Italy have improved since June 10.
They’ve gained belief in every game after a slow start.
Their first match was a 1-1 draw against Spain on a Sunday afternoon and that contest will now be repeated tomorrow night in Kiev.
Something tells me this final will be a cracker.
And I reckon Balotelli will score another Drogba goal.
Let\’s enjoy this last weekend of 2012 because in future, with the addition of eight mediocre teams, the Euros will become as boring as the World Cup.
Any lessons learned this month? Just the usual : one good performance is not a good team, one great performance is not great player. You can only play as well as you\’re allowed to play. Tournaments teach us things we knew already but had forgotten.
Russia thrashed Czech Republic 4-1 and looked a force, but never impressed after that.
The French didn\’t play for each other.
Adding the selfish, spiteful Nasri to the mix was never going to improve harmony and a 2-0 win over an average Ukraine was their only success in four games.
The Netherlands, notorious as the neurotic Oranje, were captained by the coach\’s son-in-law and that added to their dysfunction, I\’m sure. Mark Van Bommel announced his retirement from international football after the Dutch lost 2-1 to Portugal.
After meetings with the Dutch FA, coach Bert Van Marwijk resigned, which will be a big relief to Mrs VM and her daughter, I reckon.
So France\’s stars didn\’t play for each other and the Dutch egos didn\’t either.
Unlike the French and the Dutch, England\’s journeymen showed a willingness to play for each other in every game. Since we don\’t have 15 players who can use both feet, or even five or six, England must rely on team spirit and organisation. Without that, our little bits of flair have no platform and no chance.
We waited for Wayne but he wasn\’t match fit and Roy Hodgson didn\’t feel equipped to attack Italy. Having seen how neatly Italy dismantled Germany in 36 minutes, I now believe Roy was right to park the bus. That was the only thing to do. He knew that the new Italy are very astute but also exceptionally solid.
The national team isn\’t hugely supported in the north of Italy, which is a shame, because Cesare Prandelli has built a powerful, balanced, artful team which was able to bamboozle the Germans in the semi-final in Warsaw, making them look like purveyors of the utterly obvious.
Since football began, strikers have been trying to pinch a yard, and in this set-up Antonio Cassano often pinches that yard in wide areas, not in the box.
With his uncanny balance and awareness, Cassano, now 29, can do everything. His artistry reminds me of a young Dalglish, a mature Romario.
He was able to take his marker Hummels apart and supply a left-footed cross so exquisite you’d think it had been rehearsed 5,000 times. Mario Balotelli was never going to miss a header from five yards.
Then Italy again demonstrated how incisive they can be. Buffon slapped away a corner to Montolivo, who lifted his head once in a forward left back position, looked again, then a third time and fourth, measuring the distance, then hit a defence-splitting ball beyond last man Lahm, who saw Balotelli chest it, spurt to the edge of the box and smash past Neuer for 2-0.
What makes Italy so dangerous? Their intelligence and precision.
They play narrow, squeezing round the ball like a big family round a baby, then expand organically, easily, naturally, to a give options to Pirlo, whose measured passes look so simple that you often wonder why nobody else can play them.
A team of versatile competitors, the Italians can invent the game from moment to moment everywhere on the pitch, and they\’re especially precise in both boxes, stopping goals by reading passes inside the penalty area, while connecting sharp runs to nicely angled passes at the other end.
Cesc Fabregas said it yesterday : Italy know when to attack and when to defend.
His comment sums up the Azzurri, although I might add : Italy also know how to attack and how to defend.
They defended a 2-0 lead from 36 minutes to 91 and the German goal wasn’t a goal. It was never a penalty. A clear push by the crafty Klose.
For me, possession football can only really be thrilling when you\’ve got the magical Messi to scoot into the box and score the goals. Without Messi, it’s dull.
Can Spain beat Italy without Messi? I don\’t think so.
David Silva was dismal last time out.
Yes, Pique and Ramos were magnificent in that semi, but Portugal didn\’t have Cassano and Balotelli, or a studiously artistic playmaker like Pirlo.
Myself,I love teams who can mix it up, who can battle as well as keep the ball, who can play longer passes as well as ping it around in small triangles.
Teams who never put the ball up for grabs, never cross it to the near post, never hit diagonals beyond the defence, will, in the end, become tedious.
George Graham once told me that Herbert Chapman reckoned you can attack too much in a game. And now, about 80 years after Chapman, Spain keep working it into the front third and then working it back to the middle third.
By contrast, Balotelli had four shots and scored two goals to remember.
I\’m not interested in possession stats, pass completion data, or who had 23 goals attempts without scoring.
My kind of football is about incisiveness and goals.
Please note that Prandelli plays a 14-man game: he will use all his subs. Cassano played 54 minutes against Germany, Montolivo 63.
The return of suspended Napoli wing-back Christian Maggio will help the team, especially, Balotelli and Cassano, if Maggio plays.
Italy, the masters of minimalism, know how to do just enough.
They can win Euro 2012 in the first 30 minutes.
But maybe Spain’s best chance is to win it in the last 30.
Come on Mario, do it again!