The Italy U-21's continued their very disappointing qualifying campaign with another loss, this time away to Hungary. The Azzurrini needed a win to get back on track, but now qualification is getting more and more difficult. The Hungarians won 2-0, with goals coming from Nemeth and Koman (both players played on the Hungarian side that knocked the Italy U-20's out of the U-20 World Cup last month).

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Italy is through to the quarter-finals of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup 2009 following their 3-1 win over ten-man Spain at Cairo's Al Salam Stadium. Andrea Mazzarani scored one goal and assisted on another for the Azzurrini. Goalkeeper Vincenzo Fiorillo saved a late penalty that would have made the game 3-2 following a late Spanish onslaught. Click to continue reading...

The new Italy U-21 side (who lost their first friendly August 12 vs. Russia 3-2) will now start qualifying for the 2011 UEFA U-21 European Championship to be held in Denmark. The Azzurrini will play two games, one on September 4th away to Wales in Swansea, and the other on September 8th at home vs.

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Well, it's that time of the summer again. I'm off to the old country tomorrow, so the blog will be inactive for a couple of weeks. However I will be back right before the start of the Serie A season so I'll be able to maybe get a mega-preview up like last season and we'll wrap up the important news that happened while I was gone.

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Often we see a young player explode onto the calcio scene and everyone turns heads and says "Where did this kid come from?". Well, now is your chance to gain some knowledge about some promising Italian young players and maybe in a year or two when one of these players starts to do some good things on the pitch you'll know who they are.

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After Italy's elimination for the U-21 Championship last Friday, Gigi Casiraghi was unsure about his future. He said that he would let the night pass and consider his options. The media were expecting that Casiraghi would decide to leave after 3 years at the helm and go on to newer pastures.

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The Italy U-21 side went into their last group game with 4 points and only needed a draw to advance to the semi-final, but a win would assure first place in the group. Italy were without Mario Balotelli, who was serving his one-match ban and there was watching from the stands. Casiraghi "officially" put out a 4-3-3 with Ignazio Abate in Balotelli's place, but it was in fact a 4-4-2 with De Ceglie and Abate on the flanks and Sebastian Giovinco supporting Robert Acquafresca.

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After the 0-0 draw with Serbia in the opening match, the game against hosts Sweden was very important, as a loss or a draw would've put Italy's chances of getting out of the group in lots of trouble. Fortunately, the Azzurrini stood up to the task, winning 2-1 and putting them in a strong position to advance to the semi-final.

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On June 16th, Italy will play their first game of the UEFA U-21 Championship 2009 vs. Serbia. The Azzurrini find themselves in a group with Belarus, Serbia, and hosts Sweden. Italy have always been successful at this level however they have not won the U-21 Championship since 2004. Pierluigi Casiraghi has been unsuccessful with the Azzurrini so far since taking over from Claudio Gentile in 2006 and this is arguably his last chance.

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After this summer's UEFA U-21 Championship, the current cycle will end and a new cycle (2009-2011) will start, which will result in a new Azzurrini team being put together because the current players will be too old to be eligible. Therefore in preparation for the qualifiers in September, Casiraghi is using next week's friendly vs.

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After their 0-0 draw in Ancona, the Azzurrini needed an exploit... and they delivered. Casiraghi can really be proud of his boys tonight, as Italy's U-21 team travelled to Tel-Aviv and defeated Israel U-21 with a score of 3-1, courtesy of a Balotelli double and a cherry on the cake by Abate. A really wonderful [. Click to continue reading...

Bad day for Italy's U-21 team. The Azzurrini could not do better than a 0-0 goal-less draw at Ancona Saturday, making their road towards the Euro 2009 final tournament a little bit harder. Casiraghi's boys now need either a win or a draw (with goals) on Wednesday, as they travel to Tel-Aviv to face a [. Click to continue reading...

It'll be Israel for the Azzurrini. Pierluigi Casiraghi's Italy U-21 team discovered their playoff phase opponent this Friday, after the Euro 2009 Under 21 Draw that gifted us clashes like Germany vs. France and Wales vs. England. The home-and-away matches will be played on October 11/12 and 14/15 (with match venues, dates and kick-off times to [. Click to continue reading...

Mission accomplished for Italy's U21 team. In order to qualify for the Euro 2009 knock-out round, a win or a draw against Croatia was necessary for Casiraghi's boys Tuesday, a task which the Azzurrini completed with brio. In truth, the final scoreline doesn't really reflect how this match played out, because of over 83 minutes [. Click to continue reading...

18 years... Super Mario's wait was a long one, but it was worth it: not even a month after receiving his official Italian citizenship papers, Balotelli has already conquered Italian hearts. His goal vs. Greece's U-21 team today was magnificent, but alas was not enough for the Azzurrini to get an automatic bye to the [. Click to continue reading...

Italy 2-3 Belgium: the Azzurrini's Olympic adventure ends in the Quarter-Finals. And it's such a shame too, because the gold medal (which talent-wise was well within the Azzurrini's reach, also because Brazil/Argentina were on the opposite side of the table) will remain a mirage for Casiraghi's boys. Click to continue reading...

For all those people that since June 22, 2008 have been anxiously waiting to see the Azzurri back in action, those weeks of anticipation are finally over. Granted, this isn't the Nazionale (we'll have to wait until August 20th for that), but the Azzurrini are always a fun bunch to watch, as we have so many talented young talents and this Beijing Olympics should be very interesting.

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New Jersey-born striker Giuseppe Rossi has been selected to play for Italy in Beijing next month. The team will gather next week to start training at Coverciano, the Italian Soccer Academy near Florence. Meanwhile, his new Villareal teammate, American Jozy Altidore, is still waiting to learn if he will be able to play for the US Olympic team. Click to continue reading...