Prandelli has the merit of bringing the "love for the Nazionale" back to the people. He revolutionized everything: from introducing the famous "ethical code" to giving the squad a ball-possession oriented playing style. These are only a few reasons why he is already a part of Italian history, even if he doesn't win any title!
Prandelli is many things: he's fancy, aesthetic, polite, and at times, even tough. However, we can say, by all means, that he is not very friendly. With this I mean that he hardly makes the team perform well in friendly matches. I don't specifically intend this as a compliment nor a criticism. This is just my personal opinion, intended as a fact. Managing the Nazionale, he has only lost 10 matches in three years. 8 of these, have been in friendlies.
Italy's bad results in friendlies are not specifically attached to just Prandelli, however. Just think about the clubs, who basically lost almost every friendly match this preseason. Most of these defeats were even by many goals. The Nazionale, just like the club teams, is always in bad shape in August.
In this graphic, the results of Nazionale's friendly matches of August from 2002 to 2012: 3 victories (one to Germany, big surprise!), 2 ties, and 6 defeats, which become 7 if we add yesterday's loss to Argentina.
The match against Argentina was basically the same old story of Italy in friendlies, especially of the era Prandelli. The team starts very slow and suffers the opponent's initiative, especially in the beginnings of the first and second half. Then, as time goes by, the sense of pride finally makes players wake up and strongly react to the difficulties. The Nazionale usually finishes the game attacking and creating lots of scoring opportunities, producing a "flame" that is extinguished by the lack of time. This kind of situation also happened against Brazil in the Confederations Cup, which was not a friendly.
Several were the positive sides of the match:
- Federico Marchetti: with hard work and consistent, the Venetian goalkeeper has silently been able to (re)earn his well deserved spot as the vice-Buffon. Last night, two great saves in addition to a great sense of confidence between the posts. He should be the successor of Saint Buffon, after Brazil's world cup.
- Lorenzo Insigne: endless flashes of talent for the young Neapolitan. After a great U-21 Euro, he scores his first goal with the Nazionale at his second cap, with a beautiful goal that reminds us of the great Del Piero. He is our future.- Antonio Candreva: the Laziale is becoming a strong reality of our football. Today's performance was only a continuation of what was seen in the Confederations Cup and with Lazio. He is taking over the right wing of the Nazionale. Today he even took a free kick that did not end well, but it shows leadership.
- Christian Maggio: the run-off with Abate is non stop. However, in the last year Napoli's wing man has been able to maintain a positive degree of consistency with the Nazionale. As of now, that position for Brazil should be his. Abate is to prove the opposite.
- Alessandro Diamanti: what a shame he established in Nazionale being too old. His amazing left foot will certainly be a great resource for the world cup.
- Marco Verratti: last night, it wasn't the best of his matches. Still soon to say that he is the successor of Andrea Pirlo, but he has shown that he owns a great sense of courage and responsibility in the middle of the pitch. He knows the profession very well. What a bright future he has.
- Daniele De Rossi: our next captain. Despite the big mistake that led to Higuain's goal, he always responds well when he wears the Nazionale jersey, even when required to play in defense. Amazing his half a field run with the ball giving an almost magnificent assist to Osvaldo.
- The overall team reaction, mostly resulted by the great sense of pride.
The negative aspects of the match:
- The slow and poor approach to the match. Argentina didn't forget that the best way to honor the Pope was to play a real and competitive match. Italy had a hard time realizing this.
- Pablo Osvaldo: despite the many opportunities given by Prandelli, I honestly don't see him at the same level of Balotelli, and even Gilardino. - Prandelli's efforts to keep trying the Christmas Tree (4-3-2-1). I'm not the appropriate person to judge Prandelli's knowledge, and I know that the tactic formation is not the only important aspect, but with that formation, the team keeps suffering.
Without a doubt, Argentina looked very strong. If we only take into consideration the technical aspect, they are much superior to our Nazionale. However, I am far convinced that if we face them in the world cup, it would be a whole different story. Perhaps they will also end up beating Italy, but certainly not like last night. Of course, they were missing Messi; but we were missing Balotelli and, more especially, Pirlo.
The next time we will see the Nazionale will be on the doubleheader of September 6th (against Bulgaria) and the 10th (against Czech Republic) for world cup qualifiers. Prandelli should not have major problems securing the first place of the group in the two matches, despite the dangers of the opponents. I definitely hope to see more of young players such as Florenzi and Insigne in the squad, as well as having Barzagli and Balotelli finally back in health. I will see you then!
#ForzaItalia
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