Spain v Italy
Sunday sees Group C kick-off their Euro Finals. Group B may be the group of death however, Group C features the last two World Cup winners, Spain and Italy, joined by Croatia and the Republic of Ireland. This group promises to go right down to the wire and won’t be easy to qualify from—even for Spain. The first round of matches features a mouth watering affair with defending Euro and World Cup champions Spain facing Italy.
It’s fair to say that Spain is the powerhouse of international football. Their squad is packed with quality and their strengths are obvious. It says something about the strength in depth of Spanish football at the moment, when Barcelona and Real Madrid, arguably the two greatest club sides on the planet, contribute 12 players to the cause between them. In Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, David Silva and Juan Mata, Spain possesses some of the best midfielders in the world. La Roja qualifying campaign was flawless with a 100% win rate. They scored an amazing 26 goals in their eight qualifiers, conceding only six. The main area where Spain might struggle however, is in attack. David Villa is ruled out of the tournament after failing to recover from injury and Fernando Torres is expected to lead the line. The Chelsea striker did make a semi-return to form towards the end of the Premier League season but his consistency and link up play with the Barcelona players leaves a lot to be desired. If Torres fails to impress, Vicente Del Bosque won’t waste time in trying Alvaro Negredo of Sevilla, Pedro of Barcelona or one of Europe’s most wanted strikers, Bilbao hitman Fernando Llorente. All things considered though, they’re still far and away the team to beat.
At first glance, Italy’s Euro 2012 preparations could not be going any worse. They are undergoing one of their worst match fixing scandals to date with players and coaches from various Serie A clubs being investigated, including Italy’s first choice left back Domenico Criscito of Lazio who has since lost his place in the national team. To add to that their preparations were halted when their match against Luxembourg was cancelled due to earthquakes in Italy. They then played Russia in Zurich last Friday and were humiliated 3-0 to cap a dismal week for Italian football. Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli played the entire game but could not find a breakthrough as Italy slipped to their third straight friendly defeat, after previously losing to Uruguay and USA. Balotelli played alongside AC Milan’s Antonio Cassano in attack as Cesare Prandelli ponders to find a striking partnership to deal with the absence of Villarreal’s Giuseppe Rossi through injury. The uncertainty around the camp is a far cry from Italy’s impressive form in qualification, where they won eight and drew two to finish top of their group. There is experience of the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo, Giorgio Chiellini and Daniele De Rossi, but outside of those four there’s nobody with more than enough caps to their name to fill a shelf. Players who will need to play a major part such as Thiago Motta, Mario Balotelli and Antonio Nocerino, all undoubtedly fine players, have less than 10 caps each.
Spain are as always expected to dominate here but their midfield will need to be much more attacking minded to score goals as the Italian defence will be out to make up for their poor display against Russia. Spain are tipped for the win.
