Joachim Low and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Oliver-c28477 Bierhoff impressed with Italy
Italy and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Germany-c2904 continued their historic football rivalry as the two sides met in Dortmund on Wednesday for a friendly tie. Going into the game, their respective forms were poles apart. While Germany have carried their superb
FIFA World Cup 2010 form into the Euro 2012 qualifiers, sitting atop the Group A, the Italians are yet to forge a championship winning side following their humiliating World Cup exit. Even though the Azzurri lead the Euro Qualifying Group C, their performances
had left a lot to be desired.
Consequently, many expected the Italians to be on the receiving end of a football lesson. However, the Azzurri produced one of their best performances in the recent years and came out with a well-earned draw. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Miroslav-Klose-c26049 opened
the scoring in the 17th minute with a poacher’s effort only for Villarreal forward, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Giuseppe-Rossi-c15027, to restore parity in the 81st minute. Both the teams went for the decisive goal in the closing stages of the game, but a draw was nothing
more than the two sides deserved. While the Azzurri’s performance was far from being perfect, it was still a huge improvement over their recent showings. Furthermore, Germany coach, Joachim Low and director Oliver Bierhoff seem to agree with the fact in all
likelihood.
“They have great individual talents. We did not beat Italy because they are a good side with great individual talents. We tried our best and played a good game, but were unable to get the victory” Low said in his post match press
conference.
Despite the fact that Germany controlled most of the possession, the Germans controlled only 58 per cent of the possession as compared to Italy’s 42 per cent, as clear-cut goal scoring opportunities were hard to come by. Olivier
Bierhoff shed more light on the issue.
“Italy have talent and not a great deal of international experience, so they need to grow in that respect and are working on it. We did well in the first half, then somewhat ran out of steam. We do have the problem that in Germany
there are few genuine centre-forwards” said the former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Udinese-Calcio-c40789 and AC Milan striker.
Die Mannschaft were without the Bayern Munich goal-machine, Mario Gomez, for this game, rendering the manager short of options upfront. Lack of firepower in the attacking third will be a concern for Joachim Low in days to come
as he looks to forge a title winning team. For Cesare Prandelli, however, there were a lot of positives to be taken from this game. The Italians looked like a cohesive unit for the first time ever since they lifted the World Cup trophy in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Berlin-c7536, in 2006.
Now, with young blood integrating into the squad, the Azzurri future looks bright once more.
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