The head coach of the Italian football team Gian Piero Ventura has left following the failure of the team to make the World Cup for the first time in 60 years. The coach was widely criticized for his team selection and the tactics he employed throughout the qualification phase.
Parma’s ace defender Paletta chirped that he is pretty happy about his debut in the Italian Team. However he feels disappointed about outcome of the Spain Vs Italy Match. Playing along with Leo Messi for Argentina, the defender bagged the game in the Under Twenty World Cup. Tonight the player made his remarkable Azzurri bow in which they faced a 1-0 defeat, earning praises from one and all.
The twenty year old defender says that post his debut on Monday he has settled in pretty well and his team mates have given him a very warm welcome. He adds that since his family is from Catanzaro, he is well connected to his roots.
Talking about the variance in fitness levels of the players of Spain and Italy, Cesare Prandelli, the Azzuri Coach criticized that this difference was much embarrassing. However, Palette had to say otherwise. He commented that leaving everything else, the reason why Spain could maintain their solid fitness level throughout the game is because they know how to make the ball run. He thinks that the entire Italian defense team worked perfectly and Spain won only because of lucky ricochet but on a whole the Italy defended quite marvelously. This ex Liverpool defender (centre half) was heavily praised by Prandelli for his fantastic performance.
Besides being an ace defender Paletta is also known for his artistic skills especially caricatures. His caricature calendar featuring his teammates from Parma was release as a way to raise fund for a charity. However this versatile player hasn’t done any for his new Italian Teammates. He started it off as a joke by drawing caricatures of his teammates on postcards, and he never had any clue that it will be turned into a full calendar.
Italy have done extremely well in the recent major tournaments and they are one of the favourites to do well at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. They have qualified for this competition automatically by winning the group. Due to the recent imperious form, they were expected to take all three points in the match against Armenia. However, Italy could only manage a 2-2 draw against the minnows much to the disappointment of manager Cesare Prandelli. He said after the match that his team were too sloppy and they need to learn from these mistakes as quickly as possible.
He has also said that this result was embarrassing for the Italians, who had won the World Cup back in 2006. Denmark have finished second in the group as a result of the good run of form they have carried in last few qualifiers. Italy were coming into the match on the back of yet another 2-2 draw in the previous match and it was against Denmark. Movsisyan opened the scoring for Armenia after just five minutes, while Florenzi managed to equalise for the 2006 champions in the 24th minute. Mkhitaryan’s goal in the 70th minute appeared to have won the match for Armenia before Balotelli rescued the game for the Italians with a late goal.
“We started really badly with an embarrassing opening 20 minutes. I saw players who never gave up and that was a positive sign. I told the lads they had to play good football and that now the World Cup campaign begins, so I’ll judge every single game. We qualified for the Euros and World Cup without defeat. Clearly these last games make you think it won’t take much to win, but the truth is you need great concentration and grit,” Prandelli told Rai Sport.
Italy managed to finish third in the Confederations cup after managing to beat Uruguay in a penalty shootout. Manager Cesare Prandelli said after the match that he is extremely happy at the way the competition has turned out for the Italians. Italy came into the tournament on the back of the final appearance at the Euro 2012 in which they were defeated 4-0 by Spain. The recent successes for the national team comes from the back of disappointing performances at the previous World Cup.
Prandelli has been given the task of rejuvenating the national team, and he is delighted with the way the tournament helped his young players get some experience. Italy and Uruguay managed a 2-2 draw on the night. Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon performed his heroics on the night to help Italy win the match on penalty shootouts. Even though Buffon was criticised heavily after the loss to Spain, he showed why he is still regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world by returning to form.
Prandelli praised his goalkeeper by saying that Buffon is a great goalkeeper irrespective of what people say about him. He also praised his entire team by saying that it was commendable for them to keep going in the month of June as the season draws close.
“We showed great character and after a long season the players kept giving. We deserved this result with some good performances and we became more consistent as the tournament went on. It was tough but we stayed in the game, and then penalties are a lottery. In Italy, people say so many ridiculous things. Penalties can be saved or not, but the problem is that people assume it’s easy to save a spot-kick,” said Prandelli.
Italy will now focus completing the job in the World Cup qualifying.
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