The 2006 World Champions Italy are one of the defensive sides in the tournament who will be difficult to play for the opponents. The Azzuri has not been able to reach to their best since the 2006 World Cup and this tournament provides them opportunity to prove them once again.
Group C
opponents – Spain, Republic of Ireland, Croatia
Past Records in
Euro
Italy won their first major competition since 1934, by
beating Yugoslavia to win the European Championship title in 1968.
Italy hosted the 1980 UEFA European Championship, but
were eliminated in the third place play-offs on penalties by Czechoslovakia.
Italy failed to qualify for Euro 1984.
The Blues reached the semi-final of 1988 tournament,
where they were defeated 2-0 by USSR.
Italy again failed to qualify for the European
Championship in 1992.
Even though they qualified for the Euro 1996 tournament,
they failed to progress beyond the group stage.
In Euro 2000, Italy progressed to the semis of the
tournament where they beat Netherlands on penalties, but eventually lost the
final to France on golden goal by 2-1.
In Euro 2004, the Azzuris failed to qualify for the
quarter-final finishing behind Denmark and Sweden in the group stages.
Euro 2008
Italy entered the Euro 2008 tournament being the World
Champions and No.1 team in FIFA rankings. They got off to a poor start losing
3-0 to Netherlands and then a 1-1 draw against Romania. However, they beat
France to reach the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, they played Spain
but lost the game 2-4 on penalties to be eliminated from the tournament.
Euro 2012
Road to
Qualification
Spain won 8 out of 8 games to top the group in
qualification.
Probable
Line-up
Buffon(c)
Maggio – Barzagli
– Chiellini – Balzaretti
Pirlo
De Rossi – Motta
Marchisio – Di
Natale - Cassano
Most capped
Players
Gianluigi Buffon – 113 caps (0 goals)
Andrea Pirlo– 82 caps (9 goals)
Daniele De Rossi – 71 caps (10 goals)
Top Goalscorers
Antonio Di Natale – 10 goals
Daniele De Rossi – 10 goals
Andrea Pirlo – 9 goals
Man To Watch
Daniele De Rossi
Daniele De Rossi is the man to watch for Italy in this Euro.
With Pirlo getting older, he is the one to handle the Italian midfield in the
future. He is a regular player at Roma and is a commanding midfielder. He has
been a target for many English clubs including the likes of Manchester City and
Chelsea. De Rossi is considered to be future captain of Roma and might be
Italy, so nicknamed Capitan Futuro.
0 comments:
Post a Comment