Well. It's early but I think that we should look at the future and I am not talking about the Euro qualifiers and the call-ups that will be made by Cesare Prandelli. Our U-20 and U17 both went deep in their World Cup Finals and there is a lot of young talent. If we want to win again in 2014 or 2018 we cannot look at the Cassanos or the Miccolis of the world. We have to look at the younger talent. Someone mentioned about Italian soccer lacking a real #10... well, there is at least one, Carraro from Fiorentina that played at the U17 World Cup. Here is the problem, what are Carraro's chances to play in Serie A enough at a young age in order to develop the poise and swagger required to be a world class player??? I say not many... with the pressure to get immediate results being so great in Serie A and no real limits on how many "stranieri" a team can field, it's hard to imagine that he will play consistently. Think about it... he would be 22 in 2014 and 26 in 2018. I remember watching games with R.Baggio when he was new in Florence and his knee was out, he was 18 I was 20... within 2 years he started for Fiorentina. This would not happen now. I am not saying Carraro=R.Baggio, but I had the fortune to be close to Roberto and I have seen enough of Carraro to say that there is a chance. The FIGC has to take a hard look at the current situation and find a way to guarantee that young Italian talent is given more space on the prime Italian teams, the ones that play in Europe also, so that they can complete their development. Especially defenders, need to learn to cope with pressure... look at poor "deer in headlight" Marchetti, how many international games did he have under his belt?? A roster like Inter has should not be allowed. Inter is actually doing a disservice to Italian soccer. We can develop fine talent that competes at the highest youth levels, but we need to find a way to get these kids playing.
I think we should introduce 4 points for a win in the league. Force teams to play attacking players... Too many coaches don't want youth because they might occasionally lose discipline/position. The international rules change more and more to discourage defensive play. Maybe we should leap ahead instead of playing catch-up. We could also have a rule that clubs must play a minimum of 2 players under the age of 25 each game.
I've been following Carraro for some time, of course, and I most often hear him compared to Cassano. I think Carraro will probably get his Serie A debut this season but I think it's way too soon to really be talking about his future contribution to the Azzurri. I do agree with your point, though, that there are many talented young Italians and the cupboard is hardly bare.
I haven't seen how Serie A compared (in goals per match) with Bundesliga, La Liga and EPL this past season but the Serie A seems to be a pretty attack-oriented league. I really don't see that as the problem. Youth, though, does not get much of a chance. Not in calcio and not in the Italian culture as a whole. The two under-25 players per match rule is intriguing. I think that the biggest problem has been the old dinosaur Italian coaches but many of the worst offenders are now overseas or retired. Prandelli will be the most attacking Italian NT coach in ages and, though I'm not the biggest fan of him as a club manager, I can see him excelling at this. The stars have aligned for him and the Azzurri have nowhere to go but up. Has there ever in history been a better time to take the reins of the Azzurri? I can see an Italian NT golden age approaching to be honest.
Giovinco? I'm holding out hope this kid's career gets back on track. We'll see what Juve decides to do, but he DESERVES to play, wherever that may be.
I think Giovinco will represent a very important building block in the rebuilding of the NT. Of course, it won't happen unless Juve give him ample opportunity to prove himself. Balotelli will also be a major piece, but I'm hoping he can show some greater maturity over the next couple of years. Personally, I think we have the quality young talent to really make the kind of comeback we need. Names like Giovinco, Balotelli, Paloschi, Acquafresca, Dessena, Santacroce, De Silvestri, Okaka, Bonucci, Bocchetti, Motta, Santon, Criscito, Marchisio, etc. all come to mind as young talents that can easily achieve world class status if given the opportunity to do so.
same here, does he even get called up for U-21 or youth squads? it seems that italians outside italy dont get much attention from national side; rossi, diamanti, cudichini, aquilani, etc.
Minimal exposure. He's playing predominately for Man U's reserve squad, which only makes it tougher to see as much of him as we would one of the younger players in Serie A, even though most of them play for the smaller clubs. On top of that, his U-21 career is only just kicking off. Macheda is an awesome talent (as is Petrucci), but I personally don't see either of them even getting a thought from the senior side at least until WC 2014 qualifying, and even that is wishful thinking.
At least Macheda has played a couple of games for Man U and scored some big goals. If he were in Italy he would be nowhere near where he is now.
Not at all true considering he was a Lazio youth product. As poor as they are, if they had him he would likely be playing. In my opinion there is a slight problem with youngsters and foreigners, but it's a bit exageratted right now as everyone tries to justify the World Cup flop. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle and even believe a lot of these youngsters have themselves partially to blame. When you look at a guy like Giovinco, he threw away 2 years at Juventus when it was damn obvious that he was not going to feature heavily. He could have demanded a loan last summer and gone to a Siena or Bari and been a protagonist. However he got caught in the trap of wanting and beleiving he was going to feature for a big club. Imagine how much he more he could have developed after that great season at Empoli instead of waiting for Juve to come around.
its a 2-fold problem, these kids have to see the writing on the wall and demand these kind of moves....then the folks in charge of the NT have to look at players from the lower-half of serie A and abroad.
Not to pick up for Juventus but Giovinco has been injured off and on this past season. And something has to be wrong when three different coaches didnt want to play him because with the sad state of Juventus you would think Giovinco would be able to crack the starting lineup.
Unfortunately for Giovinco, it seems he might be just too small/frail... maybe in Spain he would get more of a run, but in Italy, they still play quite a few deep passes(semi long ball lol) and expect most players to defend well. Not really sure what his future holds. A few inches taller and he would already be a star.
I don't buy into the whole size issue. Messi is a midget, yet is one of the best in the world. Granted, Giovinco may not be blessed with Messi's raw skill, but he's definitely no slouch either in his own right. What about Del Piero? He's another guy that could've easily been written off due to his small frame, yet he managed to compensate for it with skill and quality. I think Giovinco has the ability to do this as well. To simply ignore that quality due to his lack of size would be purely ignorant.
You guys are missing the obvious with Giovinco. I love the guy's talent and want him to explode at Juve, but it's not his height that is the problem (although he is really short). It's the muscle. Maradona and Messi now were/are short players with thick legs and a lower center of gravity. Same can be said of Miccoli and a guy like Romario. Giovinco's problem is that he doesn't look like he spends anytime in the weight room. The result? He's easily muscled off of the ball at times. Until he gets stronger to make up for his height, he is not going to be the world class player he could become.
Are you so sure abuot that? Look at what they did with Russotto afterall. Another example is Foggia, who in spite of his versatility and great natural ability, has either been getting loaned out or rotting on the bench. I'm quite convinced that even landing with a poorer mid-table club in Serie A no longer guarantees our young talent a legitimate shot...
I was trying to imply that he was poached before he could even be signed or put to use. If he had scored those few goals he's known for at Lazio then he might still be there today. He was at Man U before most of BigSoccer ever knew him.
Does anyone know what the hell ever happened to Arturo Lupoli? This kid literally went from the hottest Italian prospect out there, to completely falling off the map within a span of 3 years!
I made this post in another thread, but I think it applies here too. Right now the immediate attention needs to be on rebuilding the defense. First and foremost who is going to replace Cannavaro in the middle? I suspect that Prandelli, knowing Gamberini will be using him in the immediate interim probably with Chiellini. Does he try bringing in Ranocchia and continue with Bonucci/Bochetti and Criscito or not? Does he bring Santon back as soon as possible, or go with Zambrotta for the first few qualifiers. Those are questions I suppose we have to wait for to find out. The bottom line is that we need to fix that first. Teams are just not afraid of Italy at the moment, and have nothing to lose by attacking us. We can't continue to concede 2-3 goals a game to teams like Slovakia, New Zealand, Faroe Islands...friendly or not. In the long term, or mid term 2-3 years down the road I don't have any worries that we'll be covered once it's determined who's going to step out of: Rannochia Bonucci Santacroce Bocchetti Santon If they all continue to develop like we expect, imagine 2 or 3 of them are going to be on the bench. Secondly, if Prandelli has intentions on using Cassano right away, then leave it up to him to work out a one striker solution, again in the interim, between Pazzini who Cassano already works with, or Gilardino who Prandelli clearly likes. If he's going to go with a complete youth overhaul in defense, why not take two defensive minded players and put them on the wings to reinforce? Why not use Maggio on the right and even Criscito on the left? Is this too defensive? It's certainly reinforced, at least long enough to give the backline some experience and confidence before making more offensive formations. You guys know Prandelli well. He likes more attacking lineups, and while this one is reinforced defensively, the likes of Maggio and Criscito can also run the flanks and help the offense, while at the same time defensively responsible to make sure we don't give up the sorts of goals like we did on Slovakia's third. Santon/Maggio and Chiellini/Criscito can overlap looking to get the ball forward to Cassano, and Pirlo-Cassano can form the backbone of the creativity up the middle. A lone striker for now to be the beneficiary of all the options present. .......................Buffon Santon....Ranocchia...Bonucci...Chiellini ......Palombo/DDR.....Pirlo Maggio/Rossi....Cassano.....Criscito/Quag .......... Pazzini/Balotelli/Borriello Santon 6'2, Ranocchia 6'5, Bonucci 6'3, Chiellini 6'3, Criscito 6'0 (< not sure about that one)...but think about defending set pieces, as well as bringing one or two of them forward for corners!
If Davide Astori (23) continues to develop how he did last season he could also be a candidate. Ariaudo is good tackling and marking but he needs to perfect his technical skills. Astori has good feet and is comfortable with the ball for a defender.
Spent the season at Ascoli, he's still co-owned with Fiorentina. He scored 6 goals in 36 games, not great. His co-ownership was renewed a few days ago and he'll be at Ascoli next season too. When he was young he really looked promising, he just never took that next step. Probably never will, although he is still only 23.
I watch Maggio every week for Napoli and he's a beast. Not the greatest defensive player but his crosses, imagination and heading ability are really top rate. I was excited he got called up but only played a half in the WC. I think he's a good stop-gap for the Euro qualifiers but I think the future of RB is Santon and DeSilvestri. I'm sure I'm missing someone else.