The Azzurrini (U21) Thread (6 Viewers)
- Thread starter ReBeL
- Start date
Guys like Colombo, Cambiaghi, and Pellegri are absolute garbage, atrocious even at this level. I am not sold on Gnonto either, so Italy need to find/unearth better forwards and possibly wide players. I have no idea who's good enough in the U-19 and U-18 setups.
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FIGC = Federazione Incompetente Del Geriatrico Calcio
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FIGC = Federazione Incompetente Del Geriatrico Calcio
Gnonto is OK but he's not a real striker. It's a mystery who will step up, suddenly one will turn up but there is clearly an issue at the development stage.
I'd argue that it's a symptom of the overall decrease in quality in Italian football. Having more foreign players is a problem too and clubs take some blame but if those players were coming through they'd play instead.
Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do and hardest trait to teach into a player. The rest of the team can be competitive, and Italy have loads of good midfielders, but either end of the field decides games. Luckily Italy can fall back on its long tradition of goalkeeping, and will get by in defence for the same reasons, but the drop in elite forwards over the past 20 years is remarkable. There are no elite second strikers like Del Piero or Totti, not even a Zola or Chiesa. Italy didn't always have elite #9s, so that was always going to be a problem (Vieri was the last, and before that you had tournament specific guys like Rossi or Schillaci). Because there is no elite #10 it exacerbates the problem as they don't make the #9 look better.
I'd argue that it's a symptom of the overall decrease in quality in Italian football. Having more foreign players is a problem too and clubs take some blame but if those players were coming through they'd play instead.
Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do and hardest trait to teach into a player. The rest of the team can be competitive, and Italy have loads of good midfielders, but either end of the field decides games. Luckily Italy can fall back on its long tradition of goalkeeping, and will get by in defence for the same reasons, but the drop in elite forwards over the past 20 years is remarkable. There are no elite second strikers like Del Piero or Totti, not even a Zola or Chiesa. Italy didn't always have elite #9s, so that was always going to be a problem (Vieri was the last, and before that you had tournament specific guys like Rossi or Schillaci). Because there is no elite #10 it exacerbates the problem as they don't make the #9 look better.
The balance of a busy summer.
U21 flop
U20 finalists
U19 champions
Great summer for the azzurrini, shame for the U21 performance in that last match. The U20s played some great football on the way to the final and the U19 (credit to the coach?) played very balanced and well interpreted matches to outplay Spain and Portugal.
U21 flop
U20 finalists
U19 champions
Great summer for the azzurrini, shame for the U21 performance in that last match. The U20s played some great football on the way to the final and the U19 (credit to the coach?) played very balanced and well interpreted matches to outplay Spain and Portugal.