Prandelli’s Azzurri on the right track

The football talk in Italy during the weekend was all about the disastrous debut for Milan of striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Roma’s debacle to Cagliari.

Ibrahimovic failed to shine in Milan’s trip to Cesena who won the match 2-0 while Roma stuttered badly in Sardinia before finishing at the wrong end of a 1-5 scoreline.

But all that came after the national team had put behind their backs a poor showing in the World Cup campaign by beating minnows Estonia 2-1 and Faroe Islands 5-0 in their opening two Euro 2012 qualifiers. These were Italy’s first wins this year.

The morale-boosting victories marked new coach Cesare Prandelli’s official debut at the helm of the Azzurri after last month’s defeat in a warm-up against Ivory Coast in London.

Prandelli has a mountain to climb as he is slowly and meticulously building a new-look team from the very rudiments. Even though his chief mission is to assemble a valid squad for the future, Italy need to hit the ground running if they are to reach Euro 2012.

There is no two ways about it – Italy are in a transitional stage.

But, at the same time, the team need to attain instant results against stern opponents Serbia, Northern Ireland and Slovenia – the other teams in Group C.

Failure to do so will surely jeopardise Italy’s participation in the European Championship that will be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine in less than two years’ time.

It is worth mentioning Italy’s bleak record in this tournament.

Their only triumph came in 1968 and to date, Italy have already failed to qualify for the 1964, 1972, 1976, 1984 and 1992 editions, besides not participating in the first championship of 1960.

Meanwhile, only a few players have survived Prandelli’s sweeping changes in his first couple of months in his new job.

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon will not be back in action until early next year. Until then, the responsibility to defend goal will fall on Palermo’s Salvatore Sirigu or Bologna’s Emiliano Viviano. Both are emerging talents, albeit they lack experience at this level.

Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci are Prandelli’s preferred partnership in central defence. They both play for Juventus and therefore have good prospects to form a solid defensive partnership.

However, one will not be surprised if Prandelli were to call Torino’s Angelo Ogbonna and Andrea Ranocchia, of Genoa, in the coming months. Both did exceptionally well with Pierluigi Casiraghi’s U-21 side in recent games.

Lateral defenders Marco Motta (Juventus) and Davide Santon (Inter) need to up their game and command first team football with their respective clubs before they can claim a starting berth for the national team. These two up-and-coming defenders have the skill and guile to succeed. However, there’s no consistency in their game.

Prandelli has already tried other defenders on the flanks, the likes of Stuttgart’s Christian Molinaro, Palermo’s Mattia Cassani, Parma’s Luca Antonelli and Lorenzo De Silvestri, of Fiorentina.

The number of changes in defence, denotes Prandelli is still in search of an ideal defensive quartet.

The important thing, however, is that he will address the problem before next month’s decisive qualifiers against N. Ireland and Serbia.

In midfield, the national coach seems to have clearer ideas as Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Daniele De Rossi (Roma) and Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina) are his mainstays.

Up front, Prandelli’s declared intention is to deploy a three-man attack – schemer Antonio Cassano (Sampdoria) and supporting striker Mario Balotelli (Man. City) along with a finisher, either Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria) or Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina). Juve’s lanky striker Carvalho Amauri could be another option.

Tough tests are coming for Italy. In the meantime, there is a new lease of life in Coverciano as Prandelli has started his much-awaited revolution.

For the time being, focus shifts back to the Serie A which is still in its infancy. Inter still have to click merrily under new coach Rafa Benitez as the other title contenders all failed to profit from the situation and misfired badly in the opening two rounds of the league campaign.

Prandelli, meanwhile, will be going back to the drawing board ahead of his next two qualifiers.

This is only the beginning of his era at the helm of the national team. The start was encouraging but as he told reporters last week more work has to be done to reach the levels required to challenge the strongest teams on the continent.

Statistics

1 team – Chievo – have maximum points from their first two outings. On Sunday, the Verona outfit came from a goal down to beat Genoa for the first time since January 2001 (1-0 in Serie B). Udinese are the only side still pointless as they went down to Inter at San Siro for the third season running.

3 wins for the three newcomers. Two first-half goals were enough for Cesena to beat Milan. This was Cesena’s first home win over the Rossoneri since January 1989 (1-0). Lecce edged Fiorentina 1-0 to record their first home success against the Viola since October 2001 (4-1). In a five-goal thriller, Brescia defeated Palermo for the first time in almost 17 years.

3rd draw between Juventus and Sampdoria in their most recent four meetings in Turin. The Blucerchiati’s latest away win vs Juventus dates back to February 2005 (1-0). Catania made home soil count as they defeated Parma by the odd goal in three. In the four Serie A meetings between these two sides, Parma have only managed one goalless draw (in January 2008).

7 teams – Napoli, Juventus, Palermo, Fiorentina, Bologna, Roma and Udinese – are still in search of their first win. After three straight draws against Roma at the Sant’Elia Stadium, Cagliari interrupted their bleak run by hammering the Giallorossi 5-1. This was the first time Roma conceded five goals in a Serie A fixture since going down to Inter 4-5 in 1999.

7 penalties were taken last weekend. Samuel Eto’o saw his second half effort blocked by Udinese’s Samir Handanovic while Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s effort hit the post against Cesena. Catania overcame Parma thanks to two penalties scored by Giuseppe Mascara and Mirko Antenucci. Alessandro Matri (Cagliari), Andrea Caracciolo (Brescia) and Hernanes (Lazio) made no mistake from the spot.