The Azzurri, Balotelli and a retirement home for Frenchmen

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – FEBRUARY 06: Mario Balotelli of Italy during the international friendly match between Netherlands and Italy

Watching Italy play in international friendlies can be more painfully boring than waiting for a groundhog to jump out of its burrow and predict the weather forecast on groundhog day. Last night’s 1-1 draw against Netherlands was no exception either.

Ever since Cesare Prandelli took over from Lippi in 2010 after Italy’s shameful exit from the World Cup, he has won just three games out of 12 friendly matches. Those 12 matches included six defeats and three draws, losing his first-ever game as the national coach in a friendly against Ivory Coast.

Judging his managerial acumen by reviewing the poor results in friendlies is unfair on Prandelli; he led Italy to the final in last year’s Euro Championship and he regularly fields strong teams in friendly games. Against the Netherlands, he picked a crop of fairly experienced players and fielded them in an attacking formation of 4-3-3. But the players looked worse than kids passing the ball in a park. They looked static in midfield and much withdrawn from the game. Perhaps the players’ indignation towards friendlies can be better explained by taking a look at their exasperating defeats against teams like Ireland, United States, and Russia in friendly matches.

The entire team looked jaded against the Dutch and yet, Mario Balotelli stood out from the rest; he was the worst player on the pitch. He had a terrific debut at the San Siro, in Rossoneri colours this time, against Udinese. Even someone as eccentric as Balotelli would not have dreamt of making such a memorable debut for AC Milan. It seemed as though all the stars aligned in to the shape of the number 45 on that night. Balotelli was not expected to start against Udinese since he was not 100% match-fit; Pazzini picked up an injury during the pre-match warm-up and Balotelli took his place in the starting eleven.

He scored twice in the game – the penalty kick shouldn’t have been given – and he looked like the Mario from the Euro Championship last summer. The same spark was missing from Balotelli last night and shades of the Mario from Manchester City resurfaced once again, when he kicked the ball at the advertising boards in frustration.

Prandelli used Balotelli’s team-mate Stephan El Shaarawy and Lazio’s Antonio Canderva in the three man attack, along with another team-mate Riccardo Montolivo, Juve’s Andrea Pirlo and Roma’s Daniel De Rossi manning the midfield. Italy did not take their first shot of the match until the half hour mark, when Balotelli chested down a lob from Pirlo and dragged it wide off the goal post. Till the time Balotelli was substituted for Pablo Osvaldo in the second half, he did not receive much service from the midfield; his linkup play with El Sharaawy was poor, and he gave away possession cheaply.

Italy sprang to life in the last two minutes of regular time and were rescued by a goal from 19-year-old substitute Marco Verratti, thus halting Italy’s five consecutive defeats in international friendlies.

It is hard to say if AC Milan’s vice-president Paolo Berlusconi’s racist remarks about Balotelli had any effect on his performance. After all, Paolo’s brother and club president Silvio Berlusconi called him a rotten apple, and yet he signed for the club.

He is cup-tied in the Champions League, so he will not feature in the upcoming clash against FC Barcelona. Milan need him to take the fight for the third and final Champions League spot to the wire. They are in a direct battle with rivals Inter for the spot, and Milan will need all the help they can get. Milan face Cagliari next weekend and it will not be an easy game, since they recently struck down Roma 4-2 and cost Zdenek Zeman his job.

Saha and Anelka signup for Serie A

Louis Saha – a stop-gap solution?

Lazio’s chances of playing in the Champions League next season suffered a setback when their top scorer Miroslav Klose was ruled out for two months with a knee injury. After knocking Juventus out of the Coppa Italia, they lost their last two Serie A games and Klose was substituted at half-time in Lazio’s 3-2 loss to Genoa.

They signed 34-year-old Louis Saha on a five month contract as cover after he was released by Sunderland. He joins fellow French man Nicolas Anelka in the Serie A, who joined Juventus on a short-term contract.

Is this another case of desperation or are the cash-strapped Italian clubs unable to attract top-talent anymore? Juventus has a strong line-up of strikers in Sebastian Giovinco, Mirko Vucinic, Fabio Quagliarella, Alessandro Matri and Niklas Bendtner (injured). But none of them managed double figures in front of goal so far this season. All the four strikers misfiring at the moment can be frustrating for any manager but would signing Anelka, who last played in Europe in 2011, help?

Similarly, Louis Saha had a start-stop career since he left Manchester United. He has not scored even once in his 14 appearances for Sunderland. Next weekend, he might walk straight into the starting eleven in a crucial game against Napoli. Will the gamble pay off?