Italia: La Nazionale II

I think historically we elevate ourselves (or lower) to any team, be it gibraltar or spain we will pay close attention to their style and know that going into the game

See Cyrpus-Italy 4-3 or more recently the macedonia and albania series

But then also remember how we played very well against many teams in the euro

I honestly did not want Greece or the two Irish contestants, all three of them would press the hell out of us and esp. greece would sit back just like we would. Sweden is fair and i think that if they hold out in the first leg then it will be easy business in Milan

I hope you're right brother. A world cup without Italy would not be right

i dont think i could show my face honestly, everyone i know sees me as a giant and proud italy fan, the banter would be too much

giovanni_milan wrote:i dont think i could show my face honestly, everyone i know sees me as a giant and proud italy fan, the banter would be too much

For me too

I just hope we have a fit team

Is the second leg at home?
I'm going to my first WC, can't have it be the one Italy misses.

yeah the pot 1 vs pot 2 means that the pot 1 teams have the home advantage in the second leg

thats why im happy we didnt completely bottle it in the group and took those last games seriously

and by seriously i mean in the italian sense, which is average at best

but still those final points we got by barely trying gets us that home game

The squad for the playoffs

Portieri: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan), Mattia Perin (Genoa).

Difensori: Davide Astori (Fiorentina), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Leonardo Bonucci (Milan), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Danilo D'Ambrosio (Inter), Matteo Darmian (Manchester United), Daniele Rugani (Juventus), Leonardo Spinazzola (Atalanta), Davide Zappacosta (Chelsea).

Centrocampisti: Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Antonio Candreva (Inter), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Roberto Gagliardini (Inter), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Jorge Luiz Frello Jorginho (Napoli), Marco Parolo (Lazio), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain).

Attaccanti: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Eder Citadin Martins (Inter), Manolo Gabbiadini (Southampton), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Simone Zaza (Valencia).

Bolded some new/returning ones. Good to see Jorginho, Florenzi and Zaza back.

Good to see 6 CMs as well. Hope it means a 3 man mid eventually. Good pairings can be made with this group.

Jorginho/Parolo - De Rossi/Galgiardini - Verratti/Florenzi

Tears in my eyes

Can't believe it ffs

Now get Ventura out

Its still too many forwards to be confident that he won't play 2 of the like in the 4-4-2.

Hopefully if a 4-3-3 is too much to ask we can see a 3-4-3, or a 3-4-1-2 at worst.

At least the call ups are on point. Marchisio and Pellegrini haven't had enough game time to be there so its good.

NOOOOOOOOO WTF

Jorginho reject and choose Brazil ffs

Jorginho has formally ended his ties with Brazil, i think he was being smart to force himself into our roster as he already deserves it on merit, methinks if he had a "motta" in his name hed already be called

On Venturas selection: I havnt been so happy with an italy squad and the selected players on sometime

I think that many people dont see into his mind. (simple and old fashioned as it is) I remember it takes the old school tacticians a few tries to get the right mix of talent but he has rooted out some of the posers and now has called up more or less the team we will see if we do advance and make the world cup. Many many managers before him have gone with a skeleton squad in the qualifiers to call up the big boys for the actual tournament

He has normally opted for 4-5 mids but we see that he has asked jorginho, marchisio, gagliardini, verratti, parolo and DDR which demonstrates that he will play a more fluid and open style of play than we have seen from this team

I also expect a bit of old school catenaccio if things dont go our way but the squad shows that he wants to take the game to sweden before we go back to milan

I know ventura has taken a lot of criticism and i was in that same boat but you have to give him credit here as he has picked a proper team this time

very excited to watch this game on friday, havnt been so pumped to see la nazionale in a while as we dont usually take the group stage all that seriously

The only Italy manager with less big time club experience was Bearzot. He did win the WC, but somehow I think Ventura is dummy.

Some updates.

The 11 that the media was predicting was this
Buffon; Chiellini, Bonucci, Barzagli; Spinazzola, Parolo, De Rossi, Verratti, Candreva; Immobile, Zaza

Note that Belotti just came back from injury so he was thought judged not be on form enough to start. Zaza's and Immobile's hot streaks made them the partnership for the game, while the 3-5-2 offered certainties for the first leg as an away game.

Now Spinazzola and Zaza apparently picked up knocks and are doubts for the game.

If Spinazzola doesn't make it the obvious replacement is Darmian. Maybe Florenzi. For Zaza its not clear. If Belotti was fit it would be him. If not then it can be any of Insigne, Eder, Bernardeschi, El Shaarawy or Gabbiadini.

Insigne is clearly the best player and should be starting regardless of Zaza's fitness but if he is gonna be played centrally then maybe its just not gonna work. All the others play centrally, maybe that will take precedence.

I would hope that Ventura reconsiders and goes 3-4-3

Buffon; Cheillini, Bonucci, Barzagli; Darmian, De Rossi, Verratti, Florenzi; Insigne, Immobile, Candreva

Zaza

This 3-5-2 destroys Sweden on paper

Havnt been so nervous for an international in some time

Zaza being out is a huge bow for us, but this will give Belotti his chance even if hes unfit

Spinazolla is a bigger loss as darmian is not naturally left footed and doesnt offer amazing displays

That being said, with the leaders on this team in Buffon, De Rossi, BBC, they will surely knowhow to progress

Sweden is unbeaten at home in their last 7 and earned a lot of respect in the group stages, beating out holland for the play-off and not finishing too far behind france

I think itll end 1-1 tomorrow, and we will expect a bigger showing in Milan

I think it will be 1-1 as well. With a solid game against a solid Sweden.

Spinazzola also isn't left footed btw, but he is just that much of a Zambrotta regen that he plays on the left perfectly (and mostly). Most exciting fullback we've had in years.

well yeah thats not necessarily a prerequisite for playing there however it is ideal

what makes spinazzola the choice is his pace and agility compared to darmian

cant wait for emerson palmieri in the future

Yeah Emerson's injury is a shame.

Him and florenzi as wb and playing in the same system has me drooling at the prospect

If we do make it past the round expect him to have a shot at the starting 11, that is if he can recover his amazing form from last year

After a few years in the post zambrotta/grosso era, we finally have some quality full backs which in the past have been so key to our NT

It's really humiliating for Italy to worry about Sweden, but, that's the state the national team is in with Ventura.

breva wrote:It's really humiliating for Italy to worry about Sweden, but, that's the state the national team is in with Ventura.

+1

Ventura is not the man to lead Italy...He's proven that on many occasions. That midfield looks weak, he must play Jorginho and integrate him into the first team.

I've been driving that Jorginho bandwagon for a couple of years but I wouldn't start him for this game.

Away to Sweden in such an important game is not the time to depart that far from "the plan". After the week's training and with a favorable result in the first leg, the match in Milan I would go with him.

Parolo is good there for now. He always plays well for Italy, one of the more consistent guys, and serves as a good foil to Verratti.

Starting line up:


Nearly a better 11 on the bench when you think of players like Insigne, Marchisio, Jorginho, Florenzi etc.

Not a fan of this, the right side can get badly abused if Sweden has any fast wingers

Meh Sweden is always been a tough NT even before of Ventura, so it is normal the concern  for  a play off .

Sweden was the worst team faceable from us , they   finished 2nd after France and above Netherlands... and just watching Greece and Switzerland yesterday ...

If you can't beat Sweden you don't belong in a world cup. It's as simple as this.

Yeah, the toughest team we could've faced by far. Normally, Italy raises the level to its opponent, so I hope that tradition continues.

I feel like Insigne could've been useful from the start since he can actually do something with the ball in the final third