Italy

[Guardian]

Camoranesi, Gattuso, Grosso, Zambrotta, Cannavaro shouldn't be in the team. They had terrible season and the only reason to be there is their names and achievements and not their current form.
Lippi has omitted the troublemakers Cassano and Balotelli and this is a good move, the team should be always above egocentric talents.

 

[Lemmi]

bocchetti! bonucci! criscito!

shame rannocchia got injured otherwise he'd be there too.

what can you tell me about the first two?

isnt miccolli out for 6 months valon? not that he would have been picked anyways..

 

[Metaphysical]

rugged defenders with skills who can play full-back (bonucci right, bocchetti left). I think bocchetti's the better prospect (no bullshit style, got a great spring too), bonucci's good (and bigger) but you only have to look at how bari's form dipped after rannocchia's injury to see who was the crucial member of that partnership.

 

[Super Pippo]

LA LISTE DEI 23 —

1 - Gianluigi Buffon (Juve)
2 - Christian Maggio (Napoli)
3 - Domenico Criscito (Genoa)
4 - Giorgio Chiellini (Juve)
5 - Fabio Cannavaro (Juve)
6 - Daniele De Rossi (Roma)
7 - Simone Pepe (Udinese)
8 - Rino Gattuso (Milan)
9 - Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus)
10 - Antonio Di Natale (Udinese)
11 - Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina)
12 - Federico Marchetti (Cagliari)
13 - Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa)
14 - Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli)
15 - Claudio Marchisio (Juventus)
16 - Mauro German Camoranesi (Juventus)
17 - Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria)
18 - Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli)
19 - Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan)
20 - Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria)
21 - Andrea Pirlo (Milan)
22 - Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina)
23 - Leonardo Bonucci (Bari).

No Marco Borriello? Suck a lemon Lippi, or better yet some JuBe dick, am sure you'd prefer that.

 

[Jesse1509]

Italy lacks creativity. I can't see them getting past the quarter finals.

 

[AnfieldEd]

Possible Italy-Spain quarter final...

 

[Super Pippo]

Italia won't do anything, this squad feels like the same as Euro 2004 with Trap.

 

[Fiódor]

Italia won't do anything, this squad feels like the same as Euro 2004 with Trap.

Yeah, Lippi puts bones and dust on the table and pretends that it's filet mignon. Yuck.
They will perform tremendously well from their own goal and 60 yds out, but then what?

 

[Psychaz]

Di Natale to start up front with Gilardino could work well because all of the rest of italy's strikers in the squad are poor.

 

[Super Pippo]

I wouldn't say Gilardino is any better than Pazzini. Both are effective in Serie A but will do nothing in this tournament, but Pazzini atleast has a cheeky Toto quality about his character that could get him lucky. Gilardino is a waste of space, as is Iaquinta. Rossi and Borriello would have been so much better, one can actually dribble and link up with Di Natale, while the other can come on and though lacks any real talent, has the arrogance to try and pull off - and often does, Van Basten style gols, even if far less numerous. There is just no plan to this selection, its just Lippi chosing all his pals for (short) holiday in SA.

 

[silky_soccer]

No Aquilani? Gutted.

 

[Metaphysical]

can't believe rossi isn't there.

he was the one bright spark in that confederations cup.

I know he had an inconsistent season, but still!

 

[Super Pippo]

No Aquilani? Gutted.

He was never realistically going to be picked, hasn't played enough this season - doesn't even look fully fit, also Montolivo better form. Added to the fact that he moved abroad, which hinders your chances unless you are a firmly established player like Zambrotta or Cannavaro.

He is a Milanista playing in Spain, he didn't stand a chance Meta.

 

[silky_soccer]

I hope Milan buy him to replace Pirlo. It annoys me to see someone so good being misused as he is.

 

[Super Pippo]

Atleast such a move wouldn't be detrimental to his international career as dickhead Lippi will be gone after this summer, so he can come to Milan and get a fair chance at getting a call up.

Lippi by name, his Lip(s) around Juve's bellend by nature. Old fag.