Italy at Euro 2012 - Review

Before the tournament even began, I had given Italy zero chance of winning the whole thing. Getting out of the group would of been good enough for pessimistic me. Rossi (one of Italy’s best strikers) was injured with a torn ACL and Criscito (first choice right back) was sent home before the first game in order to clear his name from the new and current match fixing scandal. Barzagli, a key defender for Juventus in their unbeaten 2011-2012 Serie A triumph, was also injured for the first two games.

The first up 1-1 draw against Spain surprised me a great deal. The 1-1 draw against Croatia was, on the contrary, dissapointing. It meant that Italy had to beat Ireland and hope that the match between Spain and Croatia went their way. It would take too long to explain all the permutations. If you want an idea, just google “Euro 2004 Denmark Sweden conspiracy.” Italy did beat Ireland 2-0 but it was far from convincing.

Italy managed to qualify from the group and would go on to meet England in the quarterfinals. Having a lot of English friends made me realise this game would either be a dream come true or my worst nightmare. What a gut-wrenching match it was, with Italy dominating virtually the entire match, but not able to get past a great English defence and eventually prevailing in the penalty shootout 4-2.

Now the semifinal: Germany. The Germans were the form team of the tournament and had 3 extra days rest. The only thing on Italy’s side was history, with Italy never losing a competitive match against the Germans – 3 wins and 4 draws. What a shock it was to see Italy take the lead in the 20th minute through their polarizing striker Mario Balotelli. The second goal on 36th minutes also scored by Balotelli can not be described in words (youtube it). Italy were leading the highly fancied Germans 2-0 before halftime. I could not beleive it. They won the match 2-1 and marched on to the final against Spain with huge belief and a strong team spirit.

A 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Spain in the final? Well I didnt expect that! Now let me get the excuses out of the way first. Chiellini left the field injured after 20 minutes. When you do not have your best defender against Spain, you are going to suffer, and Italy did with Spain scoring their second goal just minutes before half time. If being 2-0 down was not hard enough, Cassano was subbed off for the second half which I only guess was due to fatigue (remembering he had heart sugery late last year and clearly is still not 100% fit). Motta came on at 55 minutes but another bolt of lightning struck Italy when he pulled up with a hamstring injury on the 60th minute mark and he had to leave the field as well. Because Italy had already made 3 subs, thay could make no more, meaning Italy had to play with ten men, against Spain, 2-0 down, with still 30 minutes to play. Game over.

Although it would be easy to say that all of Italy’s hard work was for nothing, I am very proud of what my beloved Azzurri did over the past 3 weeks considering some of the circumstances mentioned above. Prandelli, in just two years, has done a fantastic job bringing this team together and restoring some pride after the embarassing showing at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

 Cassano and Balotelli are proving a very effective combination upfront. Pirlo and De Rossi orchestrate the team’s midfield, and Buffon remains a world class goalie at 34 years old. If you have watched Italian teams of the past, you will almost laugh when I point out that Italy had more shots on goal than any other team in the tournament.

On the flipside, in Italy’s first group match against Spain, Prandelli used a 3-5-2 formation, partly due to a few injuries in the defence. It worked pretty well I must say, and Italy dominated that game for the best part of 60 minutes, even taking the lead, before eventually drawing 1-1. However in the final Prandelli employed a 4-3-1-2 formation. Even though this proved efficient against England and Germany in the quarterfinal and semi-final, my point is why not use the 3-5-2 formation that worked so well against Spain earlier in the tournament, bearing in mind that Italy were the only team to score a goal against Spain at Euro 2012?

Injuries, fatigue, etc aside, Italy lost the final 4-0. An Italian team of the past, with the catenaccio/defensive style of football, would never lose 4-0. Remember Italy also lost a friendly 3-0 to Russia a week before the Euros. Even though Prandelli has worked wonders by making Italy a more attacking force, their defence seems to be weaker than previous Italian teams. It is true that attacking football is more exciting to watch, but a simple fact is if you do not concede goals, you will not lose matches. Italy only conceded two goals during their triumphant 2006 World Cup campaign – an own goal and a penalty. In these Euros, Spain only conceded one goal.

I am a sore loser so i wont say much about Spain’s success. Their domination of international and European football draws few comparisons. The Italians won the 1934 and 1938 world cups along with an Olympic gold medal at the 1936 Berlin games. The Brazilians played sublime football during the 1960s and 1970s, but apart from these instances, there isnt much that matches Spain’s 2008-2012 success.

In reality, Italy played five games at Euro 2012, drew three (the win against England counts as a draw because it was 0-0 after 120 minutes) and won two. Not exactly a great perfromance but nonetheless enough to get them through to the final. In doing so, they qualified for the 2013 Connfederations Cup as Europe’s representatives, because Spain had already qualified as “World” representatives.

For Italy, the qualification campaign for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which begins later this year, will be very intersting indeed with fellow Euro 2012 teams Denmark (conquerors of the Dutch in group play) and quarterfinalists Czech Republic also in Italy’s qualifying group.