Has http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrea-Pirlo-c5702 played his last game for Italy?
Rossoneri playmaker Andrea Pirlo etched his name in the pages of history with a man-of-the-match performance against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final. In Marcello Lippi’s unorthodox 4-4-1-1 formation, the diminutive playmaker was given a free midfield
role. Pirlo was protected by the tenacious http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Berlin-c7536 were:
Buffon
Zambrotta Cannavaro Materazzi Grosso
Camoranesi Gattuso Pirlo Perotta
Totti
Toni
Four years down the lane and both Pirlo and Gattuso are past their prime; the later even more so. Gattuso’s asset was his aggression, work rate and the deceptive speed with which he caught the opposition looking for a break. The Rossoneri no. 8’s constant
hassling of the opposition presented Pirlo with all the time he required to choose his passes, and he was spot on with his delivery more often than not.
However, age caught up with Ringhinho faster than the player could ever run. While Pirlo was never http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/The-Strongest-c40725 of athletes, Gattuso’s fall from grace clearly hampered his game to an extent that he has failed to hit the same heights ever since. Furthermore,
the opposition has learnt how to tackle the Rossoneri playmaker; constant harassing. In Euro 2008 and at the World Cup, the two players hardly did anything of note – though Pirlo was injured for most of the campaign in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/South-Africa-c757.
When Italy faced http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Germany-c2904 two days ago in Dortmund, Pirlo couldn’t take part in the game, as he was in Milan nursing an injury. Prandelli might have bemoaned the loss initially but it was a blessing in disguise. The Italians took to the pitch as underdogs,
expecting a footballing lesson at the hands of the Germans. However, the Azzurri surprised everyone – perhaps even themselves – with an assured display, and did extremely well to limit Die Mannschaft attacks. Cesare Prandelli returned home with more positives
than he would have initially expected as his troops held out for a 1-1 draw.
They key to this performance was the way the Italian midfield countered the German attacks. The trio of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniele-De-Rossi-c10112 and Ricardo Montolivo were often seen making a three-man compact wall right in front of the Azzurri defence. Consequently,
the Germans found little space to exploit down the middle. Furthermore, whenever Die Mannschaft looked to attack from the wings, the likes of Motta and De Rossi would stop them from cutting inside while also blocking supply to the German midfielders. Even
though the home side had 58 percent of possession, they created only two clear goal scoring chances all game.
The tactics deployed by Prandelli require lung bursting energy from the midfielders. Prandelli is looking to form a midfield comprising of a ball winner, a Box-to-box player and a central midfielder, who can contribute to both attack and defence; Riccardo
Montolivo played that role against Germany. Pirlo is a deep-lying playmaker with little or no defensive nous. Suffice to say, a player of Pirlo’s skill-set has no place in Prandelli’s starting eleven. Football teams undergo transitions once every five or six
years, and the Italian national team is doing just that. Sadly, Pirlo has little part to play in the Azzurri’s future.
(The views expressed by the writer are his own and do not reflect the editorial policy of www.bettor.com)
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