Italy 2 -0 Ghana

[herbergeehh]

Apologies if this thread exists, feel free to lock or merge or whatever you nineteenyearolds do if this is the case, mods.

Anyway, here's the two teams' lineups:

Buffon

Zaccardo, Nesta, Cannavaro ©, Grosso

Perrotta, Pirlo, de Rossi

Totti

Gilardino, Toni

Kingston

Pantsil, Kuffour, Mensah, Pappoe

Addo, Essien, Appiah ©

Muntari

Amoah, Gyan

Some interesting battles will probably occur, there's four Roma-players on show today, three for Italy and one for Ghana, and a lot of the Ghana players will know their counterparts from the Serie A. (Muntari, Appiah, Kuffour, Mensah)

It will be interesting to see the midfield clash between Essien & captain Appiah and Perrotta & de Rossi - this will probably get physical. It will also be interesting to see whether the deep midfielder (Pirlo for Italy, probably Essien or Appiah for Ghana) can pick up the two attacking midfielders, Totti and Muntari.

Granted I am not entirely sure how the Ghanese midfield formation looks like, but it does look likely to be a diamond formation, like Italy's. This means space for attacking fullbacks, I can see Grosso linking up a lot from his left back position for Italy, the two Ghanese fullbacks are new to me to be honest.

Should be a good game (perhaps a bit dour if Italy score an early goal?), I predict a 2-0 win for Italy, who I for some reason think will start playing good football on an earlier stage than usual.

Edit: Just found out the Addo in midfield was Eric and not Otto (who's on the bench), which gives Ghana three quite defensive midfielders - probably Addo lying deep with Appiah and Essien taking the forward runs. (I am going towards some thin ice here, if anyone has more info on Ghana feel free to supply us)

Edited June 12, 2006 by herbergeehh

[Hasta]

Thought the Italians looked quite classy and very dangerous when they went forward. As good a team as I've seen yet (but I missed the Argie game).

Ghana were OK but their attacks seemed to break down at crucial times in silly ways. They were also by far the dirtiest team yet. Good job the ref from the England game wasnt in charge of their game tonight. They'd have been down to 8 or 9 men.

Edited June 12, 2006 by Hasta

[RoyRover]

I thought the Italians looked pretty good as well. Yet again though, we had to listen to Alan Hansen criticising a team that would be more than a match for England. They looked very good going forward and if they had finished better and not been selfish on occasions, then they could have scored four or five. Ghana also looked pretty good, played some good stuff, but couldn't finish their chances. They were unlucky not to get a penalty. If Reid were to leave, I wouldn't mind Stephen Appiah in our midfield!

[Ronin]

Good start for the Italians, for a change, notorious for their slow starts. Toni looked very dangerous upfront, not surprising when he's scored 30+ goals in serie a, and before he came off, Totti looked good as well. I think the Italians will cruise past the USA if both teams play to current form, and the crunch game, Italy vs Czech Republic could be a classic.

[Eddie]

My new favourite player is Pimpong...shame he was actually crap. I suspect he was put in the side just because of his name.

[herbergeehh]

Good performance from the Italians, dangerous going forward and kept a clean sheet. The defence didn't look as solid as they use to though, the loss of Zambrotta at right back is a big one.. also, a bit annoyed that Iaquinta was preferred to Inzaghi, who's a far more dangerous player. (didn't want Iaquinta in the squad in the first place) Overall I'm pleased, Totti got 60 mins under his belt and will only get better!