NEWS » Euro 2012 Italy Qualify
Italy Qualify for Euro 2012
Azzurri
now one of the favourites for the
European Championships 2012
After the poor Italian performance at the 2010 World
Cup in South Africa , Italy has already
qualified for the 2012 European Championships
with two qualifying games to go and with
an impressive tally of 22 points from 8 games with only one goal conceded. The Azzuri
qualified for next summer's European Championships with a 1-0 victory over
Slovenia.
New coach Cesare Prandelli has certainly delivered the
results using 32 players so far of which only 14 were in the final 2010 World
Cup squad.
Although Prandelli had already produced good results,
including beating World Champions Spain in a friendly match, the team is still struggling
to rebuild the trust of their fans.
For many
supporters the performance at the last World
Cup was so disappointing that they are still trying to get over it and struggle
to be enthusiastic about the team’s future.
It’s not just in Italy that doubts persist. Italy is
now considered a “trembling favourite”
according to the French newspaper “L'Equipe”. Pirlo
and the rest of the team are not seen as being at the same level as the Germans,
the Dutch or the Spanish or , dare I say it, England.
Let’s hope for the best in the future!
The qualification matches:
3
Settembre 2010, Estonia – ITALIA 1 – 2
7
Settembre 2010, ITALIA - Isole Far Oer 5
– 0
8
Ottobre 2010, Irlanda del Nord – ITALIA
0 – 0
12
Ottobre 2010, ITALIA - Serbia 3 – 0
25 Marzo
201, Slovenia – ITALIA 0 – 1
3
Giugno 2011, ITALIA - Estonia 3 – 0
2
Settembre 2011, Isole Far Oer – ITALIA 0
– 1
6
Settembre 2011, ITALIA - Slovenia 1 – 0
Juve have provided 7 of the 32 players used in the qualifying matches
whilst Inter, Milan and Fiorentina have each provided 4 players.
The players used, their clubs and number of appearances were:
Goalkeepers:
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) 4, Emiliano Viviano (Inter) 3, Salvatore
Sirigu (PSG) 1
Defenders:
Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus) 8, Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus) 5, Domenico
Criscito (Zenit St Petersberg) 3, Federico Balzaretti (Palermo) 3, Andrea
Ranocchia (Inter) 3, Mattia Cassani (Fiorentina) 3, Luca Antonelli (Genova) 2,
Lorenzo Di Silvestri (Fiorentina) 1, Cristian Molinaro (VFB Stuttgart) 1,
Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan) 1
Midfield
Andrea Pirlo (Juventus) 7, Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina) 6, Daniele
De Rossi (Roma) 5, Claudio Marchisio
(Juventus) 5, Stefano Mauri (Lazio) 3, Christian Maggio (Napoli) 3, Thiago
Motta (Inter) 3, Alberto Aquilani (Milan) 3, Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria) 3,
Simone Pepe (Juventus) 2, Antonio Nocerino (Milan) 2
Forwards
Antonio Cassano (Milan) 8, Giampaolo Pazzini (Inter) 8, Giuseppe Rossi
(Villareal) 6, Fabio Quaglirarella (Juventus) 2, Mario Balotelli (Manchester
City) 2, Marco Boriello (Roma) 1, Alberto Gilardino (fiorentina) 1, Debastian
Giovinco (Parma) 1
Peter Ciccone
