Squadra Azzurra - Nazionale italiana di calcio!

I was very nervous at the start of this match…I knew that if we don’t get the win, the whole country will say that I am not good enough! We started the match very well and until min 25 we managed to creat two very big chances to score, but Balotelli missed them both. After min 25, the match got harder as Ghana started playing better and they also missed a chance in min 35 by Asamoah Gyan… when everyone expected the half time and got a little relaxed, we catched Ghana on a counter, Pirlo giving a beautiful long pass to Insigne, and after dribbling Essien, Insigne gave a perfect cross for Candreva who scored with a volley and the first half ended 1-0.
The second half was pretty much the same as the first one, as we had some opportunities, but we keep missed them until minute 92, when Insigne gave a long pass to Florenzi, which, after dribling a player, scored with a beautiful long range shot and the match ended 2-0.
Now, we have to take the momentum from this friendly victory over Ghana in our next double against Denmark and Czech Republic, which is decisive for qualification to World Cup!


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@ jasonvilla4ever - thank you mate!

@kernel - thanks!

Nice win for your first match and I love your lay-out.

Defending World Cup champions Spain lead the list, ahead of Argentina and Germany while Uruguay make the biggest jump of all the major teams, climbing 7 places until 5th place.

World Cup hosts Brazil droped two places to eleventh in the new FIFA world rankings released on Saturday. 24 August 2014. Spain remain top of the pile ahead of Argentina which moved up 2 places, Germany which moved down 1 place and Italy which also moved up 2 places.


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@ Josh_MU - thanks mate!

Awesome update and go USA!!!

Fabio Cannavaro made 9 changes in the squad that faced Ghana, as he left out Perin, Pasqual, Bonucci, Aquilani, Ledesma, Poli, Bonnaventura, Florenzi and Immobile and called up instead Sirigu, Siqueira, Ranocchia, De Rossi, Pirlo, Motta, Cerci, Diamanti and Rossi.
Just like last time againt Ghana, Fabio Cannavaro is having problems again with the injuries, as Bonucci, Paletta, Criscito, Montolivo Marchisio and De Sciglio will miss the double.



In Italy, people are divided in two groups: the one that think Siqueira deserves the call-up and the one think only Italians shold play for the national team, not all kind of nationalities. Guilherme Siqueira is a Brazilian footballer with Italian citizenship. He is a left back playing for Portuguese team Benfica, on loan from Granada in Spain and he played for Udinese between 2006-2010, making 23 apparences in Serie A. We have to wait and see if Fabio has done the right thing by calling him up!
Cannavaro declared:

"Once again my choices are condamned by the press..when will you understand that I am Italy's head coach now? I am the only one responsable for the results, so that means that I will call-up who I think deserves to be here!"

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@ jasonvilla4ever - thanks for the support mate!

An interesting selection there, should do the job! I rate Siqueira in real life so glad to see you're using him! Good luck

Bad luck for the italiano-brazilian, Guihlerme Siqueira, as he sufferd a pretty bad injury today in training and he will be out for around 2 months with strained knee ligaments.

Some important voices in Italy said that they believe it’s a good thing, as we have better italian players that can play on that position, while Fabio declared:

”I am not happy with this injury... but things like this happen, this is football! As soon as he recovers and will play for his club team, Siqueira will get tha chance to prove! ”

Federico Balzaretti, AS Roma's left back has been called up instead!


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@Bantams - thank you!

Too bad for Siqueira.

I predicted a very tough match for us before the start of the game and indeed it was! We had more chances to score (18 – 8) but they had better possesion than us (46% - 54%) and when everyone expected the match to end 0-0, again saved us our king, Andrea Pirlo, with a perfect long pass for Insigne, which lobbed the keeper and made the score 1-0 in minute 84. 6 minutes later, our trequartista, Diamanti, took the ball and dribbled 3 player and took a long shot which Hansen, Denmark keeper, saved it but push it back to Rossi who scored and the match ended 2-0. Rossi and Insigne were our super-subs today, as they both score! I am especially pleased with the form Insigne is showing, as he won the Man of the match award second time in a row!
If we win our next match, away at Czech Republiv, we will secure a place in the World Cup.


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@Tellak - thank you!

Fabio Cannavaro had some problems to form the 23-man squad for the double against Denmark and Czech Republic, as Bonucci, Paletta, Criscito, Montolivo Marchisio and De Sciglio were missing being injuried. Just one day before the match against Denmark, one more player got injuried: Guihlerme Siqueira. Now, after the win againt Denmark and just 2 day to go until the clash against Czech Republic, Italy lost 2 more players being injuried in training. Italy’s right wing, Antonio Candreva will be out for the next 3 weeks while AC Milan’s right back, Ignazio Abate will be missing for 2 weeks.



Fabio called up two replacements instead: Roma’s Alessandro Florenzi and Lorenzo de Silvestri.

That is one awful injury crisis.

A beautiful game and yes!! We have just won qualification to the World Cup! I am so fucking delighted…we’re having a private party now, and I am pretty sure that will get very drunk!!
I am very glad that my boys understood that it’s not about the possesion you have, it’s what you do with it when counts, and we won with jus t 41% possesion while Czech republic had 59%. In the second minute of add time, Tomas Sivok made a huge mistake which allowed flamboyant winger Lorenzo Insigne to score with a nice effort from 15 meters and, to be honest, Insigne is slowly becoming my favourite player, as he just can’t stop scoring! Balotelli had no problem in scoring from the spot in minute 60 when Kadlec gave up a penalty.The midfielder Ladislav Krejci gave the Szech fans a glimmer of hope in minute 69 scoring with a long shot. Balotelli completed the scoring for Italy with an accurate finish in 75th minute.

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@cfcmarkt - indeed mate!

Russia and Belgium has accepted the offer from Italy for a friendly match. Italy will face Belgium in on Friday, 15th November while the clash against Russia will be on Tuesday, 19th November 2013.

Belgium are already qualified to the World Cup as they won their qualifying group, finishing first, in front of Serbia and Croatia.

On the other side, Russia it’s still fighting for the first place in the group against Portugal, and if they finish second place an qualify to the play-off, then the friendly will be cancelled.

Fabio Cannavaro twited:

good luck against those 2 rising nations!

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@fzemdegs - thank you!