With the European Championships edging closer, bettor.com will assess the chances of Italy in the upcoming Euro 2012.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Italy-c2926 is always seen as one of the favourites for tournaments such as the Euro Championships or the World Cup.
However, there has been a shift in the contenders of favourites for the Euro 2012, with Italy not being mentioned in the same breath as Holland, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011.
This might play to the advantage of the Italian team, as there will not be too much attention on the Nazionale. However, the Italian fans will be looking for a solid showing in the tournament from their national
team.
Cesare Prandelli took over the Italian national team reigns after Marcello Lippi stepped down from the post after the 2010 World Cup. Even though the first match under Prandelli resulted in a friendly loss
at the hands of Ivory Coast, it was definitely not a sign of things to come. The 54-year-old has been very astute in competitive matches, and has had a very good win to games ratio.
Analysing their road to the group stages of the tournament,
bettor.com will be discussing the performance in the European qualifiers. Italy were convincing in their qualifiers and remained the only unbeaten team in the group. They were head and shoulders above the rest of the pack, and it would have
been a shock were Italy to lose out in the qualifiers.
Gli Azzurri’s qualifier opponents were http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Faroe-Islands-c2896. Prandelli’s men topped the group with 26 points, and the second-placed side was ten points adrift
of the Azzurri. This statistics tells us that the competition in the group stages was below par for the Italian side, who amassed a total of 20 goals in their endeavours, whereas conceding only twice during the ten qualifying matches.
Even though the competition was not up to par in the qualifiers, but the fact that the Azzurri managed to convincingly progress into the group stages of the championships is a good sign. And going into Championships
on the back of a consistent run of victories always bodes well for teams.
Italy has had a few injury concerns to contend with, as Prandelli’s first-choice strike partnership is recovering from their respective surgeries. His preferred strike partnership constitutes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Antonio-Cassano-c6302
and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Giuseppe-Rossi-c15027, but the former is recovering from his heart surgery, whereas the Villarreal striker is nursing himself to action after undergoing a knee operation.
In their absence, Prandelli has been trying to form new striking partnerships and has employed Parma’s http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alessandro-Matri-c4733 in their recent friendly against USA. However,
the strike partnership was ineffective, and it was not until he involved http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fabio-Borini-c13163 in the match that there were glimpses of enterprising play by the Italian team.
The Italian head coach is still waiting for his preferred strikers to recover in time for the Euro 2012, and has gone on the record to state that he will wait for Cassano until the very last moment.
They would need a potent strike-force for the European Championships, as the Italians are pitted in a very tricky group. They are in the same group as the tournament favourites, Spain, and have been handed
problematic opposition in the form of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Republic-of-Ireland-c2987.
Prandelli’s men would be expected to advance from the group stages of Euro 2012 along with Spain. In comparison to their qualifying matches, this will be another level altogether for the Italian side and
they would need to rise to the occasion.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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