EURO 2012 Blog

Qualifying Group Winners
Coach: Cesare Prandelli
One to Watch: Giuseppe Rossi
As we approach the summer of 2012 all of our minds, well most of them at least, will turn away from the domestic football competitions within our own countries, towards the International arena for the eagerly awaited European Championship Finals, to be held in Poland and the Ukraine. Within a fortnight from now, the world will know the names of the last four teams/countries that will join the 12 nations already guaranteed a place at Euro 2012. Over the next three weeks, we shall be profiling each of the 16 finalists that will bid to become the champions of Europe until 2016.

In the next of our team profiles for Euro 2012 we cast our eyes upon Italy. Italy played their first match as a nation in 1910, since then they have gone on to produce an illustrious record in international football competition. The “Azzurri” as the national side is known (in reference to the blue shirts in which they play) have appeared in no fewer than seventeen World Cup Finals, hosting the event twice, 1934 and 1990, and winning it on four separate occasions, 1934, 1938, 1982 and most recently in 2006. In terms of the European Championships, the Italians have appeared in the finals tournament seven times. Their success in the competition cannot compare with their World Cup winning credentials however, winning the tournament just once, in Italy in 1968 when it was a smaller event comprised of only four teams, known as the European Cup of Nations.

Italy are best known for being a fairly defensive minded team, this comes from the Cattenaccio style of football that the national team employed certainly during the 1960’s and 1970s. This defensive system employs a sweeper behind three marking defenders, and is specifically designed to frustrate opponents, close down any space and ultimately stop the other team from scoring. Although the Italian game has moved away slightly from this rigid defensive system over the years, they are still often criticised, particularly from outside quarters for playing a very controlled form of the game , with less focus on scoring goals and more focus on keeping clean sheets. While some of the criticism stems from frustration on the part of the success of these tactics, Italy’s appearance in the 1994 World Cup Final for example, some criticism has been justified, as good Italian teams, with plenty of attacking options have found themselves heading home from tournaments early due to negative tactics. A fine example of this was in the last World Cup in South Africa when Italy exited at the group stage after poor results against Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia.

Following that embarrassing exit current coach Cesare Prandelli took the reins of power. The new coach has brought in a number of new players and has successfully managed to bring the average age of the squad down. Italy’s run in qualifying for Euro 2012 was impressive, eight wins and two draws saw them top their group on 26 points which stands them in good stead for next summer’s tournament. The squad looks good on paper and has a number of exciting prospects like Rossi and Balotelli, Antonio Cassano though is the one to look out for, an incredibly talented, composed playmaker in the prime of his career, with plenty of experience, his six goals in the qualifying campaign not to be scoffed at either.

Italian football has again been in the headlines for the wrong reasons in the last couple of seasons, with player strikes and fan violence amongst the problems revealed. This may turn out well for Italy though as they always seem to produce their best when they have something to fight against, the World Cup winning sides of 1982 and 2006 both arrived at the tournaments emerging from scandals. Given their historical strength in major championships, their results in qualifying and the rebirth that Prandelli seems to have engineered, I think Italy will certainly reach the knockout stages, how far they can go beyond that is a moot point. Although there are other, to my mind, stronger teams in next year’s finals, history has taught us never to write of the Italian’s in major tournaments, you do so at your peril.

Tags: Antonio Cassano, blue shirts, Cesare Prandelli, domestic football, euro 2012, European Championship Finals, European Cup, football competition, football competitions, Giuseppe Rrossi, group winners, illustrious record, international arena, international football, italian game, italy italy, qualifying group, south africa, team profiles, world cup, world cup finals, World Cup winning

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 1st, 2011 at 10:00 and is filed under Group C, Team Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.