From what I have seen Mali has some very powerful, fast, and midly skillful players (But nothing to drool about). Italians should watch out N'dye upfront, as he is quick, strong, and has eye for goal (Scored 4goals so far). Also, Kebe on the right hand side is "reputed" to be the best Mali player but then again I haven seen anything speical from him. Xisco, a Valencia midfielder, is a real star of the team, as he has Viera-esque feel about him. Massive frame, with long lacky legs, but quite an effective passer, and can score odd goal or two. However, as good as Mali is, I think they are very unbalanced side. They have no winger to speak of (Koreans simply dominated the width of the pitch), and they dont really have a natural center forward who can hold the ball. This may work against some team, since it makes hard for opposition to mark but against good team that can press hard and keep position, it is a receipe for disaster against good team. Also I think Italians should work hard to penetrate Mali's right back. He looked very weak defender with lack of ability to keep close to oppositions winger, and not having great defensive instinct. Kim, Korean left back, totally abused him by whipping some great crosses in. Also, Choi, No 10., shown two clean pair of heels on that right back. I would like to see Sculli moving down that left and really attack that part of area with his pace. And finally the onomous is on Gila to score goals. Mali's defence is very good in the air, and can tackle well but they dont have tactical nous to counter forward with good off-the ball movement like Cho. Don't be fooled by reputation Cho is a fine striker, and there is no disgrace in being stun by him. But Gila is simply much better - better eye for goal, and finishing.
If Cho can do what he did to Mali than Gila can have a field day. The problem is being able to feed him the right balls, and that is where I think battles will be on or lost. Can Italian midfield, as poor as they have been, beat out Malian in the middle of the park. And can Sculli who has underformed badly provide that penetration and route to Gila? And Italian defence wake up and play to their standard by keeping shape and man to mute undisciplined but talented Malian forward's?
There is no doubt that Italia can win, and I think they should based purely on paper. But they got to harass and press Malians, beat them on workrate and tactical superiority since they are not going match them in terms of power and speed. And Italians have failed to that upto now. and only Gila has saved from disaster.
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