Euro Qualifying Preview: Italy - Faroe Islands
What: Euro 2008 Qualifying Group B
Who: Italy (1st, 26 points) vs Faroe Islands (7th, 0 points)
When: Wednesday 21 November 2007, 20:30 CET
Where: Stadio Braglia, Modena
Italy Basking In Post-Qualification Glory
Last Saturday’s 2-1 victory against Scotland in Glasgow was a highly memorable one for every Italian football fan. Roberto Donadoni’s men won a vitally important and highly-anticipated encounter with a convincing performance, despite a very dodgy performance by the officials.
Italy needed only to avoid defeat at Hampden Park to virtually ensure their place at next summer’s European Championship finals, while Scotland needed to win at all costs. The Azzurri had never won in Scotland, and the Scots had a 100% home record in these qualifiers.
However, as the game began Italy immediately showed they meant business, and took the lead in only the second minute with a close-range tap-in by Luca Toni from a cross by Antonio Di Natale.
The Azzurri continued to play more convincingly in the first half, and had the ball in the net again around the half hour mark, but Di Natale’s close-range strike was incorrectly, as it showed on TV replays, ruled out for offside.
In the second half, Scotland started to put more pressure on the World Champions, and found an equaliser around the hour mark after Gigi Buffon failed to hold on to a close range shot, captain Barry Ferguson eventually tapping it in. However, replays showed he was narrowly offside.
In the final part of the match, Scotland were galvanised and created their best chances of the match. James McFadden could have won it for the Scots in the 80th minute, but he blasted his shot incredibly wide with the goal gaping. Eventually, Italy got a deserved winner as defender Christian Panucci headed in a free kick by Andrea Pirlo in injury time, although the set piece came courtesy of a wrong decision by the referee.
That decision was what angered the Scots at the end, but in all fairness had the referees, and specifically the linesmen, done their job properly the score would have been 2-0 to Italy just before that free kick. In the end, justice was done, and Italy showed once again that when games that matter come along, they rarely fail.
After a very rough start under coach Roberto Donadoni, when Italy were forced to play international matches before the league even began and got just one point from their first two games against Lithuania and France, they are now on an unbeaten run in their last nine official matches, of which they have won eight.
Now they are rightly enjoying the glorious victory in Scotland, and are looking good bets to go all the way next year in Austria and Switzerland as well. Perhaps the only downside of that result was that they also ensured Scotland would be knocked out and thus that France will take part in the tournament. And now Les Bleus once again look like Italy’s biggest threat.
Threats From All Sides
However, it’s clear that there will be many highly competitive sides, and looking at the teams who have qualified and those which will probably qualify on Wednesday (England and Portugal only needing to avoid home defeats to go through), it will certainly be a very tough competition, as all the big teams will be there and there are no surprise packages like Latvia or Bulgaria at Euro 2004.
With speculation already rife as to what the Euro 2008 groups will look like, you'd almost forget that Italy still have one more qualification game left. Most likely, in this final game against the Faroe Islands, who have failed to pick up a single point in their campaign, Donadoni will opt to give some younger players a chance.
The likes of Fabio Quagliarella, and Juventus striker Raffaele Palladino,who will probably make his debut in this one, look set to get some playing time here.
Although a victory for Italy, which would seal first place in this “Group of Death”, should be inevitable, it remains to be seen if they can turn it into a goalfest. In this qualifying campaign Italy have scored more than twice in a single match on just one occasion, away to Georgia, where they won 3-1.
Even against the Faroe Islands, who conceded 11 goals in two matches against France, they suffered towards the end, and escaped with a 2-1 away win courtesy of a brace by Filippo Inzaghi. Had it not been for a good save by Gigi Buffon towards the end, the Faroes could have celebrated a heroic 2-2 draw after going 2-0 down.
However, the scene seems set for a big party in Modena to celebrate Italy’s qualification, and the Azzurri should be able to win by at least three goals.
FORM GUIDE
Italy
17/11 (Euro 2008 qual.): Scotland-Italy 1-2
17/10 (friendly): Italy-South Africa 2-0
13/10 (Euro 2008 qual.): Italy-Georgia 2-0
12/09 (Euro 2008 qual.): Ukraine-Italy 1-2
08/09 (Euro 2008 qual.): Italy-France 0-0
Faroe Islands
17/10 (Euro 2008 qual.): Ukraine-Faroe Islands 5-0
13/10 (Euro 2008 qual.): Faroe Islands-France 0-6
12/09 (Euro 2008 qual.): Lithuania-Faroe Islands 2-1
06/06 (Euro 2008 qual.): Faroe Islands-Scotland 0-2
02/06 (Euro 2008 qual.): Faroe Islands-Italy 1-2
TEAM NEWS
Italy
There were no injuries after last weekend’s game in Glasgow, but Donadoni looks set to rest a few big-name players for this match, including keeper' Buffon, Gattuso, goalscorers Toni and Panucci.
Possible formation (4-3-3): Amelia; Grosso, Cannavaro, Barzagli, Chiellini; Pirlo, De Rossi, Perrotta; Palladino, Gilardino, Quagliarella.
Faroe Islands
The Faroes have a full squad available as they did not have to play last weekend.
Possible formation (4-4-2): Mikkelsen; E. Hansen, J.R. Jacobsen, Benjaminsen, O. Hansen; Jespersen, Samuelson, Elttor, Olsen; C. Jacobsen, R. Jacobsen.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Alberto Gilardino (Italy) :wth:
The inconsistent Milan striker found the net just once in these qualifiers, although it turned out to be the most pointless goal of all, in the 3-1 loss in France. So far this season, it’s been up and down for Gilardino, who usually does well in games that end up in big wins for Milan, but almost never manages to score decisive goals, much unlike his team mate Inzaghi. Perhaps a good performance and possibly a goal in this game can give the player a morale boost ahead of the Rossoneri's next games, where he will be expected to score more consistently.
Rogvi Jacobsen (Faroe Islands)
This striker managed to do what seemed impossible, that is to make a Faroe Islands-Italy match suspenseful. After Inzaghi had given Italy a 2-0 lead, Jacobsen reduced it to 2-1 with 13 minutes left with a great header, making it a nervous last 10 minutes for the World Champions. Will he able to repeat his feat of scoring against Italy? The 28-year-old would certainly fancy it, although it will undoubtedly be a tougher task this time around.
PREDICTION
Italy to make up for their low goalscoring record in this one.
Italy-Faroe Islands 4-0
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