Soccer: Prandelli poised to tweak Italy for Faroes
Gilardino tipped to start up front, change expected in goal
06 September, 17:44
(ANSA) - Florence, September 6 - Italy coach Cesare Prandelli
is expected to make a handful of changes to his side for
Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier against the Faroe Islands in
Florence after their campaign started with a 2-1 win in Estonia
Friday.
Fiorentina's Alberto Gilardino is tipped to come into the
starting lineup with at least one change on the cards up front,
while Bologna's Emiliano Viviano is poised to take over from
Palermo's Salvatore Sirigu in goal.Sirigu's fumbling of a shot enabled Estonia to take the lead on Friday before goals by striker Antonio Cassano and defender Leonardo Bonucci gave the Azzurri a laboured victory in Prandelli's competitive debut on the national team bench. But his eventual replacement would be part of the coach's plan for some light squad rotation rather than a performance-related demotion, media said, with the slot in goal set to return to Gianluigi Buffon anyway when he recovers from a herniated disc.
Gilardino, meanwhile, is likely to be used in the centre of a three-pronged attack instead of Giampaolo Pazzini.
Juventus's Simone Pepe may be taken off the right side of the front line after he struggled to make an impression in Tallinn and there may also a change in defence. Pepe's Juventus team Fabio Quagliarella is a candidate to come in for him, as is Giuseppe Rossi if the Villarreal forward recovers full fitness following an ankle knock.
Cassano, however, is almost certain to keep his place on the left after showing his value by scoring the equaliser Friday and setting up Bonucci's winner with a back-heel.
The 28-year-old was recalled by Prandelli for last month's 1-0 friendly defeat to Ivory Coast after Marcello Lippi had overlooked the creative talent despite the player having largely overcome the discipline problems that had dogged him.
He said he intends to make good use of the fresh chance he has been given with the national team, after featuring in the Euro 2004 and 2008 squads.
''I'd like to make up for lost time,'' Cassano told a press conference adding that his new-found maturity had come thanks to his wife Carolina, who he married this year.
''I got up to unspeakable disasters in the first five or six years of my career and I went in and out of the national team. I used to think I was better than everyone, that I was Maradona.
''But I haven't messed up for four years. I'd like to stay for four or five years more in the national team, play at a European championships and a World Cup and hang up my boots''.
Prandelli's first home match on the Azzurri bench will be at a ground he knows well after he spent the last five years at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in charge of Fiorentina.
The Florentine fans will probably give Prandelli and his side a warm reception despite some gripes about him leaving the club to replace Lippi.
The Faroes, meanwhile, will be seeking to channel their anger at the allegedly poor state of the pitch they were given to train on to help spur them to spring a surprise against the four-time world champions.
''The grass on our training pitch was so high that it would have taken all the sheep on the Faroe Islands a month and a half to eat it,'' their Irish coach Brian Kerr said Monday, adding that one of his players had hurt his ankle on the surface.
''The field we were given was not what we expected and not what a national team deserves''.
photo: Antonio Cassano and Alberto Gilardino.
