Manchester United- Youth Development & Class of 92

Class of 92'

German Dreams Shattered-Italy Reach Finals, Euro 2012

          

Andrea Pirlo and Italy's Euro's

 

You hear people reflect on moments; great moments in football that will forever stick in their minds. People reel off such events as Diego Maradonna’s hand of god, Baggio’s penalty miss, Zidane’s head butt, Michael Owen's goal versus Argentina, Greece winning the Euro‘s…. Andrea Pirlo’s ballsy move to chip his penalty, kick it panenka-style has been the moment of the Euro 2012 finals so far.

The elegant Italian, now 33 has reamerged this season and reminded everyone just how good he is. A new challenge and a change of scenery at club level, to Turin based club Juventus has sparked him back to life. An astute move and free transfer, Pirlo has fitted seamlessly into Antonio Conte’s resurgent Juventus. Pirlo became the central figure that the team was been built around and to great effect too. The very best has been wrung from the player himself and Juventus have, over the course of the season played very attractive and entertaining football. Centred around a strong midfield, with flair coming from another new addition in Chilean Arturo Vidal. Pirlo played a significant part in Juventus winning the league title. It has been a difficult period for the European giants. The Calciopoli Scandal will forever be a big stain on Juventus history, the scandal has had shattering effects on the club in recent years and the repercussions heavily took their toll. The sleeping giant has now, however re-worken and with a roar. A new era had begun, the fans finally have a stadium to be proud of. In number and in song cheered their team to the Scudetto in an impressive unbeaten league season.

Pirlo, has over the years received many plaudits for his easy going, eye catching and elegant style. His footballing intelligence clear in his vision and passing. His passing has variance, long passes, one-twos, teasing through balls- he has the lot. It is no wonder his Azzuri teammates refer to him as L'arcgitetto, meaning the architect.  He operates from deep dictating play, controlling games and the tempo their played at. His accuracy and delivery from dead ball situations has seen many a goal be scored. His fantastic technique on free kicks appears to be skill that is being neglected by players and you struggle to think of many players at present who are dangerous free kick takers. Pirlo scored the only free-kick of the Euro 2012 championships in Italy’s draw against Croatia. His passing in the final third has been admired throughout his career and personally from my time watching football have not seen a player so routinely be able to thread through perfectly weighted passes into the paths of onrushing forwards. These percentage balls are difficult to pull off but he makes it look easy. I love the way he moves about the pitch, he has a natural grace and elegance. He has never been a quick player but the combination of excellent balance, mobility and of course vision render pace unnecessary. His two footedness is another strength as is his impeccable touch and control. Technically fantastic and a great player to watch. His ability to do it on the biggest stages and in the biggest games has won him the reputation and respect in football he has. Not much is known of Andrea Pirlo outside of football, he is said to be a quiet individual and one who shies away from the media.  On the pitch he always appears completely calm and controlled.

The European Championships of 2012 have seen Pirlo carry on his impressive club form. Italy have sprung a surprise and been a more attacking team than used to. In more recent years they have relied on staunch defensive tactics. It has been commented, that the last Italian sides to be quite so adventurous were those containing Roberto Baggio during the nineties. They have been enjoyable to watch and it has been interesting to see a different Italy.  Matches featuring them have been the ones enjoyed most.  Similar to Juventus, Prandelli has opted to build his team around Pirlo. This strategy has evidently worked. It has been just two years since Italy embarrassingly exited the group stage of the World Cup bottom of their group. It has not been easy for them to get to the upcoming semi final against Germany. Italy have a history of doing things the hard way. The team struggles to score and in the group stage were unfortunate to come away with only a draw against the Croatians. They made hard work of beating a poor Irish side who put on a good display, the Italians had to work for their 2-0 victory. A win which included a brilliant goal from Balotelli. Yesterdays quarter final game against the defensive England went all the way to penalties. It was a game the Italians dominated in every single department, completely outplayed England and were light years ahead in terms of posession and their use of the ball. Andrea Pirlo was afforded a great deal of time and space, he could do as he liked and it was a master class of how to play that role. His freedom was enjoyed even more so when Welbeck was substituted. They had almost three times as many shots as England but just could not score. Poor finishing, Balotelli being the worst culprit on the night. They should have beaten England by two goals at least. But penalties it was. The first of Italy’s penalties was taken by maverick Balotelli and an excellent one it was too. It became advantage England when Ricardo Montilivo missed. With Rooney having scored it was Andrea Pirlo’s time to step up. The England team was feeling upbeat and keeper Hart was smiling, laughing and jumping up and down- acting cocky. Pirlo stepped up and it was a crucial stage. He opted to chip his penalty over Hart. It was a brave move. It certainly galvanised Italy and probably stunned England. Daring and what a moment, absolutely brilliant. Italy of course went on to win. Had they not won it would have been a massive injustice but then again it is football and that does happen…

The excitement of the penalty shoot-out though memorable has not been the Italians sole achievement. You can’t beat reaching the semi-finals but equally impressive was how they played in their first match against Spain. Spain are enjoying an unparalleled dominance of European football- holders of the Euro title and of course the World Cup. Their team is full of talented players, they play with their own unshakeable philosophy and have one of the strongest midfields ever assembled. This golden generation domination has spread and been enjoyed at club level too. The match itself is probably my favourite of the whole tournament. The Italians dealt well with the Spanish and were very positive, in the first half in particulat, playing the game at an impressive tempo. Claudio Marchisio, Christian Maggio, Andrea Pirlo and Antonio Cassano were the standout players on the Italian side. Marchisio and Motta worked tirelessly all match and pressed their opposing numbers. Marchisio has an excellent shot and was able to get forward a great deal in the first half. They did well to unsettle the Spaniards normally so assured in posession, though they had stretches where they had the ball for periods (inevitably)- the Spanish did not completely dominate. In the second half the Spanish teams movement was phenomenal at times and they pushed forwards, leaving gaps as their fullbacks attacked. This was where Italy were able to take advantage and where they got their goal. A through ball by Andrea Pirlo found Antonio di Natale  who’s shot fired passed Iker Casillas. Playing with two strikers enabled Italy to stretch and test the Spanish defence, the movement of the front players was impressive as was the link between these players and the midfield. The Italian defence weakened through injury required De Rossi to fill in, he had, had a good game up until then but an error on his part played a part in Spain scoring an equaliser. Spain had a number of chances towards the end of the game, Torres fresh legs and movement seen him slip through. Buffon took advantage of Torres hesitation and sprinted off his line to clear. Italy managed to see it through and in the end it was an excellent result. It was very well played, both sides contributing to make it an enjoyable game.

Though not quite over yet, for me Andrea Pirlo has been my player of the tournament. He has been so instrumental in his teams play. Played consistently well every game and has performed to a high standard. He has been decisive in Italy’s play providing assists, scoring a free kick and of course that daring penalty kick. Been very significant in helping to get his team to the semi-finals. The next game is certainly one to look forward to.  Cannot see beyond a German victory, a team that is very strong in terms of quality and has improved and matured since the World Cup. Germany are my favourite international side and do hope that they go onto win the whole thing.  A Germany vs Spain final looks likely, there is a-lot to be admired with the Germans and wouldn't mind seeing them knock the Spanish off their perch so to speak.  It remains to be seen if Italy can provide a shock and send the Germans packing.  The Italians after all have a very good record against Germany.  In this tournament they have shown how they are willing to have a real go at teams, have a-lot of quality in midfield and have defended very well.  Germany haven't been properly tested so far and they are suseptible on the break.  They have been strong but not quite as good as they can be.  Low will need to get his team right.  Above all I hope that it is an entertaining match, with Italy keeping up their style and for Pirlo to continue to weave his magic. Whoever said players were finished at 30?

First Post and Introduction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 At the moment, I am really enjoying writing about football and have been loving the Euro's.  Do probably watch a bit too much of it!  The emphasis will in large be on that, as well as the books of course!  Follow mainly the Italian and German leagues. 

 

In this blog I will post up pieces I've written following international tournaments, memorable games, Manchester United and also memorable players.  At the top of the page is a link to favourite players and aim to make this a regular thing and to do write ups that are both informative and opinion pieces regarding my memories of them and why I liked them as much as I did/do!