Mighty Azzurri

[Zaki]

Buffon, Cheillini, Pirlo & De Rossi starting find theirs best form... and more to come...

8 month left & Lippi still can't find his best line-up... rossi is out of form at Villareal, Iaquinta injured & Palombo and Pepe is nowhere near to be an international players, Luca Toni is out of sort at bayern & marco amelia not performing well so far...

[Hyper.Bach]

i dont put much hope on italy in wc2010
hehe :D

[IlDivinCodino]

MARCHISIO!!!

[zulPiero]

aku pon x letak harapan tinggi kt italy..
pasal dorang still lack on striker..
kalo tgk spain midfield dorang mmg mantap..
xavi,iniesta,fabregas,alonso,silva
foward dorang pon sedap..villa ngan torres
tp aku x minat spain..
aku minat algeria je..kehkehkeh

[ritz]

lippi must have marchisio, criscito, giovinco, foggia and palladino if they wanna win wc2010.

[ritz]

Italy 1 - 0 Sweden

Giorgio Chiellini's header defeated Sweden 1-0 as an experimental Italy end 2009 with a victory.

Marcello Lippi fielded an experimental Azzurri side in his second international friendly test, the final game of 2009. Fabio Cannavaro, Gigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo and Gianluca Zambrotta had gone home after the 0-0 with Holland at the weekend, so faces like Christian Maggio, Domenico Criscito, Antonio Di Natale and Giampaolo Pazzini stepped in. Davide Biondini of Cagliari got his first Italy start, while Antonio Candreva was again present. Sweden missed injured star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Di Natale was making his 30th cap and so wore the captain's armband.

There was a scare within the first two minutes, as Hysen sprung the offside trap thanks to Nicola Legrottaglie and went clear on goal, but Federico Marchetti stood his ground and stuck out a hand to palm it out for a corner. Moments later another poor clearance forced Marchetti into a splendid one-handed low save on Olof Mellberg's flick from seven yards.

Swedish goalkeeper Isaksson also needed acrobatics, as Candreva floated a free kick into the box, Di Natale swept a cross back in for the head of Giorgio Chiellini and a fingertip save.

Di Natale's chipped cross from the left found Candreva between the centre-backs, but he was unbalanced and volleyed over.

Soon after Di Natale's volley was low at the near post and beaten off the line by Isaksson, it came out to Biondini whose daisy-cutter skimmed the near post.

Bolton Wanderers midfielder Elmander's angled drive flashed wide from the edge of the box.

Italy broke the deadlock from a corner earned by Christian Maggio. The ball was whipped across the face of goal past Pazzini and on to the head of an unmarked Giorgio Chiellini at the back post. It was the Juventus defender's second Azzurri goal.

Isaksson smothered a Candreva strike, then Chiellini had another shot from a corner that was charged down in the six-yard box. Sweden went on the counter from that set piece, but Chiellini sprinted all the way back to close down Safari with a decisive tackle.

After the break Lippi introduced Parma's Daniele Galloppa, Giuseppe Rossi and Palermo full-back Mattia Cassani for Candreva, Biondini and Maggio. Sweden exchanged Gronqvist for V Elm.

Pazzini needed treatment for a nosebleed, worrying as he had fractured it only a few weeks ago. Sweden had a chance from a corner, but Majstorovic clipped the ball straight at Marchetti from close range.

Salvatore Bocchetti replaced his Genoa teammate Criscito. Rossi was one-on-one with Svensson, but opted for an audacious chip rather than take the defender on.

Pazzini's counter squeezed through a sea of legs for Isaksson to gather, while Di Natale was incorrectly flagged offside when clear on goal.

Angelo Palombo replaced Riccardo Montolivo. There was a nice moment when former Juve teammates Chiellini and Mellberg embraced after the Italian blocked him in the air.

Marchionni wasted a great chance when a magnificent Di Natale cross-field pass found the Fiorentina winger totally unmarked, but his first touch let him down.

Mauro Camoranesi was the final substitute for Italy, taking over from Camoranesi.

Galloppa blasted a free kick just over the bar from distance. Bocchetti's strong run turned into an assist for Rossi, but Isaksson smothered at his feet.

The former Juventus reserve goalkeeper had to sprint out of the penalty area to clear from Di Natale after a lucky ricochet. Pazzini's angled drive from outside the area was deflected wide of the near post by Mellberg's ankle.

In the final minutes Marchetti bravely punched away a corner amid a crowd of huge Swedish players, getting a knock off Wernbloom. In stoppages the Cagliari goalkeeper performed another fingertip save on Wernbloom's header that bounced off the ground. Swedish shot-stopper Isaksson went up for the final corner and nodded just over with the last move of the game.



..hantar legro je pi africa.
:rock: