Cesare Prandelli has been dealt with the wrong kind of headache ahead of the European Championships, with his preferred strike partnership still recovering.
Prandelli has guided the Italian national team with ease in the qualifiers of the European Championships to be held in Poland and Ukraine later this year.
They had the fortune of drawing into a relatively easy group, however the manner in which the Azzurri cruised past the stages would be heartening for the fans.
They scored a total of 20 goals in the ten matches, conceding only twice in the process, and stayed unbeaten throughout the qualifying stage. Even though there are a lot of positives to be taken from Italy’s road to the group stages,
there are still some concerns for the tournament.
First and foremost is the fact that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Republic-of-Ireland-c2987. The quality of opponents in the group stages would be
different to the one they faced in the qualifiers, and the team would have to rise to the occasion.
Probably the biggest concern at this point for the Italian coach would be the surgery his preferred strike partnership underwent. The Italian’s preferred partnership constitutes of AC Milan striker, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Antonio-Cassano-c6302, and Villarreal
striker, Giuseppe Rossi. Cassano underwent a heart surgery after he suffered a mini stroke in Milan’s flight back from Rome; the striker is still recovering and has started light training as well. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Giuseppe-Rossi-c15027 underwent a knee surgery after he damaged the
cruciate ligaments of his knee. Rossi is expected to recover in April.
Even though Prandelli has been keeping a close eye on the progress of their recovery, and has left the door open for the two strikers until the last minute, the tactician still needs to consider their alternative.
Bettor.com would now look at the striking options available for the former Fiorentina boss.
In their recent friendly against USA, Prandelli employed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alessandro-Matri-c4733 as the strike partnership, and we would now look at the impact the two players might make if selected for the upcoming Championship
in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Poland-c2983.
Alessandro Matri
The Juventus star has been a resounding presence in the plans of Antonio Conte, and he has scored in the big matches that the Turin side have featured in this season. This will be an indication to Prandelli that the tall striker
can keep his own, and work as a good target man for the team to work with.
The striker has not been as prolific as the rest of the strikers in the Serie A, having netted 10 strikes for the Old Lady this season and assisting in four goals. The former Cagliari striker failed to impress in the recent friendly
against USA, and was taken off before the hour mark.
He would be hopeful of ending the season with a string of great performances to be considered for the Italy national team.
Sebastian Giovinco
The performances of the Parma striker have dipped of late, however the diminutive striker is well regarded by Prandelli, as he has been selected on numerous occasions by the tactician. He has scored on ten occasions for the Gialloblu,
assisting in six of their goals.
However, during the friendly against USA, the former Juventus striker did not have much to show for his running and enthusiasm. He needs to work on being more clinical in his scoring and time his runs better, as he was caught offside
on countless occasions in the friendly against USA.
Article continued in part 2
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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