Simone Zaza: The man who replaced Mario Balotelli

Date: 10th September 2014 at 4:13pm
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mario balotelli italy shirtEnigmatic striker Mario Balotelli has unsurprisingly become the scapegoat after Italy’s early elimination from the 2014 World Cup.

Antonio Conte’s predecessor, Cesare Prandelli, relied on ‘Super Mario’ to be a prolific finisher for the Azzurri, a task which Balotelli overall failed to accomplish on the world stage.

Conte did not call-up Balotelli for the matches against the Netherlands and Norway in the latest international break, giving the opportunity to other young forwards instead.

Simone Zaza played alongside Ciro Immobile against both the Dutch as well as the Norwegians and the Sassuolo striker proved to be a revelation for the Italy attack. After impressing in his two Italy caps so far, Zaza could have potentially already ousted Balotelli from the Azzurri starting 11.

It is early to make such a call but Zaza has immediately shown a hunger and a desire to play for the Azzurri, whereas Balotelli has shown to be lazy and lacking in fighting spirit.

Despite standing at 187 cm tall, Zaza possesses fine ball control for a man of his stature. So too does Balotelli at 189 cm tall but Zaza has displayed more mobility and pace than the usually static Liverpool striker.

He opened the scoring in Italy’s 2-0 win against Norway on Tuesday night with a deflected angled drive, but he could have added to his tally. Despite temporarily coming off injured in the second half, he ran onto Immobile’s pass and chipped the ball over Norwegian goalkeeper Orjan Nyland, but the shot was cleared off the line.

Zaza had won the penalty to put Italy 2-0 up in the Azzurri’s win against the Netherlands last Thursday night but he squandered a chance to make it 3-0 when he shot straight at goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen. If he buried those additional chances, it would have already added more gloss to his determined displays.

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The 23-year-old who hails from Policoro in the Basilicata region came through the youth ranks of Atalanta and Sampdoria before performing well at loan spells with Viareggio and Ascoli.

Although Picchio were relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione after the 2012-13 Serie B campaign, Zaza still had an impressive season in which he scored 18 goals in 35 matches.

Last season he was co-owned by Juventus and Sassuolo but he played for the Neroverdi and scored nine goals in 33 Serie A matches, helping Sassuolo achieve top flight survival in their maiden campaign.

Sassuolo now owns Zaza outright and after scoring a stunning volley on the opening round of the current Serie A season, Conte selected him for Italy’s senior squad.

Italy v Netherlands - Immobile and ZazaIn Italy’s latest internationals, Conte used the 3-5-2 formation which had brought him success with Juventus and started with two centre-forwards in attack. Although both Zaza and Immobile are strikers, they developed a good partnership in the Azzurri attack.

Zaza and Immobile worked hard and placed opposition defences under pressure. Neither striker possesses the X-factor that Balotelli can provide but they provided off-the-ball movement and they were not afraid to run directly at their opponents. They weren’t the type to park themselves in the penalty box either as the Sassuolo striker in particular showed that he was comfortable working the channels.

Zaza did not emerge as a prodigy like Balotelli but he is still a player with a bright future ahead of him and he is already making an impact for Italy on the football pitch.

If Balotelli does not fulfill his potential, Italy now has other strikers who are capable of doing so. Simone Zaza is but one of them.

Follow Vito Doria on Twitter: @VitoCDoria

 

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