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Armenia deserves to be among five candidates to qualify - Interview
with Cesare Prandelli
news.am
October 7
By Khachik Chakhoyan
Ahead of Italy v Armenia World Cup qualifier, Italy manager Cesare
Prandelli answered to the questions of NEWS.am Sport correspondent in
an e-mail letter.
How would you assess the qualification group of the Italian team in
this tournament?
After these first two rounds the Group B standing gives evidence of a
very balanced pool to hold three Euro 2012 finalists as Italy, Denmark
and Czech Republic, and two rampant teams as Armenia and Bulgaria that
can compete to win and then go through directly. It's a tough
challenge for everybody.
How would you qualify the potential of your rivals and which team is
your most dangerous competitor?
I'm not used to rank our opponents, Italy's positive performance at
Euro 2012 gave supplementary motivation than usual to everybody else.
As I've mentioned before there are five teams able to compete for the
first place.
Are you familiar how the Armenian national team plays? How do you
assess Armenian national team?
Globalization and TV visibility took out lots of secrets from football
teams. We've got information as our Armenian opponents have. I do
consider them a tough team, especially when to be played at its home
ground: solid on many points of view, tactically well organized and
balanced, provided of plenty of options in the offensive area. They
deserve to be considered amongst the five candidates to qualify.
If you are familiar with the Armenian national's players who would you
set aside?
Henrik Mkhitaryan is the most talented player as he has recently
confirmed during the Champions Leagues stages. He has the vision to
play both as midfielder and forward with same quality and efficiency.
But the question for me is how to stop him on the pitch instead of
thinking whether he will miss the game or not.
Your team played with different squads in different Euro-2012 matches
and managed to reach the final. Does this mean that the competition in
the Italian team is fierce?
It means that our aim to provide our team of a tactical flexibility
was at a good point. You get this results when your guys' attitude
inclines to generosity for the benefit of the game and its spectators.
A new generation of players is being included in the Italian team
under your headship. Taking into account that Italian team is one of
the best teams in the world, don't you think that you somehow take
risk?
When I've been appointed at the helm of the National team two years
ago, after a bad performance at the FIFA World Cup 2010 our mission
was focused on a significant renovation to be completed on a four
years basis aiming to get the Italian football back to the ranking its
history deserves. We're just half-way of our track and there's nothing
risky when you're looking for new options and different solutions, you
have to be realistic and ambitious instead when designing your future
by great determination.
After the match with the England you said you did an experiment in
order to test some players. Will the squad undergo any changes during
the qualifiers?
A friendly match is very important test for us, I did never consider
it as a mere experiment but a great opportunity instead to understand
whether my team could be provided of any further potential talent. The
recent selection of Mattia Destro, Federico Peluso and Lorenzo Insigne
for the Qualifying round are evidence that since then works were
already in progress.
How would you assess the Bulgaria v Italy qualifier (2-2)?
We didn't perform before our real potential in Sofia, this used to be
happen in the early stage of the season for almost any Italian team.
This won't take out any merit Bulgaria deserved, they have played a
very solid game with plenty of quality as their second match fully
confirmed.
What would you wish Armenian fans?
To come over and enjoy this spectacular match with lots of positivity
and enthusiasm.
with Cesare Prandelli
news.am
October 7
By Khachik Chakhoyan
Ahead of Italy v Armenia World Cup qualifier, Italy manager Cesare
Prandelli answered to the questions of NEWS.am Sport correspondent in
an e-mail letter.
How would you assess the qualification group of the Italian team in
this tournament?
After these first two rounds the Group B standing gives evidence of a
very balanced pool to hold three Euro 2012 finalists as Italy, Denmark
and Czech Republic, and two rampant teams as Armenia and Bulgaria that
can compete to win and then go through directly. It's a tough
challenge for everybody.
How would you qualify the potential of your rivals and which team is
your most dangerous competitor?
I'm not used to rank our opponents, Italy's positive performance at
Euro 2012 gave supplementary motivation than usual to everybody else.
As I've mentioned before there are five teams able to compete for the
first place.
Are you familiar how the Armenian national team plays? How do you
assess Armenian national team?
Globalization and TV visibility took out lots of secrets from football
teams. We've got information as our Armenian opponents have. I do
consider them a tough team, especially when to be played at its home
ground: solid on many points of view, tactically well organized and
balanced, provided of plenty of options in the offensive area. They
deserve to be considered amongst the five candidates to qualify.
If you are familiar with the Armenian national's players who would you
set aside?
Henrik Mkhitaryan is the most talented player as he has recently
confirmed during the Champions Leagues stages. He has the vision to
play both as midfielder and forward with same quality and efficiency.
But the question for me is how to stop him on the pitch instead of
thinking whether he will miss the game or not.
Your team played with different squads in different Euro-2012 matches
and managed to reach the final. Does this mean that the competition in
the Italian team is fierce?
It means that our aim to provide our team of a tactical flexibility
was at a good point. You get this results when your guys' attitude
inclines to generosity for the benefit of the game and its spectators.
A new generation of players is being included in the Italian team
under your headship. Taking into account that Italian team is one of
the best teams in the world, don't you think that you somehow take
risk?
When I've been appointed at the helm of the National team two years
ago, after a bad performance at the FIFA World Cup 2010 our mission
was focused on a significant renovation to be completed on a four
years basis aiming to get the Italian football back to the ranking its
history deserves. We're just half-way of our track and there's nothing
risky when you're looking for new options and different solutions, you
have to be realistic and ambitious instead when designing your future
by great determination.
After the match with the England you said you did an experiment in
order to test some players. Will the squad undergo any changes during
the qualifiers?
A friendly match is very important test for us, I did never consider
it as a mere experiment but a great opportunity instead to understand
whether my team could be provided of any further potential talent. The
recent selection of Mattia Destro, Federico Peluso and Lorenzo Insigne
for the Qualifying round are evidence that since then works were
already in progress.
How would you assess the Bulgaria v Italy qualifier (2-2)?
We didn't perform before our real potential in Sofia, this used to be
happen in the early stage of the season for almost any Italian team.
This won't take out any merit Bulgaria deserved, they have played a
very solid game with plenty of quality as their second match fully
confirmed.
What would you wish Armenian fans?
To come over and enjoy this spectacular match with lots of positivity
and enthusiasm.