[kurtsimonw]

Will be a while before he's back at his best and in the England picture again I would think. He, Parker and Lampard made an excellent midfield 3 a few years back.

[Fillipo Simone]

Hummels is pretty good, though.

For Dortmund. But Löw still does not have faith in him; his last few appearances for Germany weren't exactly good.

[kurtsimonw]

Who's the Schalke centre back? I always hear a lot about him but I don't recall seeing him in the team.

[Fillipo Simone]

Who's the Schalke centre back? I always hear a lot about him but I don't recall seeing him in the team.

Höwedes. Also pretty much unused. Löw prefers Boateng, Badstuber and Mertesacker. Hopefully this will help him reconsider.

[Jack Bauer]

Cesare Prandelli has named his starting XI for Italy’s friendly with France, a 4-3-3 including Marco Verratti, Mario Balotelli and Stephan El Shaarawy.

It had already been reported that the Coach was going to adopt the system for tomorrow evening’s game at the Stadio Tardini in Parma.

Prandelli rattled off this list of players: Sirigu; Maggio, Chiellini, Barzagli, Balzaretti; Montolivo, Verratti, Marchisio, Candreva, Balotelli, El Shaarawy.

“El Shaarawy will play in the position he already uses at Milan, Balotelli will be the centre-forward and Candreva plays on the right.

“I will ask the attacking players to flood the area and seek depth in going for the goal. El Shaarawy and Antonio Candreva have very attacking characteristics and the midfield must work to support them.

“The internal midfielders must not just bring balance, but also participate in the attack and go for goal.

“In terms of possession, as we do not have a fourth midfielder then we will have to keep the ball less and surge forward more, while without the ball we need to repeat the same attitude we had in recent outings.”

It is a special game for Verratti and Salvatore Sirigu, who both play in France with Paris Saint-Germain.

“I expect Verratti to grow in terms of character. He is gaining experience, but mustn’t feel too much pressure on his shoulders. He needs to do his job without thinking about over-doing it.”

The Coach also called up Newcastle United full-back Davide Santon and Roma’s Under-21 international midfielder Alessandro Florenzi.

“We want to play a ‘real’ game, so these lads will only be introduced later on in the day. As for Balotelli, I expect to see the same effort he put in against Denmark.

“France are a great team who want to win this, even if it is a friendly, so we must not lower our guard. We want to give the fans emotions and a spectacle,” pointed out Prandelli in his Press conference.

“I am intrigued to see the character of these lads. France are renewing their squad and showed against Spain that they have become more versatile, practical and balanced. They are a very attacking team who try to make the most of width.”

Italy line-up:Sirigu; Maggio, Chiellini, Barzagli, Balzaretti; Montolivo, Verratti, Marchisio, Candreva, Balotelli, El Shaarawy

[X-Offender]

Candreva? LOL. I'd play Giovinco.

[William405]

Will be a while before he's back at his best and in the England picture again I would think. He, Parker and Lampard made an excellent midfield 3 a few years back.

Would have made an excellent midfield*???

[Fillipo Simone]

Who cares, just another unimportant friendly with most of the stars not playing...

[Milan Are Brilli...]

International friendlies (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[X-Offender]

International friendlies (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Useless as useless can get.

[kurtsimonw]

I can understand International friendlies. It's too risky to throw untried/young players into competitive games. But why have them at stupid times like now or 3 days after the season starts? They should just have a disagnated few weeks after the league seasons finish to have some international friendlies, not now.

[Fillipo Simone]

Nevertheless, I decided to watch Holland-Germany. And what almost shocked me is that this moment a farewell for Kluivert, Reiziger, Davids and van Nistelrooy was organized. A bit strange, considering the first 3 players retired long time ago. Very awkward.

[Milan Are Brilli...]

Davids is still playing, he only recently got the highlight of his career with a MOTM performance against Torquay (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Zed.D]

Saw the 1st half of Italy-France.

Good Montolivo-assisted El Sha goal. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/king.gif) Balo also played a nice ball to Monto.

France's goal by Valbuena was really great. he made that Juve player by the name of Bazagli look a bit like crap...

Monto was boss and Verratti looks like a more agile version of Pirlo. really impressed with him. well done Italian clubs including us... if they weren't such cheap basterds the kid wouldn't be playing in France now...

[Milan Are Brilli...]

Zlatan hat-trick, been Sweden's best player, closely followed by Joe Hart.