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എന്‍റെ ടീം – The Azzurris

The team I support for major international football tournaments is Italy! Last time, I received much criticism from my friends and colleagues for being a supporter of Italy’s so-called defensive game. It was in 2006 when Italy went on to create history by racing ahead of the others and surviving the ’spirited headers’ of Zinedine Zidane in the final! I hope my team will continue to inspire people around the world.

It is 2010; a good four years after the last world cup. At the outset, I must confess that I need not write elaborately on the Azzurri roster! It is almost the same squad that came out as victors in Germany. But that is not always an advantage, especially when you find the ages of most players in the thirties. Coach Marcello Lippi will field a very familiar outfit after much realisation that it would be a big task for them to defend their title. But it is not for nothing that they carry the label ‘World Champions’ to South Africa.

Gianluigi Buffon has always been the goalkeeper ever since I seriously started following this team. He has been one of the best in the business, with over 100 international caps for his side. He let go the ball past him only twice in the last world cup, one was when the Italian defender Fabio Grosso made a mistake and two was when the mighty Zidane was going great guns in Berlin. This time he is 30+, but I believe ball sense and agile movements have not yet eluded him. Other goalkeepers in the side Federico Marchetti and Morgan De Sanctis have lots of experience in domestic matches, but not at the international level.

It is to be seen whether their celebrated water-tight defence stays leak-proof. Captain Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluca Zambrotta are good to be selected in any squad any day. These two and Giorgio Chiellini make a good reading on paper. They have promising aides in Christian Maggio and the young Domenico Criscito. But these two along with Salvatore Bocchetti and Leonardo Bonucci are too inexperienced to be taking forward Italy’s defence legacy. If they reveal the game that earned them a place in Italy’s world cup squad then Lippi would be the happiest man on earth.

Midfield is where I think Italy is very stable and balanced. The volatile Gennaro Gattuso, Capitan Futuro Daniele De Rossi, and midfield king Andrea Pirlo make a baronial triumvirate. Make it a grand quartet by adding the spirited Juventus right winger Mauro Camoranesi to the list. Injury will be the one worrying factor for Lippi in Pirlo’s and Camoranesi’s case as Andrea Cossu is already named as standby. The speedy left winger in Simone Pepe, the untiring doer in Angelo Palombo, and the play making central midfielders in Riccardo Montolivo and Claudio Marchisio are among the young bloods in the midfield who can take over. It is a fact that most of these players are relatively less experienced, which in fact is a blessing in disguise for Italy. Otherwise, in the critic’s eyes, it would really have been an old age home!

Save for Giampaolo Pazzini, all the other strikers in the side have reasonable experience at the international level. Alberto Gilardino and Vincenzo Iaquinta were part of the Italian world winning side in Germany. Antonio Di Natale is the Serie A top scorer this year. In Gilardino and Di Natale, they have two strikers who have scored over 200 Serie A goals between them! I am also hopeful of watching some guerrilla strikes from Fabio Quagliarella!

With Paraguay, Slovakia, and New Zealand among the other racers, it should be easy for Italy to go past the first round without much problems. By that time, I hope the ‘oldies’ will have gained some good match experience! Those who overlook the tough times these men have gone through in their careers can only mock the Azzurri squad as an old age home. It is true that experience alone cannot win battles. The wise decision Marcello Lippi will have to take is when to play the old warhorses. It may be thought that Italy can be a sluggish side when they all are playing together in one line-up. But that could be when these players gel well and get the best out of themselves. My best wishes to the team – Forza Italia!

Sreejith Kumar writes for FootballKerala.com