Italy in the Confederations Cup

Italy's overall performance in the Confederations Cup was on the good side. They dominated Mexico in their opening game. Then, had a wild, mishap with Japan, but won 4-3 and then lastly, lost to Brazil 4-2 in a match they were generally outplayed. In the semi-final, they outplayed for about 105 of the 120 minutes and deserved to go onto the final, but lost in PKs only because a CB missed his penalty kick(it's ok Bonucci, you did your job). Inconsistent, yes, but remember Italy was battling injuries throughout the tournament. They were with out Mario Balotelli and Ignazio Abate for the match against Spain. With the way Italy played against Spain, if they had Balotelli, it was almost a guarantee they would've been up atleast 2-0 by halftime and would have gone onto the final. Before I move on, I just want to say that Prandelli did a good job, but he did make bad substitutions throughout the tournament and that really hurt the team. He also made questionable call-ups like Gilardino and Aquilani. Besides all that, Azzurri fans, you have A LOT to look forward to. With a few tweeks and some injuries to go away, this team is an easy candidate for becoming World Cup champions. With young players coming up like Lorenzo Insigne, Marco Verratti and Mattia Perin, the future is very, very bright, not to mention countless other players coming through the ranks. My only concern is Stephan El Shaarawy. He finally started a game and was utterly useless throughout the entire match against Uruguay today. His only bright spot was that he made his penalty. Hopefully, he goes back to Milanello and sits down and talks with Galliani and he can get his career back on track. I still have tons of belief in him as he and Balotelli can become one of the best striker pairings in the world. All the criticism that Prandelli took was completely undeserved. The man has completely revitalized Italy from 2010 and changed the way the national team is looked at in terms of style of play. He his my favorite manager in the world right now and I would love to see him come to Milan after the World Cup. Besides Spain(who are by far and beyond the best team in the world), I think Italy is at the top of the football world right now with still a lot to improve on and things that won't be too hard to improve on to begin with.

Italy v Spain

Spain and Italy faced off in a rematch of the final of the Euro last year.  The two best teams in the world made a meaningless tournament semi-final into a wonderful spectacle.  They have almost so much respect for each other it's almost creepy.  As @ACMilanEspana put it(highly suggest you follow him) "The way things are going, wouldn't be surprised if Italia & España halt in the middle of the game & joyfully sing Kumbaya with each other."  The best team on the planet were massive favorites over Italy and I honestly was expecting them to destroy gli Azzurri.  That absolutely did not happen.  A depleted Italian team completely overhelmed and outplayed La Roja for most of the 120 minutes plus penalties.  Italy was without Mario Balotelli and was forced to go with the ever so deadly and fierce Alberto Gilardino!  Gila was hopeless and it was a wonder why Prandelli didn't start Stephen El Shaarawy who put Gerard Pique on a leash and dragged him around in the first leg against Barcelona for Milan.  Although, Prandelli knew exactly what he was doing.  Antonio Candreva and Maggio were wonderful on the right side.  Jordi Alba probably will put a poster up of Candreva in his bedroom when he gets home.  Also worthy of a mention is Emanuele Giaccherini.  Once again he showed great pace and work rate and was litterly 2cm from lifting Italia over Spagna early in extra time when his rifle of a shot banged off the post.  The only man missing of Spain's usual 11 was Xabi Alonso and you can tell just how much they missed him in the midfield.  Unsuprisingly, Fernando Torres started up top for Spain and unsuprisingly choked against an actual opponent unlike teams like Tahiti or in the Europa league and every time he scores the media has an orgasm.  He was a fish lost in the Pacific against Italy as he was completely shut down as was the rest of the Spanish team except for Casillas.  Iker was the saviour for Spain as without him, it easily could've been 2 or 3-0 Italy by half time.  Besides Casillas, Jesus Navas deserves a lot of praise.  He was fantastic down the right wing with his immense speed and every time he had the ball I had to hold my breath.  Unfortunately for Azzurrini, Italy was not rewarded for their wonderful play and domination and lost in penalties to la Roja.  Leonardo Bonucci skied his penalty over the cross bar and Navas stepped up and scored to give Spain the 7-6 win in penalties.  A lot of people are and will be bashing Bonucci for missing his penalty, but they shouldn't.  He's a center back and shouldn't be there in the first place and also it's an extremely high pressure situation.  People make mistakes, even in the biggest of moments.  His job is to defend and he did that wonderfully today.  Spain go on to face Brazil in the final and Italy will play Uruguay in the 3rd place game.  I fully expect both Spain and Italy to win their respective matches and I also expect these two teams to meet in the final of the World Cup.  With a few tweaks and everybody staying healthy, Italy is easily #2 in the world.  Worth noting, they are not even close Spain, that's showing just how far above Spain are over everyone else. 

If El Shaarawy Leaves Milan...

If Stephen El Shaarawy leaves Milan...

..., Milan will have gone against everything they have said about instilling youth.

...the decade long attack of him, Balotelli and Niang won't happen.

...some guy no one wants will come in, like Tevez or some guy no one heard of.

...he'll go to Man City, never get any playing time and just become another lost potential superstar and we'll never hear about him again.

...a classy, "Milan-type" guy will have left.

...we won't get to see the transformations of the best mohawk I've ever seen in my life.

...he'll never become the player we all know he can become; absolutely world class.

...I'll cry.

...Galliani will be an idiot, don't forget Berlusconi too.

...maybe Pato will comeback, but probably not.

...we won't win the Scudetto next year.

...Balotelli will REALLY have to carry Milan then.

...he'll never play for the national team again.

...Serie A will have lost another great player.

..., Milan will have just become a team who sells all their great young talent and never be great again, like Udinese.

...I'll cry, some more.

Italy in the Confederations Cup

La Nazionale have been inconsistent in this year's Confederations Cup in Brazil.  After a dominating performance in a 2-1 win over Mexico, Italy's defense has fallen apart and nearly lost to Japan before somehow squeezing out a 4-3 win.  Then against Brazil, Italy played absolutely spiritless in the first half and in the second half completely controlled the play, although they lost 4-2 which was a little harsh of a scoreline for a match that I thought was deserving of a draw.  Despite this inconsistency, gli Azzurri have made it to the semifinals against Spain, in a rematch of last summer's EURO 2012 Final in which Spain won 4-0.  I would say this is going to be a fantastic match and Italy has a great chance of winning it, but I'm not.  Mario Balotelli has officially been ruled out for the game with a thigh injury he picked up agaisnt Brazil.  This is a massive loss for Italy as there is really no other strikers we can depend on.  I mean, do you really trust Alberto Gilardino to be our hero alongside Stephen El Shaarawy who hasn't scored since January and who's confidence is practically zero?  I love Cesare Prandelli, but I do question some of his call-ups.  Instead of Gilardino, why not Di Natale or Cassano?  Also, why not start Giovinco over Gilardino?  On the other hand, Italy still have Pirlo and De Rossi who have been fantastic in this tournament and who I think can save Italy's chances in the tournament.  The defense will have to really tighten up against the best team ever walk this earth and El Shaarawy will have to step up.  This is his time to shine and to finally end his long, long run of bad form.  It's a perfect opportunity for him to help people remember who he really is just like back in the first half of the season with Milan.  In the end, I think Spain will come out with a 2-0 win sadly, and going on to win another tournament with relative ease.  Italy just needs to make a few changes to their call-ups and tactical play and they'll be, in my opinion, the second best team in the world again.  No matter what happens Thursday, I'd say it was a fairly successful tournament for gli Azzurri.

Italy v Czech Republic

Italy played their last World Cup qualifier before they head off to Brazil for the Confederations Cup.  Italy really doesn't have too much to worry about since they have a comfortable lead in their group and will qualify with ease as usual.  Although, the Czechs had a must win game as they are 3rd in the group a few points behind Bulgaria.  It was a very blah game and neither side had many chances.  Italy dominated possession throughout and overall controlled the game, but didn't play very well.  They never really a single good scoring chance, while the Czechs did have a couple good chances, but Buffon was at the top of his game as usual and made some great saves.  What was boring, slow 0-0 draw will actually have a huge headline:Balotelli Sent Off.  Sadly, the guy just can't get out of the media and he's not doing anything wrong.  He did make one stupid challenge(like everybody does) and it cost him a yellow.  But just a few minutes later he barely even touched the Czech player in the opposition's box and he fell down and Balo got a second yellow and was sent off.  After this, Taylor Twellman who was commentating the game, said they Balotelli is extremely frustrating, but also extremely talented.  I hope he and everybody else realizes, this was Balotelli's FIRST EVER time being red carded while playing for Italy.  Yes, Balotelli does some stupid things, but he's not harming himself or anyone else.  Luis Suarez bites people, Carlos Tevez just left his team in the middle of the season, Sergio Aguero stomped on David Luiz's nuts, Diego Maradona did crack, yet Mario gets far more criticism than any of them.  Mario Balotelli is a fantastic player, nice person, and just a regular human being like everyone else.  He's going to make mistakes, leave the guy alone.  I do agree he can get tempered during a match, but not everyone's perfect.  Everyone has their flaws.  Balotelli has come along way in controlling his anger, but the media and haters just seem to ignore that.  Balotelli is a superb player for Italy and Milan and a great champion.  Let's all just come to respect him.

This will be my last blog for a little while, as I am going to Italy for about 2 weeks!  So don't worry if you don't see blogs being posted or tweets popping out.
As always, Forza Italia e Milan! popopoopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopo

EURO U21

Starting today, actually already started, is the UEFA EURO U21 tournament.  I find this much more exciting than the pointless Confederations Cup.  In my opinion, Italy looks to have the strongest squad out of the following: England, Germany, Spain, Israel, Norway, Netherlands and Russia.  Germany is a close second when it comes to producing quality youth lately.  I think this young Italy squad will have a terrific tournament and are probably the favorites to win it or at least make the Final.  Italy's U21 team is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Francesco Bardi, Simone Colombi, Nicola Leali

Defenders: Giulio Donati, Cristiano Biraghi, Marco Capuano*, Luca Caldirola, Matteo Bianchetti, Vasco Regini

Midfielders: Marco Verratti*, Alessandro Florenzi*, Luca Marrone, Andrea Bertolacci, Fausto Rossi, Marco Crimi

Forwards: Ciro Immobile*, Lorenzo Insigne*, Manolo Gabbiadini, Mattia Destro*, Nicola Sansone*, Alberto Paloschi, Riccardo Saponara*, Fabio Borini

I put an asterisk next to all the players you should look out for.  Marco Verratti is becoming a more and more proven superstar midfielder in world football.  He started almost every game for P$G this season and when Pirlo retires, I'm not going to have any worries.  This kid is a phenomenal playmaker and also a pretty decent goalscorer.  The man everyone's talking about is Lorenzo Insigne.  He was teammates with Verratti last season with Pescara, as was Immobile, and together, the three of them were unstoppable in Serie B.  Insigne plays for Napoli and it was practically criminal he wasn't a starter alongside Cavani.  He is a very elusive and speedy forward who can create chances for himself out of nothing.  I'm not saying he's going to be as good as or anywhere near that, but his playing style is similar to Messi in my opinion.  Also worth mentioning are Mattia Destro and Nicola Sansone.  Destro proved to be a reliable goalscorer this past season with Roma, although he hasn't progressed as quickly as most people thought he would.  Nevertheless, he's still a great talent with tons of potential.  Nicola Sansone isn't as quite hyped about as some of the other players, but he's still worth keeping an eye on.  The Parma winger has been linked to Milan and has all the tools to be Italy's first true winger, maybe ever.  Add some talented players around him, and he could really blossom into a great player.  Lastly, Riccardo Saponara has been very well looked at the past few months.  He was just recently signed by Milan from Empoli.  His natural position is in the central attack, but he can also play on the wing if he needed to.  Watch for him to get a lot of playing time with Milan as he could really start to shine next season. 

Allegri Stays For Another Year

After a long, excruciating wait to find out the fate of Max Allegri, finally, yesterday Milanisti found out.  Allegri will stay at Milan for at least one more year.  I know most Milanisti don't like him(including I), but this is actually a good thing.  When you think about it, who else would you have rather had? Seedorf? Gattuso? Inzaghi? I wouldn't.  First of all, they have NO experience whatsoever and also, great players almost never are good coaches.  Some people might say Donadoni would've been a good choice.  Yes, maybe, but he's never really had that much success with a big club.  Second, Allegri knows the players, the system and anyways, no matter what happens next season(unless we win UCL), he's gone.  Also, if Milan did get a new coach and he failed, what would you complain about then?  What I'm hoping is going to happen is Cesare Prandelli leaves the national team and comes to Milan after the World Cup.  Prandelli is probably my absolute favorite coach in the entire world in any sport.  I think he's just that good, plus, he knows how to handle Balotelli.  What he's done with Gli Azzurri is remarkable and I think he'll be perfect for the Milan job after the World Cup.  Allegri will probably go on and coach some provincial side like Siena or Sassuolo and we'll never hear about him ever again.  Count Max staying is a blessing in disguise.  I truly think Milan will have a really good year next season with Poli coming in and El Shaarawy and Balotelli gaining more chemistry together with the national team.  It's reported that Allegri wants Lavezzi from P$G.  I really wouldn't mind that transfer as long as Robinho leaves.  If Robinho doesn't leave, then there's just no point in getting a winger as upgrading in midfield should be our top priority.  Massimiliano Allegri will most likely do a poor job tactically next season, but he'll be saved by more talented players who actually know what they're doing.  Don't worry Milanisti, just one more season of him and then it's Prandelli!