Player Focus: De Rossi Back to his Best in the Confederations Cup

Thursday night in Fortaleza was bittersweet for Daniele De Rossi.

By firing a spot-kick beyond Iker Casillas in a shootout, he achieved a measure of closure. Remember he was one of the players who missed when Italy’s Euro 2008 quarter-final against Spain went to penalties. Never one to hide, De Rossi showed great courage to step up and face Casillas again.

Alas, while the outcome was different for him this time, it wasn’t for his team.

Tied at 6-6, Leonardo Bonucci skied his effort over while Jesus Navas scored. The Azzurri were out. Just like at Italia `90, USA `94 and France `98, penalties had proved their undoing. “But it was a beautiful Italy,” proclaimed the headline of Friday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.  

Playing a similar system to the one they’d adopted in their group stage encounter with Spain at Euro 2012 - this time a 3-4-2-1 rather than a 3-5-1-1 - they once again asked serious questions of their opponents.

Fundamental to the 1-1 draw Italy got that day in Gdansk was De Rossi. He was their outstanding individual once more in Thursday night's game. All of the papers in Italy made him their Man of the Match. He earned a rating of 8.2 from WhoScored – better than any other outfielder on show.

His country had missed him in their final group stage game against Brazil. Why? Because De Rossi is an all-rounder, a passer and a tackler, a holder and a runner. We saw in the semi-final how both phases of the game, attack and defence, are one and the same to him.

In the first half, he was in midfield, leading a fast-break here, playing Christian Maggio though there while also making sure Andres Iniesta didn’t get a foothold in the game. Thanks to De Rossi, Italy were able to impose and protect themselves. By the interval, they’d had nine shots [three of which were on target] while Spain had only managed two and neither threatened Gigi Buffon.

With Andrea Barzagli unable to come out for the second half because of injury, coach Cesare Prandelli replaced the centre-back with midfielder Riccardo Montolivo and moved De Rossi into defence, the position he’d played against Spain in the group stage of Euro 2012. Kaiser Daniele was back, Italy’s own Franz Beckenbauer.

While they missed his drive and physicality in midfield, De Rossi still managed to influence things from his rearguard position. Able to bring the ball out and distribute it either long or short to teammates ahead of him who he knows are as skilled at keeping possession as he is, Italy’s share of possession went from 36% in the first half to 61.1% in the second.

Once extra-time arrived, tiredness began to set in. Legs grew heavy. But while those around him were cramping up, De Rossi was still throwing himself around. He thwarted Gerard Pique and Javi Martinez to keep Italy in the game.

It was a colossal display from De Rossi. He took more touches (127) and played more passes (106) than anyone else on the park, including Xavi. His range of distribution is illustrated by the completion of 14 long passes. No one has attempted as many (43) and been as accurate (37) in the Confederations Cup as a whole.

Transition play, turning defence into attack, is De Rossi’s forte. He made the most interceptions (7) against Spain. Interestingly only Tahiti’s Jonathan Tehau has made more throughout the tournament (17).

As De Rossi departs Brazil to go on his holidays, he can reflect on a good Confederations Cup from a personal perspective. The goal he scored against Japan was his 15th for his country. Only one midfielder, Adolfo Baloncieri (25), has found the net on more occasions for Italy than he has.

Whether De Rossi will be at Roma next season remains to be seen. His last campaign for them was a disappointing one, as it was for the team as a whole. Justification for his salary, estimated to be worth €6m a year net, was hard to justify on the back of it. Not so after the Confederations Cup. Without European football of any sort, though, it’s a burden for Roma’s owners.

Could they really sell him? While the fans and local media did turn on him towards the end of the season, exasperating De Rossi, it’s hard to see a situation in which they wouldn’t lament his departure.  A fan of the club since he was a kid, De Rossi, along with his teammate Francesco Totti, is one of the few loyal one-club talismans left.

Always honest with the supporters, last summer he reaffirmed his desire to stay at Roma for the rest of his playing days but added that you have to be realistic about these things and if the case was made to him that it’d be for the good of club if he’d left, then he’d do it with a heavy heart.

After watching him at the Confederations Cup and being reminded of just how great he can be, Roma fans will be hoping it doesn’t come to that.