Italy - Euro 2008 Team Profile

Sean O'Conor reports...

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The Italian language has no word for hangover, but the Azzurri surely had one when they ran out of Asti and began their Group B Euro 2008 qualification by tying lowly Lithuania 1-1 at home and then losing 3-1 away to France in a spot of World Cup revenge for Les Bleus.

But new coach Roberto Donadoni turned things around and his team recorded nine wins in their last ten games to finish top of their qualifying group. Their 2-1 victory in the Glasgow rain against a Scotland team desperate for a win showed they had lost none of the steel which brought the World Cup back to Rome two years ago.

Analysis

Italy are a good bet to emerge as champions on recent form. They won the World Cup two years ago and won their qualifying group for Euro 2008, ahead of France, and with aplomb following a draw and defeat in their opening two games.

But being World Cup holders confers as much pressure as confidence onto any team. The French might have added the European Championship to their World Crown in 2000, but the previous time Italy won the World Cup, in 1982, they failed to even qualify for the subsequent Euro '84.

Over the years, the Azzurri's record in the European Championship is weaker than their World Cup pedigree, their only win being at home in Rome, back in 1968.

The nucleus of the World Cup-winning team is still there though, and with Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, Francesco Totti and probably Alessandro Del Piero out of the reckoning, the eleven is not lacking in youth, either.

Gianluigi Buffon is the steady custodian, Luca Toni the awesome marksman at the other end, with Renato Gattuso the brawn and Andrea Pirlo the brain in the middle.

Italy's traditional strength however is in defence and although Alessandro Nesta has retired from international football, in Marco Materazzi and Fabio Cannavaro, the Azzurri still possess perhaps the world's best central defensive pairing.

There are new faces since Germany - midfielders Alberto Aquilani and Antonio Nocerino are pressing for inclusion alongside forwards Fabio Quagliarella and Raffaele Palladino.

While flair has never been an Italian speciality, Donadoni has kept to type in making Italy solid at the back and well-organised in midfield, aiming for the right result and ignoring artistic impression.

That was how Italy powered their way to the World Cup in Germany, and is how they intend to take the European Crown in Austria.

World champs they may be, but they still could have drawn easier first round opponents than France and the Netherlands.

But their first game against a Holland team who made heavy weather of qualifying is theirs for the taking and could provide a springboard for a successful run.

Key player: Andrea Pirlo

While Fabio Cannavaro remains the sturdy backbone of the side (but now out of the squad with torn ankle ligaments) and Gennaro Gattuso its beating heart, Andrea Pirlo is the ticking brain.

The Milan midfielder is the lynchpin of the Azzurri in every sense. He is the man to position himself ahead of the defense to stop raiders and launch counter-attacks from deep, applying his skill to pick out teammates from open play, split defences with expertly-timed through-balls and threaten the goal from set pieces.

Midfield partner Gennaro Gattuso's aggression complements Pirlo's invention in one of the world's sweetest midfield pairings for club and country.

At 28, Pirlo is at the peak of his profession and keen to add the European Championship to his World Cup, Champions League and Serie A winners' medals.

One to watch: Luca Toni

At 6'4", Luca Toni is unusually tall for an Italian striker but is so much more than a target man.
A reassuring example of how persistence pays off, the towering Toni made his Serie A debut at the age of 27.
Now aged 30, the man from near Modena is one of Europe's most feared strikers after bagging the Golden Boot with 31 goals for Fiorentina and a World Cup winner's medal in 2006.

He has carried on his prolific goalscoring form in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, whom he joined last summer, and with Italy, for whom he has netted 15 times in 32 games.
His killer strike two minutes into an intimidating qualifier with Scotland in Hampden Park in November was the mark of a great player who knows how to score at just the right time.

Coach

Roberto Donadoni is typical of the young and relatively untested ex-legends national teams have turned to in recent years - Glenn Hoddle with England, Jurgen Klinsmann with Germany being other examples.

The former Milan & Italy star may look older, but is only 44 and had never coached a club bigger than Livorno before, yet his tenure in charge of Italy has been a spotless one thus far: The Azzurri won their qualification group.

Respected by the players, Donadoni has yet to impress all the suits at the FIGC. Their failure to agree a new contract with him has already sparked debate about who the next Italy coach will be, before the current incumbent has even had a crack at one tournament.

It looks as if Donadoni will be gone before he has had the chance to press a genuine track record, which seems unfair. Of course, should Cannavaro be holding the Henri Delaunay trophy aloft on the 29th of June, all that could change.

Recent Previous Tournaments

Italy were worthy World Champions in 2006, despite the final shoot-out and Marco Materazzi's slyness in getting Zinedine Zidane sent off.

In 2002, the Italians lost memorably and controversially to South Korea, in a game featuring some curious refereeing decisions from Ecuadorian Byron Moreno.

Italy's Euro 2000 campaign was memorable. Written off by everyone before the tournament began, the Azzurri surprised everyone by coming within seconds of winning it, before a last-gasp equalizer from Sylvain Wiltord and an extra-time winner from David Trezeguet handed France the trophy instead.

In Euro 2004, Italy played dismally but went out without losing a match. A win and two draws from their first round would normally have been enough, but Denmark and Sweden edged them out on goal difference.

The Scandinavians apparently gave the Italians some of their own medicine of gamesmanship in their final group game, ensuring it finished 2-2 to send them both through and leave Italy fuming.

Soccerphile says .....

As if they had not played them enough recently, the Italians will once more face France in competition and this clash of the titans could go either way. The draw is a tough one, and France will take heart from their 3-1 qualification win.
The Netherlands will be no pushover either, although the Italians will fancy taking points off them and will probably beat Romania.

Worthy winners they were in 2006, although it should be remembered how close Australia ran them and indeed how the nine-man USA took on the Azzurri and were the only nation to take points off them.

But Italy should still top their group and look good enough to go all the way to the final. This is a team with vast experience of soldiering in the toughest league in the world, who thrive under pressure. Italy came home with the World Cup when a match-fixing scandal was engulfing its domestic game and the whole football world was heaping opprobrium on them.

Make no mistake, the World Champions are still the team to beat and on paper and possibly grass too, the most likely winners. It is going to take a really good team to beat them.

Euro 2008 Squad

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Goalkeepers Morgan De Sanctis (Sevilla), Marco Amelia (Livorno), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
Defenders Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina), Fabio Grosso (Lyon), Marco Materazzi (Inter), Christian Panucci (Roma), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus)
Midfielders Massimo Ambrosini (Milan), Alberto Aquilani (Roma), Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Simone Perrotta (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (Milan)
Forwards Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Antonio di Natale (Udinese), Antonio Cassano (Sampdoria), Marco Borriello (Genoa), Fabio Quagliarella (Udinese), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich)

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