Capello makes his decision

The past few days has seen a number of provisional and even final squads announced for the World Cup, but today two of the most anticipated provisional squads were revealed. England has delivered their 30 provisional players amidst controversy regarding manager Fabio Capello’s involvement in a bizarre form rating website which sports his name. Italy’s squad was well anticipated as many were wondering whether Lippi would go with the old guard or bring in some fresh faces.

England Provisional Squad:

GK: David James, Joe Hart & Rob Green

No surprise in the goal keeper department, although a number of people will be delighted to see Joe Hart in the England squad. Which goalkeeper will take the number one shirt will probably be determined from the warm-up games, although all three of these keepers are now guaranteed to go to South Africa as long as injury does not set in.

DEF: Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock

Jamie Carragher’s odd’s on making the squad dropped to 1/25 last night and he is a somewhat surprising call-up considering his determination to stay in international retirement. Although I don’t doubt Carragher’s credentials, this season has been the first time he is starting to show his age a bit, particularly in the FA cup 3rd round replay against Reading where he struggled big time. Dawson will definitely be starting in the warm-up games and will be hopeful his good league form will transfer to the international side. For Stephen Warnock and Leighton Baines, there is a direct battle to be on the plane and become England’s second choice left back (what an opportunity!)

MID: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips

Gareth Barry is in the squad, but news is awaited as to whether or not he will actually go to the tournament, and if he doesn’t then Scott Parker and Tom Huddlestone have an ideal opportunity to get themselves on the plane. There’s a lot of competition for the wide places, and Adam Johnson, who started the season out in the Championship with Middlesbrough, now finds himself with a chance to represent his country on the biggest stage of them all. Joe Cole will also be glad to see his name on the team sheet after the season he has had, but he will be closely watched by Capello to see whether he is capable of showing his old form. Owen Hargreaves misses out and it seems like a sensible option with all fairness, mostly due to the fact that he’s only played 30 seconds of football! Paul Scholes is also not included, and it is most likely that he has once again declined the chance to represent.

FWD: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney

Sunderland fans have their calls answered, as in form striker Darren Bent is taken into consideration, but his work is far from over, and you’d feel he would have to produce goals in the warm-up games to stand a chance of getting on the plane. Also, surprise surprise! Wayne Rooney is on the team sheet! Who would have seen that coming? The other four strikers are the ones that were expected to go, but if Bent does get the goals, will Capello drop Defoe or take the five strikers in place of a midfielder or defender? Also, Bobby Zamora appears to have mised out, and it will be interesting to see how he performs in Wednesday’s Europa league final. If he smashes in a few goals, what are we to think then?

Italy Provisional Squad (at the time of writing this, it is a strongly rumoured team sheet that has apparently fallen in the hands of Sky Sports Italia):

Lippi suprises some

GK: Gianluigi Buffon, Federico Marchetti, Morgan De Sanctis, Salvatore Sirigu

Gianluigi Bufffon will guard the goal of his country once again, but the two goalkeepers that will join him appears to be up for grabs, and the young Salvatore Sirigu who Buffon has tipped to be his replacement could get a chance to not only represent his country in the World Cup, but also make his debut should Buffon succumb to injury.

DEF: Salvatore Bocchetti, Leonardo Bonucci, Fabio Cannavaro, Mattia Cassani, Giorgio Chiellini, Domenico Criscito, Fabio Grosso, Christian Maggio, Gianluca Zambrotta.

First thoughts – Wow! Look at how many youngsters will be involved in Italy’s defence this year. Quite surprising to see so many players with less than five caps being considered for the World Cup squad, and although the likes of Zambrotta, Grosso and of course Cannavaro remain, there are a number of youngsters who will be able to get invaluable experience. Whether this tactic will back-fire on Lippi remains to be seen, but it is quite brave to call up so many youngsters, what is even more suprising is the fact that most of them don’t play for Italy’s big guns. Watch out for Giorgio Chiellini if you haven’t seen him play before, a solid defender that could make a huge name for himself this summer.

MID: Mauro Camoranesi, Antonio Candreva, Andrea Cossu, Daniele De Rossi, Gennaro Gattuso, Claudio Marchisio, Ricardo Montolivo, Angelo Palombo, Simone Pepe, Andrea Pirlo.

Another mix of new and old, and this could be the last World Cup for Camoranesi, Pirlo and Gattuso. A number of players have missed out such as Ambrosini, Aquilani, Perrotta and Barone and there a more players who have less than five caps in the side. The battle here would appear to be for central midfield places, and although De Rossi and Pirlo are probably certain to be on the plane, the others seem less certain and Lippi will be keen to see how certain players work together in the middle of the park before making a final decision.

FWD: Marco Borriello, Antonio Di Natale, Alberto Gilardino, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Giampaolo Pazzini, Giuseppe Rossi, Fabio Quagliarella.

Di Natale was in much of the same situation that Darren Bent found himself in, and after missing out on the Confederations cup squad, his good goal scoring form has fired the 32 year old back into the Italian fold. Giuseppe Rossi also has been given the nod  after an impressive season in Spain, but the forward berths in the Italian side were certainly the most competitive, and there are a number of players that have missed out. Francesco Totti will not be coming out of international retirement to represent his country, Del Piero’s international time appears to be over, Antonio Cassano remains in exile and Luca Toni’s move to Roma doesn’t appear to have done him many favours in terms of his international hopes. Mario Balotelli also misses out, a decision that was no doubt based on the player’s current problems and drop to the bench.

Azzurri coach Marcello Lippi has come under heavy criticism in recent months despite Italy’s success in qualifying to the World Cup in South Africa. La Nazionale went through an alarming goal drought and was only able to overcome it after two unfortunate own goals from returning Georgia captain Kakha Kaladze.

The Italians were expected to qualify from their group with only the Republic of Ireland posing any genuine threat to Lippi’s squad in terms of automatic qualification to South Africa. While it is true the Italians did not suffer any defeat in the group stage, the attack has been showing ill signs and regularly stuttering until a rejuvenated Alberto Gilardino began firing goals for the Azzurri. The Fiorentina striker scored towards the ends against the Irish before completing a late hat-trick in a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Cyprus. The Italian national team has players capable of finding the net yet appears to be lacking when it comes to imaginative players who are capable of not just scoring but creating chances as well.

There have been calls around the peninsula for the recall of bad-boy Antonio Cassano who plays in Genoa for Sampdoria. Cassano has been impressive and has played a major role in the Blucerchiati’s third ranking in Serie A so far. He is also key to the resurgence of partner Giampaolo Pazzini who actually earned three caps for the Azzurri during 2009. Cassano might not be a regular goal scorer yet his assists are often the reason behind the goals scored by his teammates with Pazzini scoring seven times so far this season.

Another forward who has been considered as a possible choice for South Africa is Roma talisman Francesco Totti who has had a positive start to the season scoring six times in the league before missing out due to injury. The main points of concern with Totti are his frequent niggling injuries and the potential for displeasure amongst certain Azzurri players, in particular in attack, since the star player opted to quit international football following the triumph in Berlin in 2006 and has yet to feature for Italy since that glorious night. On the other hand, Cassano has pledged on more than one occasion his desire to play again for his country despite Lippi’s reluctance to pick him.

Finally, Italy has the option of calling upon Alessandro Del Piero, the Juventus legend and all-time leading Bianconeri scorer. Del Piero is perhaps the least likely to feature at this point due to injuries and the fact that Lippi has also ignored him during his second tenure with la Nazionale. However, the positive factors playing in favour of the Old Lady’s captain include the fact that he is likely to have fresh legs after missing all of Juve’s matches up to this point and his decent participation with the Azzurri during World Cup 2006 when he was used effectively as a substitute. Del Piero’s desire to play in South Africa and his willingness to start on the bench without causing any fuss will also help his cause. Lastly, Lippi is quite familiar with the forward having trained him both with Juventus and with the national team.

It is quite possible that Lippi will ignore all three players for various reasons- some too obvious such as in the case of Antonio Cassano. As fans, who would you like to see featuring for Italy during next summer’s World Cup: Cassano, Del Piero or Totti?

It is quite difficult to compare the career path of Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi. Both have been successful coaches and both hail from the Italian peninsula. They both coached Juventus of Turin during their glittering managerial career, yet the similarities end there.

While Capello’s playing career far surpasses that of Lippi’s, the gap in accolades between the two greatly diminishes once we begin to analyze their coaching resumes. Don Fabio played for Roma, Juventus, and Milan (and SPAL prior to those three teams) while his counterpart Lippi’s playing days were confined to Sampdoria and Pistoiese. Capello wore the Italian national team’s shirt for over 30 games, but Lippi only made it as far as the U-23 team on a couple of occasions. Certainly Capello’s record as a player is much more impressive and includes Serie A titles as well as Coppa Italia trophies in contrast with Lippi’s empty cabinet as a player.

Moving on to coaching, Lippi’s World Cup title must certainly give him an edge over Capello in the coaching department since the World Cup is the crowning achievement of any coach and/or player. A player’s (and for that matter a manager’s) greatness is often associated with World Cup titles won. Leo Messi might currently be the best player in the world yet for him to be considered amongst the best ever he certainly needs to win the World Cup. Players like Maradona, Pele and Zidane have all done it and that is precisely why they are often mentioned in midst of the debate over the world’s best ever player. Perhaps a very comprehensive comparison between Zidane and Platini might emphasize even further the significance of winning the World Cup. Both Platini and Zidane won the European Championship with France as well as the Champions Cup (with Juventus and Real Madrid respectively), yet Zidane stands out for carrying France to the World Cup Final twice and winning it back in 1998. Consequently, it would be fair to say that at the moment Lippi ought to be considered as the more successful of the two coaches having won the World Cup in 2006.

Actually the circumstances and conditions during 2006 make Lippi’s coaching achievement all the more remarkable. Lippi’s own connections with Juventus as well as his son’s involvement in the football scandal in Serie A must have all loomed large in his thought process. To make things worse, most of the Italian national team’s players came from Juventus and Milan, two teams that were penalized as a result of the scandal. The Paul Newman lookalike did an admirable job both sheltering his players and channeling their focus in a positive way towards one objective which is winning the games on hand. In fact, players like G. Buffon, F. Cannavaro, G. Zambrotta and A. Pirlo all seemed to be enjoying their football and playing at their very best during the tournament in Germany. Lippi must also be credited with trusting Fabio Grosso who should be considered amongst the tournament’s best finds. The current Juve left-back scored the Azzurri’s first goal in the semi-final match against Germany and followed that up with the crucial penalty in the Final versus France in Berlin.

On the other hand, none of Capello’s achievements as a coach ought to be underestimated. Capello is a born winner and has shown that both as a player and as a manager. Capello has won everywhere he has coached from Milan to Roma and Juventus as well as Real Madrid. Currently Capello manages England’s national team and if he succeeds in carrying them all the way to the Winners’ podium in South Africa then very few can argue that he is not even better than the great Lippi. Marcello’s time with Inter was a failure while his CV prior to Juventus includes managing clubs such as Siena, Cesena and Atlanta. It could be argued that Capello has been fortunate to always coach clubs with financial muscle, but history shows that there are numerous cases of coaches failing at big clubs.

For the moment, Lippi’s 2006 victory gives him the edge over Capello yet no one should ignore Capello’s legitimate claims for ascendency in the coaching department. However, without a World Cup Winner’s Medal, Capello will not be able to surpass Marcello’s greatness. It could be argued that Lippi is also more ‘liked’ amongst Italian fans since Capello left both Roma and Juventus under clouds of controversy while his second stint with Milan was not a pleasant one.

Maybe the upcoming World Cup will serve as the crucial decider between Lippi and Capello. It would certainly be fascinating if the Final in South Africa pitted Capello’s England versus Lippi’s Italy with each coach calling the shots from their respective dugout!