Euro 2012 Team Profile: Italy

Six years ago, Fabio Cannavaro lifted the World cup for Italy. Since then, a lot has changed in the team. Many top players retired, making way for young blood while Cesare Prandelli replaced Marcello Lippi as the head coach. Moreover, the team hasn't won any major trophy since 2006. A quarterfinal exit in Euro 2008 was followed by a humiliating first round exit in World cup 2010. The newer generation of Italian players has an opportunity to prove themselves on the grand stage. Will they rise to the occasion and restore their country's pride? Or will they waste this opportunity? We have to wait and watch.

Route to qualification

Italy are one of the few teams that have gone unbeaten in the qualifiers. They kick-started their long and arduous journey with a 2-1 victory against Estonia on 3rd September, 2010. Four days later, the Azzurri trashed Faroe Islands 5-0 at home. A goal-less draw against Northern Ireland saw them drop their first points of the campaign. Their next game against Serbia, played at Genoa, was abandoned due to violent behavior on the part of Serbian fans and the Italians were awarded a 3-0 win. After a six-month gap, The Italian Army continued its forward march conquering Estonia and Faroe Islands once again and dispatching Slovenia twice. After four consecutive games without conceding goals, the measly Italian defence conceded a solitary goal against Serbia in October 2011 and the game ended in a draw. Having ensured qualification, Italy beat Northern Ireland in their last game in what was essentially a dead rubber. Italy qualified as group winners, having won six and drawn two.

History at the Euros

Italy have qualified for the competition on eight different occasions. However, their only moment of European glory came way back in 1968 when they beat Yugoslavia to win the European Championship. They failed to get past the semi-final stage in the 1980 and the 1988 editions of the tournament. They finished as runners-up the 2000 edition, losing 1-2 to France in the final.

Opponents

Italy are placed in Group C alongside Croatia, Ireland and Spain. Italy play their first game on June 10, 2012 against Spain, the reigning World and European champions. The Azzurri couldn't have asked for a tougher start to their campaign. They travel from Gdansk to Poznan to play their next game against Croatia, scheduled to be held on June 14, 2012. They complete their group proceedings on June 18, 2012 at the Municipal Stadium, Poznan against Ireland.

Provisional squad

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon, Morgan De Sanctis, Salvatore Sirigu, Emiliano Viviano.

Defenders: Ignazio Abat, Davide Astori, Federico Balzaretti, Andrea Barzagli, Salvatore Bocchetti, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Domenico Criscito, Christian Maggio, Angelo Obinze Ogbonna, Andrea Ranocchia.

Midfielders: Luca Cigarini, Daniele De Rossi, Alessandro Diamanti, Emanuele Giaccherini, Claudio Marchisio, Riccardo Montolivo, Thiago Motta, Antonio Nocerino, Andrea Pirlo, Ezequiel Schelotto, Marco Verratti.

Forwards: Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini, Antonio Cassano, Mattia Destro, Antonio Di Natale, Sebastian Giovinco.

Star Players:

Antonio Cassano has prospered under the current manager, Cesare Prandelli. He scored six goals for the Azzurri in their qualifiers. He has the full faith of Prandelli who said that his enthusiasm was contagious. The captain and goal-keeper, Gianluigi Buffon has a safe pair of hands and has performed a praiseworthy job between the sticks. Mario Balotelli, though not exactly a shining star, is always a threat to the adversary.

For the latest football gossip and news, including everything else you want to know about football including Euro 2012, click http://www.sportingattitude.com

Gokul is an avid sports fan and blogger.

Article Source: Gokul_Muthukumaresan

Euro 2012 Team Profile: England

No other country has produced so many talented players and sorely under-performed at the international stage as England has. The country that spawned the game has few honours to showcase. It has been ages since the Englishmen have lifted a trophy and I am sure they would be desperate to lay their hands on one. Every English fan would be hoping to put an end to this long wait. Will their new manager Roy Hodgson, who replaced the Italian Fabio Capello, put an end to this wait? Only time will tell.

Route to qualification

England were placed in one of the easiest groups in the qualifiers. Montenegro, Switzerland, Wales and Bulgaria hardly posed a threat to the star-studded English team. Wembley turned out to be a lucky ground for England as they hammered Bulgaria 4-0 in early September, 2010. Their next match against Switzerland was a routine affair with the Three Lions comfortably winning 3-1. However, England were held to a surprise draw at home by Montenegro in October, with neither team scoring any goal. The Englishmen visited their neighbours, the Welsh, six months later and came back with a comfortable 2-0 victory. England's erratic home form continued as the Swiss held them to a 2-2 draw on June 4, 2011. England won both the games they played in September 2011, beating Bulgaria 2-0 and Wales 1-0. Montenegro turned out to be insurmountable again and England came off with a 2-2 draw against them. With five wins and three draws Capello's boys emerged on top of their group in the qualifiers.

Top Modern Basketball Shooting Technique

Have you ever got caught up doing something for what you thought might have been an hour, only to have looked up at the clock and noticed that 3 or 4 hours had actually passed? If you have, then either you were so focused on or you actually loved the job or activity, enough so, that time was not a factor. When you implement my first basketball shooting technique here, proper shooting form, and then the other 3 shooting techniques in my website, you will be drawn into a fascination for improvement, where there will not seem to be enough hours in a day to practice and perfect your basketball shot. If you are passionate about basketball and the basketball shot, these techniques will increase your passion and leaving the gym will become that much more difficult. These techniques are simple and absolutely amazing! I can't stress enough on their effectiveness. The zeal for your shot will develop into a magnetic attraction for shooting, where nothing else will seem to matter except the beauty of your shot.

Read on to understand the beauty, ease and simplicity of the technique I introduce here and then the other 3 in my website, especially my favorite, shot timing, which I'm sure you will enjoy.

To understand the basics of proper form, or the basic traditional shot, I will give a simple, detailed, step by step process that explains the traditional method of shooting a basketball, then show a few adjustments that can be made to modernize the shot. Take a few minutes here to understand and go through this simple process.

Is Arsenal's Future Really Bleak?

Not so long ago, they were known as "The Invincibles". Arsenal earned that epithet during the 2003-04 Premiership campaign, when they lifted the crown after going through the entire league season undefeated. No other team stood a chance against the mighty Gunners as they went about eliminating every rival that dared cross their path, with clinical precision. However, the guns have fallen silent, in recent years. They have gone past six trophy-less seasons since making the 2005 FA Cup their own. The current Arsenal team is a mere shadow of the Invincibles led by Patrick Vieira. They have not even been able to mount a title challenge during the ongoing season. The recent turn of events is sufficient to shake the belief of the most die-hard Arsenal fan. Arsenal critics foresee a downfall akin to that suffered by Leeds United. Can Arsenal prove their nay-sayers wrong? Or, is their future really bleak?

To understand Gunners' current predicament, one has to go back to the early 2000's when the team decided to shift from Highbury, their home ground for 93 years, to Ashburton Grove, now known as the Emirates. The construction of the £390 million stadium was funded by loans, sponsorship deals and sales of some of the club's star players, notably Nicolas Anelka, Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit. The loans put enormous stress on the club's finances. They were no longer able to compete with financial heavy-weights, like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea, in the transfer market. While other clubs spent millions of dollars on buying the best players in the game, Arsenal watched helplessly from the sidelines. To add to the inability to buy new talent, the Emirates outfit could not even retain its star players like Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole, Emmanuel Adebayor, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri who left one by one. Things have come to such a pass that one cannot but wonder whether Arsenal can ever assemble another bunch of players capable of recapturing the club's past glory.

Despite their handicaps, Arsenal possess some powerful weapons they can bring to bear on their future prospects. Chief among these are the club's youth academy and the reserves team that provides an endless supply of exceptionally talented footballers to the senior side. The most recent examples are the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Wojciech Szczesny, Alex Song and Kieran Gibbs, who are barely into their twenties, are already first-team regulars. Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ryo Myiachi and Wellington Silva are exciting prospects for the future. Gunners' scouts spot talented players at a very young age and train them in the academy. The scout system attracts young talent from the world over; the youth team and reserves comprise players from Bolivia in the West to Japan in the East, thereby underscoring how well established the system has become.