As I am typing this, the Belgians players are probably in the dressing room, celebrating their emphatic victory over Italy in the Olympics quarterfinal.

Italy were convincingly beaten 3-2 by a spirited Belgium side that played with 10 men for almost 70 minutes of the game. Credits to Belgium.

                   
                      
                                               Italy Olympics Coach Pierluigi Casiraghi

Casiraghi and company were clearly overconfident and have underestimated their opponent’s tactical and technical abilities. Italy never really got over the loss of Tommaso Rocchi as Robert Acquafresca, his replacement failed to shine. The latter failed to score from open play apart from the penalty against Honduras and was mostly anonymous in the match against Belgium. No disrespect to his fans but lets all face it, he is a flop and so overrated.

Where were all the crosses and headers? Italy lacks a target man to convert the chances. A strong center forward like Rocchi or Osvaldo. Giuseppe Rossi is a talent and an asset. However, I felt that he had been very selfish in many of Italy’s moves. He scored 4 goals in this tournament but only 1 came from open play. He certainly needs to improve on his finishing and team play and Sebastian Giovinco just could not fight the opponents alone!

A few questions that still bother me until now:

-  Why Casiraghi only called up 1 senior player to the team?

-  Why Casiraghi did not pick Osvaldo who was so impressive in the Toulon Tournament?

-  Why Casiraghi insist of playing Acquafresca?

Moreover, Riccardo Montolivo, often so reliable for Fiorentina had so many misplaced passes that I lost count. I am deeply saddened by our lost and I do not know when I will be able to write or talk football again.

Forza Italia and Azzurrini till I die!

Nigel

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