Puma and the Italy national team have officially launched the Azzuri's kit for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. As rumoured, the new outfield player kit features a light blue colour not seen for quite some time. According to an Italian newspaper, the colour is meant to celebrate Italy's FIFA World Cup victories of 1934 and [.

The Italian football team was trounced 3-0 by the Samba Kings of Brazil at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup on Sunday. In attendance were the usual Brazilian and Italian soccer babes who seem to follow the Selecção and Azzuri everywhere they go. We featured a ton of them yesterday in the first installment of The [.

One of the Stars of the recent U21 European Championships in Sweden was Italy's Sebastian Giovinco who was the shining light in the Azzuri's failed bid to win the competition. Despite his impressive displays the 22-year-old is widely regarded as the best young prospect in Italy although he is struggling to earn a place in the Juventus side.

Ever heard of Tuttusport? We hadn't until today when the Italian website published a leak of the Italy 2010 FIFA World Cup Puma kits. While the image below isn't the best and could very well be just a working drawing, it's the first Puma design that we've seen for next year's showdown in South Africa.

ATTACK THE LEFT SIDE

The left side is where you attack Brazil. Under Dunga, Brazil essentially plays without a left sided midfielder. The left back position for the Brazilians has been a similarly problematic as it has been for the United States. Andres Santos and Klebar are both below the acceptable standard and we saw Dani Alves inserted on the left side late against South Africa despite being right footed.

Two week ago I authored an article about the evolution of US tactics since Steve Sampson's days.

Since that article, Bob Bradley has switched his tactical setup for two consecutive matches while continuing his incredibly consistent and predictable squad selection.

Bradley went from the empty bucket 4-4-2 against Honduras to a 4-5-1 with essentially three holding midfielders against Italy.

Tonights games in the Confederations Cup brought an exciting end to Group B, with Brazil already qualified on 6 points, and Italy, Egypt and USA all tied on three points.
In the headline game, Brazil took on Italy with the Italians looking to win in order to qualify for semi-finals.

Thirteen competitive games in fifty three days: That's what the USMNT faced in June and July. We had no friendlies this summer or practice games but deadly serious qualifiers and tournaments. Here is what we've learned:

Charlie Davies is the real deal.

Italy captain and Real Madrid defender Fabio Cannavaro has been ruled out of the game against the United States due to a calf strain. Cannavaro may also be in doubt for the June 18 match against Brazil.

The Italy captain is just two appearances away from matching the Italian record of fellow defender Paulo Maldini, who amassed 126 caps in his career with the Azzuri.

Lots to catch up on with two rounds of fixtures in Serie A, the start of the Champions League and of course the Azzuri in World Cup qualification action. So no messing around - let's get straight to it. Avanti!
Since my last update, Luciano Spalletti has parted company with Roma to be replaced by Claudio Ranieri, following a home defeat to the Tinkerman's former club Juventus.

USA v Italy (Group B)
Date: Monday 15 June
Venue: Pretoria
Kickoff: 7:30 pm GMT

World champions Italy take on Gold Cup winners USA on Monday evening at the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria. You can watch Italy v USA live here.

Italy

Italy are making their Confederations Cup debut.

Dunga's Brazil are starting to go through the gears in this tournament as they easily overcame USA yestereday. Felipe Melo scored the opener from a Maicon free-kick, followed by goals from Robinho and Maicon, who capped a fine display with the last goal.
The win confirms Brazil's place in the semi-finals, but USA are still in with a chance of securing second spot in the group thanks to the first shock of the Confederations Cup yesterday as Egypt beat Italy 1-0, in the following match.

OK, admit it.
After New Zealand Referee Michael Hester blatantly, inexplicably, inexcusably missed an obvious handball that prevented the US from scoring the last, desperately needed goal against the Pharaohs, you had flashbacks to the Germany game when a less obvious - but nonetheless clear - non call kept the US out of the World Cup semifinals.

Beyond the nation's borders, Italian football has certainly faded into the background in recent years. A devastating match-fixing scandal in 2006 bitterly overshadowed the country's World Cup triumph that year while the domestic league has clearly become a one-horse race ever since. Reigning champions Inter Milan have shown no signs of a slip up in the Serie A for the last three seasons and that trend continued with their strong start to the current season as well.

Back in September leaks of the Italy 2010 FIFA World Cup Puma kits first appeared on the internet. Now Italian football shirt retailer calcioitalia.com has published a picture of what it purports to be the Italy Puma World Cup 2010 home kit (0r 1a Italia Maglia Calcio Mondiali 2010 if you prefer). This is a clear [.