Okay, so maybe it wasn't the ideal start, but hey...it was a friendly, the downside is that it was the only practise session Italy got due to the disaster in Northern Italy. A lot of expectation was on this team and the new improved Prandelli era that was meant to be a fresh start. To be fair, I don't believe all the betting allegations back in Italy were doing any good, and it is rather a peculiar time for the police to start arresting and investigating people, and whatever the media says, I don't think scandal helps the National team focus.
It was a fast flowing game, not what you expect from a friendly, and chances were flying in at speed. The only problem was that none of Italy's were going in. The midfield didn't work hard enough to defend in the first half, it took them a while to get really started, which is not that bad in a friendly but one does hope they lose that habit. To be fair to Italy, the six shots on target did force the keeper to make six good saves, but the fact that the Italians had 22 shots in total and only six were good enough to trouble the keeper says it all!
The defence was not working well, especially for an Italian side, but maybe the loss of Giorgio Chiellini affected them, bit what was worse was when the ever reliable Buffon was swapped for De Sanctis at half time, and not to point fingers.. but that's when all 3 goals were conceded. Russia grew in confidence and actually TOOK their chances well, and well, the rest is history. A little raw, but still it's in the past now and all they can do is learn from it, they better learn fast as they have Spain next!! The second friendly would have really helped!! And before I forget, kudos to Balotelli for keeping his head no matter how hard they tried to bait him into doing something stupid!
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