered!

Fabio Cannavaro wins Golden ball.
congrets..

Yeah! And I've heard Buffon was only 49 votes behind. I would have been happy with either of them winning it, so this is a great result. Congrats Cannavaro!

They had better throw it out! Good on FIFA and the French soccer federation for calling this for what it is.

There is no chance here of anyting like that happening. There is nothing tat can be done to over turn a decision like that...ie one that is a guy ACTUALLY head butting anopther guy in the chest. Hell, even if Zidane didnt make contact, Materazzi went down and Zidane got sent off, it wouldnt be over turned. Some people need to grow up and move on.

There are better and more realistic things you could be doing with your time and money than trying to undermine FIFAs Poster tournament!

I completely agree. And while I'd certainly think that FIFA wouldn't overturn the result of the World Cup (can you imagine what it would do for their credibility?), with Sepp Blatter and his ridiculous apology to Australia for Grosso's "dive", you really never know. For that reason I'm very relieved to see FIFA being dismissive of the Zidane fans' call for a rematch.

The most i can see happening with this is Blatter shoving his foot deep into his mouth yet again and saying something in defence of Zidane, and then 2 days later after the FIFA PR guys get over the heart attacks they have and get back to doing what they have been doing ever since Sepp stepped into office, ie damage limitation, than we will have a revamped statement about how he was "mis-quoted" and not actually, an idiot...

though its too late for that!!!