The Azzurri tied with Croatia in a 1-1 game today and are still alive in Group C in the Euro Cup 2012. The goals were scored by Andrea Pirlo for Italy and Mario Mandzukic for Croatia.
Italy took the lead in the first half but failed to keep that lead in the 75’ with Croatia’s persistence to tie the game.
The Italian coach, Cesare Prandelli, stated that his team has to learn to close the victory. On the other hand, the coach added that they are still alive in the tournament and have a good chance to move on.
The coach also recognized the fact that the Italian team was criticized for their lack of endurance in the second half. Prandelli noted that he did lack some fresh legs in the game during the press conference after the game.
“We played against a very physical team, but we played better than they did,” said the Azzurri coach.
Andrea Pirlo was very festive when he scored in the 39', but looked very frusterated at the end of the game.
“We have to keep going,” said the Juventus FC player, Andrea Pirlo. He continued by saying that “it didn’t matter that he was the player of the game for his team. The only importance is to get to the quarter finals.”
Again, Italy played with three defenders—a new strategy that Prandelli is using for this tournament since he suffered the loss of many starting players to injuries and players being subpoenaed back in Italy for match fixing and gambling scandals.
Both games, so far in the tournament, have had the same results. Italy comes out scoring first, but can’t quite retain the victory. The positive side is that this new strategy hasn’t been a catastrophe.
The new Prandelli attack has been working decently for Italy since they try it on the Champions of the World, Spain, and Croatia which is ranked among the top in the FIFA rankings.
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