Italy Failed To Impress

Aside from their first match against the USA Italy the current World Champions failed to impress at the Confederations Cup. There has been much said in the past week that Italy were just there to get used to South Africa these games didn't mean anything. While that is all well and good as an excuse it shouldn't be stood for. The press here in Italy have been calling for squad changes. Cannavaro was wonderful during the 2006 World Cup but his best days seem to be behind him. Chiellini looked lost and Dossena was unlucky. Inter's young defender Davide Santon was brought but barely used. If Lippi wasn't going to use him he should have let him go to the U-21's which are going on in Sweden where he would have featured.

Camoranesi looked alright though at 32 he sometime looks closer to 36. Camoranesi has been one of the better players for the Azzurri but he is getting older and slower. Daniele De Rossi wasn't bad though I was expecting more out of him during the Brazil match. He is a player that needs to pick up his game more while playing for the Azzurri. Pirlo had a nice first match against the USA but after that seemed to fall off.

After starting the first match against the USA Gilardino didn't feature much. Instead Luca Toni was given the green light and did nothing with it. Luca Toni hasn't been thrilling anyone lately while he has been playing for the Azzurri and Gilardino had a better season then Toni as well. Iaquinta missed some wonderful opportunities during the Egypt match though he was stopped in a large part by the Egyptian goalkeeper. Iaquinta was a bright spot for me for Italy. Rossi didn't have a bad tournament but in the matches against Egypt and Brazil got pushed off the ball too easily.

Though I don't think that Italy are in a crisis as some papers in Italy have said I do think they need some new ideas. They need to bring in some youngsters. Why wasn't Del Piero on the squad? Pirlo's free kicks were pathetic. I'd like to see Amauri called up for a qualifier as well as Pazzini. Acquafresca and Giovinco are on the brink of the Azzurri I have a feeling Giovinco might not get called up soon enough due to his size. One player that should not enter the squad is Balotelli who is a hot head and can not even control himself at U-21 level and was lucky to get away with only a one game ban after his red card against Sweden. Cigarini needs to be put into the middle next to De Rossi.

Though these changes are nice coming out of my mouth I doubt many changes will happen by the next year and the World Cup. The players that Lippi constantly calls up are his favorites and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Pirlo, Cannavaro, Toni and Gattuso are all four years older than when they won the World Cup and their game has fallen with their age, it is time for an injection of youth.

Who would you like to see added to the squad and who would you leave out?