SoccerBlogs

Mario Balotelli has been in scintillating form for leaders Manchester City in this season's Premier League, with 5 goals already to his name after just 7 appearances, and a goal each in the Champions League and the Carling Cup as well.

The 21 year old ‘s brace against Manchester United, which capped of a brilliant all-around performance from him, is a sign that he is capable of competing and dominating at the very highest level.

Marcello Lippi, despite a disastrous second spell in charge of the Italian National team, will always be held in high esteem by Italian worldwide. After all, this is the man that nearly immediately redeemed calcio in the face of a match-fixing scandal in the best way possible: by winning the World Cup.

Directly from the Desk of the President of Italy WorldCupBlog.

Good afternoon all. We've just finished a wonderful two weeks of Azzurri action. Albeit, we did have to watch Gilardino and Mauri struggle to meet our fanatic expectations; Prandelli for the most part did a great job. I'd say, he banished the ghosts of Lippi#2 and Donadoni for the time being and all seems to be back on track in Azzurri land.

Italy pranced about 2010 like an adolescent; arrogant until humiliation, then accepting that hard work was needed to mature. Under Lippi and before the World Cup, the team seemed to stumble about it's business, never really trying. It had an arrogant air about it, as if it were the best in the world and didn't need to step up it's game.

Over the past four years or so, one thing has become increasingly evident about Italian football: The 4-3-3 just doesn't work on the national team. Lippi and Prandelli have both experimented with it, and scraped by with mediocre results. The players seem lost, the midfield and forwards don't connect well, and it puts a lot of pressure on the backline.

Matchup: Northern Ireland v. Italy
Fixture: Windsor Park - Belfast
Time: 20:45CET

Introduction: The last time the Azzurri lined up against Northern Ireland was during the lead up to the 2009 Confederations Cup. It was quite possibly the greatest showing by the Lippi helmed squad since he took over from Donadoni in the summer of 2008.

With an international break approaching, we get a chance to analyze the new Italy team which Prandelli is building. While he didn't decide to call up Totti, he has included a player from the Lippi-days. Here's the list of 23 players which Cesare Prandelli has called up:

Goalkeepers: Mirante, Sirigu, Viviano

Defenders: Cassani, Zambrotta, Bonucci, Bovo, Chiellini, Gastaldello, Antonelli, Criscito

Midfielders: De Rossi, Lazzari, Marchisio, Mauri, Palombo, Pirlo, Pepe

Forwards: Cassano, Gilardino, Pazzini, Borriello, Rossi

The first inclusion that I'd like to talk about is Zambrotta's.

With our next fixture coming up February 29th in Genoa against the United States, I realized what a shame it is that Giuseppe Rossi is injured right now. Certainly, he likes to score against his native country, he scored a brace when we met in 2009 in the Confederations Cup. But more important than delightfully watching him punish the American team in a friendly, I wonder whether or not he'll be able to make it back to full fitness in time for the Euros this summer?

What a fascinating year 2010 has been. Although the Azzurri were short on silverware during this summer's WORLD CUP in South Africa, one thing we weren't short on was DRAMA! Â Here's a recap of the events from the first half of 2010; or what we like to call - Lippi's 3-4-3 of Horrors!!

Little merit is given by many on this forum to the credibility of the FIFA ranking system; in reality this is our seed money, and thus even though there is very little idea as to how FIFA actually arrive at some of the results they portray in their ambiguous monthly rankings, these rankings do carry weight in seeding teams for international tournaments.

Sorry for the lag in postings. Been busy and away. Logging in remotely now. I had planned a longer post on how much I liked Bradley, why I thought it was time for a change anyway, and why I thought it wouldn't happen regardless. Guess I was wrong. US Soccer sacked Bradley yesterday and apparently will be announcing his replacement today.

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The Bob Bradley era with the U.S. national team is over, and while we should find out who is replacing him soon, there's still time to consider the possibilities.

Juergen Klinsmann is the heavy favorite to take the job, but Italian manager Marcelo Lippi has also been mentioned. There are any number of candidates with their names being bounced around, but

Just shy of a year ago, Prandelli was handed the reins of the Azzurri following their most disappointing showing ever at a World Cup. Granted, the only place to go from there was up, but at least he hasn't inspired a Lippi recall like Donadoni did. [read more]