Falling in love with the Italians
I have never enjoyed watching the Italian national team play. My earliest memory of the Italian game is from the 1982 World Cup when they famously defeated the much fancied Brazil. I was disappointed that night, and that somehow influenced my non-passion for the Italian way of play.
Then eventually I started to admire them, if not for anything, it was for their superb defending skills. Their mantra was to stop the opponents from scoring and they have raised this principle to a high art.
As such, it is no wonder that Italy is renowned for its great defenders. Over the years names like Giacinto Facchetti, Gaetano Scirea, Antonio Cabrini, Claudio Gentile, Giuseppe Bergomi, Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini have all shown us the beautiful art of defending.
And that legacy continues in this World Cup with amazing defenders like Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Marco Materazzi, Gianluca Zambrotta and Fabio Grosso. These new batch of defenders – minus the injured Nesta, but we know his pedigree – have defended excellently just like their glorious predecessors. The matches against the USA and Australia are testimonies to that.
Still, this time around, this Italian team is not just about defending. In fact they have surprised me with the enterprise to attack! In the quarter final match against Ukraine, the early goal would usually mean the team getting into defensive mode and merely protecting the one-goal lead. What actually happened was very different – the Italians continued attacking and played for more goals. They played through their midfield, sometimes with some wonderful one-touch passes, to get into the opponent’s D-box.
This is one of the most important changes implemented by coach Marcello Lippi. He has turned a defence-minded team to one that can play positive football.
In this new scheme of things, we can see the importance of midfielders like Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo. The positive play also allows the half-fit Francesco Totti to show us what he can do at the highest level. And the biggest beneficiary of all these could just be striker Luca Toni, who has scored 80 goals in three years in all competitions for club and country.
I have enjoyed watching this Italian team play so far and who knows, when they come up against Germany later today, they might just continue converting the neutral fans with their entertaining and positive football!!
I have never enjoyed watching the Italian national team play. My earliest memory of the Italian game is from the 1982 World Cup when they famously defeated the much fancied Brazil. I was disappointed that night, and that somehow influenced my non-passion for the Italian way of play.
Then eventually I started to admire them, if not for anything, it was for their superb defending skills. Their mantra was to stop the opponents from scoring and they have raised this principle to a high art.
As such, it is no wonder that Italy is renowned for its great defenders. Over the years names like Giacinto Facchetti, Gaetano Scirea, Antonio Cabrini, Claudio Gentile, Giuseppe Bergomi, Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini have all shown us the beautiful art of defending.
And that legacy continues in this World Cup with amazing defenders like Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Marco Materazzi, Gianluca Zambrotta and Fabio Grosso. These new batch of defenders – minus the injured Nesta, but we know his pedigree – have defended excellently just like their glorious predecessors. The matches against the USA and Australia are testimonies to that.
Still, this time around, this Italian team is not just about defending. In fact they have surprised me with the enterprise to attack! In the quarter final match against Ukraine, the early goal would usually mean the team getting into defensive mode and merely protecting the one-goal lead. What actually happened was very different – the Italians continued attacking and played for more goals. They played through their midfield, sometimes with some wonderful one-touch passes, to get into the opponent’s D-box.
This is one of the most important changes implemented by coach Marcello Lippi. He has turned a defence-minded team to one that can play positive football.
In this new scheme of things, we can see the importance of midfielders like Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo. The positive play also allows the half-fit Francesco Totti to show us what he can do at the highest level. And the biggest beneficiary of all these could just be striker Luca Toni, who has scored 80 goals in three years in all competitions for club and country.
I have enjoyed watching this Italian team play so far and who knows, when they come up against Germany later today, they might just continue converting the neutral fans with their entertaining and positive football!!
posted by Kabilan K at
12:25 PM
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