To be honest, does two (Montolivo-De Rossi) mostly play badly or invisible for Italy...

I want to see Pato on... Adriano hasn't done much and his speed will terrorize this Italian defense. Gilardino has been non-existent, mainly cuz of the service - not his fault. Di Nitale and Pepe are finding no room, and the midfield has been overrun completely. Zambrotta has been the lone bright spark for Italy. Italy needs to bring on G. Rossi, Camoneresi, Toni.

I think you're a bit hasty in writing off Italian defenders, acid. This current lot? Possibly - but Legro wouldn't start (and may not even have been called up) if Chiellini were healthy. Sounds like the midfield is having issues too, which conditions everything.

(Fishdoll is, at this point, waiting for the cookies he is owed).

Gilardino...well, mainly yes,..still...he's..he's..Gilardino. Just make the cambio Lippi..

Grosso was a bit unfortunate to have a legal goal cancelled out.. a 1-0 lead might have changed the game a lot.

Knowing that they probably won't be there in the 2nd half. Bench is packed on both sides.


The current lot, yes. Not completely writing off their effectiveness, but their pace (or lack of it). They won't be any younger come the next World Cup. I thought we had a pretty good lesson last year in the Euros. I guess the Confederations Cup will reveal it all in a few months. Sorry, but 2-0 to this Brazil team doesn't quite gives me satisfaction. That Grosso disallowed goal didn't help matters, yes.

But the midfield is a problem in of itself.


To be fair to him, he didn't get one good service. I'd take Gila over two Toni's as far as the NT is concerned.

Don't say that. it's more than a friendly, let alone a useless friendly...

It could be argued that it's not more than a friendly, but it's definitely not a useless friendly either.

Italy's problem is in the midfield, not in the backline or upfront. Tactically, Italy needs to bulster the midfield with anchors, I don't know who's on the Italy bench but at least a DM should come on to balance things out. From that point onwards, I think Italy will be able to get into it.

But I suspect Lippi wanted to try something different out, a more attack minded team with both fullbacks pushing forward.

2nd half about to kick off .. Hope the game is more balanced in this half

I'm not downplaying the importance, couldn't do that if I tried. The intensity is there. I was talking more about the result of this match affecting both teams. Even though R80 made one great assist for the first goal, he could as well start from the bench if Kaka gets fit for the derby. Pato can score a brace in under 30 minutes, but that won't change Dunga's opinion.

As far as I'm concerned, no match is useless. Particularly friendlies.

Zambrotta the best Italian on the pitch, up till now.

Fixed.

Dunga still not sending Pato in. I can't stand him...

Of course. He's been immense.


Why am I not surprised? I wanted Dunga out for years, but he's survived the job up till now.

Dunga is a bad ************! PLAY PATO YOU SORRY SON OF A *****!

Toni is a joke - that was 2-1 right then and there in front of the goal. So is Adriano, then.

Zola in the stands.

Recalls the 94' final probably...

Anyway, Pato is resting for Inter...

Perrotta.

What did he do?

Naughty tackle on Ronaldinho, Locke.

Really disappointed in the Italian tackles in these last 10 or so minutes. If you can't match Brazil in play, no need to injure their players by the tackles from behind. We don't need an injured Ronaldinho/Pato for the inter game. And speaking of Pato, he's on for the last ten minutes.

Just as I write this Cesar makes an impossible save from Toni - Cesar is really numero uno!

Almost injured him with a tackle from behind. Surely not necessary in a friendly, particularly knowing that he'll be playing the biggest match of the year, and Kaka too is injured.

only toni

Italy really needs to cut on these tackles from behind. Please.

Only Toni, as in?

Another really awesome Grosso free-kick save from Cesar! Impossible, almost.

Thiago Silva not such a bad defender to have in a team! Great clearance in front of the goal.

I detest Dunga. hopefully treating Pato like this won't ruin his confidence. either don't play him at all or give him more than 10 ******* minutes, goofy.

And Brazil have been totally innocent in the game, acid?

Dunga has had it in for Pato from day one for whatever reason. Don't forget how he publicly called Pato out to the press last year for his attitude, though at the time it wasn't 100% unwarranted.

Just some notes:
Pirlo started well he made an excellent pass to Grosso for the disallowed goal but he made a couple of grave mistakes later, one of which led to Robinho's goal. A solid second half too. I wish we'd get De Rossi, I love watching those two play together!
I think the Italians (and the Argentinian) got a little too tough in the end.
As usual, Cesar made a couple of excellent saves, the one on Toni's shot was amazing!
Ronaldinho is back physically!! He will surely get back to being who he was!
So many Serie A stars and the match is decided by two EPL players. I can't even imagine how much some journalists and fans are going to boast about this...
Felipe Melo amazed me. I think he was the best out there tonight and while I watch Fiorentina's games regularly but I had my doubts over whether he could put on similar (great) displays at the biggest level.


"Treating Pato like this"? Come on fanboy relax! I just feel that your love for Pato and your distaste for Dunga is talking here.

PS And Rossi looked good too!

Well Brazil won the FIFA Fair Play Award for the least amount of fouls committed (and yellow cards earned) in the last two World Cups at least (they shard the 2006 one with Spain, I don't quite recall). They aren't saints themselves, it'd be wrong for me to say that. But at least they didn't try to rip Pirlo's right leg out, or make unnecessary challenges from behind. I'd like to see the yellow cards earned by both the team today, don't have that statistic. For Italy, I'd think it was at least 3 players.

It's a friendly, for Pete's sake. A competitive match, I can maybe understand, even though it still is better to avoid getting too physical with opposing players. R80 got around four or more hard tackles - out of which two were harsh. Good thing the referee thought this as a friendly and wasn't in the mood for cards. Either way, it would have been a pity had any of the Milan players picked up a knock.

+1, +2, +3. It was an entertaining match, even though I'd have liked Italy to score at least one if not more. That disallowed goal was touch-and-go, and I'd even say was wrongfully called. But that Robinho solo really did me in - I never thought that guy would stand a chance against the world's best defense. I half expected the Italians to break his leg or something while he was doing his little step overs.

Good match, and somewhat fair result.

Felipe Melo surprised me most. where did he come from all of a sudden!? I hadn't even heard his name before this game.

J. Cesar is arguably the best GK right now. his save against Toni was just wow! even though I have seen even more amazing saves from him before. pity he's an Inter player.

What did Lippi think with himself by playing likes of Di Natale and Pepe ahead of Rossi and Camo!?

Gila is a big team flop. period.

Pirlo.. it's not really the 1st time he loses the ball like this. even in the World Cup semi final he did it. difference is that night Germans couldn't punish it, tonight Brazilians did. I think he needs to play further.

Ronaldinho didn't look physically tired at all, even in the 90th minute. that's sure good news for us.

(BRING US ROSSI DON'T LET JUVE TAKE HIM! )

Fishdoll is waiting for his cookies.

i REALLY wanted Pato to come on. I was waiting and waiting. But really I wasn't that upset about pato not playing til later in the game, only because neither robinho nor dinho deserved to be taken off, and adriano does a job that pato can't do as well. robinho and ronaldinho played excellently and that's cuz Adriano did his job as a target man, which was play with his back to goal and lay the ball off, well. That role is an unglorious one, a physical brute like display is required to hold the defenders off and allow dinho and robinho into space, especially when the defenders are canna and legro. The reason dinho and robinho had the room they did was because adriano always had cannavaro or legro on his back.

- i actually remember defending robinho's talent to people in a thread around maybe last summer. There were actually quite a lot of posters here who simply wrote him off as a lightweight flop who showboats to no avail. What robinho did was no surprise to me. If you don't rate Robinho, then how good does a player have to be for someone to rate him? He's better than any attacker Italy has. Shook Zambro and Legro out of their boots, and beat Buffon with a shot that kissed off the inside of the post with his left foot. THere are some plays that you see, and you say "that is a play that can only be created by that individual player" Pato's goal for Roma was one of those moments. Kaka's coast 2 coast run and goal against Argentina was another. And that is what robinho's goal today was. Only Robinho can do that. If that's not world class, then i don't know what is.

If pato were to have played up front, he wouldn't have been able to do what adriano did. This is illustrated by the fact that the entire time when he did play, it was with his back to goal. Pato plays in space, Adri plays differently. If pato was on, legro and canna would have been allowed to adjust, and zone mark, rather than have to have one man mark the imposing adri at all times.

now with that said, adri has lost some pace, but there was never a time when he got the ball without having at least 2-3 defenders on him. That just shows you the attention the back line paid to him...and that's why dinho sliced, and robinho diced. Had Amauri played, he would have garnered the same attention, and may have done the job better, but maybe not..Adri did well enough. Pato can't play the role that Amauri and Adri do in attack. That's why Ancelotti has constantly lamented the injuries to Borriello, and why when we looked the most dangerous this season it was when pato played off of Marco.

And about the Italian national team, the team they fielded today was just not scary. The young talent in Spain, Argentina, and Brazil are developing much more quickly than the young Italian talent is. In the first half there was not one italian player on the pitch capable of beating a man one on one. Had Del Piero, Cassano, Camorenasi, or Rossi been on that would've been a different story, but only ONE of those aforementioned names can really be counted on come the next World Cup. Pirlo's only getting older, and De Rossi needs a new partner. Alquilani and Montolivo just simply don't play well for the Azzuri..Dossena is no WC player, Toni is looking slower and slower..Gila is weak. We can make excuses like "it's only a friendly" but Italy was fairly beaten today by a better team. How long are they going to continue to call up these old names like Perrotta, Legro, Toni...and give chance to younger players to settle in and get some confidence in the national team?

Excellent analysis, Vnata! Wanted to read something like that, and really enjoyed it.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/468/internatio...razil-2-0-italy


Some of the worst ratings I've ever seen... he gives Zambrotta a 4.5 when he was the best player for Italy and gives De Rossi and Montolivo a 7.5/6.5 respectively???

I reckon the dude just watched the first half. Pirlo's been given a 4.0 as well.

I don't think Zambrotta was the best player for Italy and that rating is somewhat justified after the way Robinho danced with him.

Robinho's goal was Braziliant. I like Samba style when it actually works and leads to such goals, because it's completely unique. only Brazilians [are capable of] do[ing] that. mostly black Brazilians.

In reality it was a pathetic friendly that didn't mean anything. If it was played in either Italy or Brazil I think it'd be respectable and not just a money grabbing opportunity

Very surprised at the amount of "bring Pato on" comments. What if they bought Pato on in a game that didn't mean anything, and he picked up a knock that kept him out of the Milan derby? I am very certain that people would be blaming Dunga then also. No need to risk Milans top players in games like this, glad he didn't play.

But Dunga didn't bring on Pato because he didn't want to risk him for the derby! And Pato did play 10 minutes. anything could have happened in those ten minutes.

Fair enough, I didn't realise he came on. I stopped watching not long after the 70th minute or so, anymore of watching Italy play and I'd have been ripping my eyes out.

Some World Cup Qualifiers tonight:
Europe Group 1
Malta vs Albania

Europe Group 3
San Marino vs Northern Ireland

Europe Group 8
Rep. of Ireland vs Georgia

Plenty of meaningless games though, including..
Romania vs Croatia
Greece vs Denmark
Germany vs Norway
Sweden vs Austria
Switzerland vs Bulgaria
France vs Argentina
Portugal vs Finland
Spain vs England

One big CONCACAF qualifier tonight: US-Mexico in Columbus, Ohio.

This is a big regional rivalry and the teams...well, they just don't like each other. I'll be surprised if nobody gets sent off.

Just talked to a friend who's flying out to watch the game. She said that 90% of the passengers on the flight were going to the game and that of this group, she's the ONLY girl.

That should be an interesting one!

I did forget about other qualifying regions when looking at the fixtures, and there's been some results from the Asian + Australia qualifying

Group 1
Japan 0-0 Australia
Uzbekistan 0-1 Behrain

Group 2
Korea DPR 1-0 Saudi Arabia
Iran 1-1 Korea Republic

They're actually showing US-Mexico live on ESPN (this is rare).

It'll be interesting to see how some of the friendlies turn out -- Kurt, what's the feeling in the England camp about the game with Spain?

True that. Beside he played Ronaldinho the full 90 minutes where he got more than one harsh tackle. And last time I checked R80 was as vital to our cause of winning the derby as Pato.

So are the 2 Italians who played 75 and 90 minutes respectively. Nobody at all seems to care about them.

Do they not usually show US games live then? Or is it just that it's not usually on ESPN?

I must admit that I've read pretty much nothing in the media about the game, so I'm not sure what the rest of the country thinks about it. It seems a bit inconvenient to be honest, especially when European football is starting up again. I'll be happy with anything but a defeat given our squad.. when you have Carlton "Can't Control" Cole picked for the squad it makes you wonder! Hopefully Milner, Agbonlahor and Young get a run out, same goes for Jagielka who has been mightily impressive for Everton this season. Beckham will equal Bobby Moore's record of 108 caps for an outfield player when he makes an appearance tonight.

Prediction: 1-0 Spain. An error by David James..