sorry if there's a thread for this already open...I can't find one if there is

good games so far

it was hard seeing Kaka score the final goal to beat Egypt, reminded me of how many times he did that for us.

the Egypt/Brazil scares me for the US team. either those 2 teams just didn't play well on defense or they did great on offense.

hopefully those teams won't play as well against the US, lol

not sure how Italy is going to preform. oldest team...but only at an average of 29 isn't that bad.

gila will start and score a second time vs. the us... hopefully rhe same celebration as last time

How on earth was that offside. it was an own goal. Camo didn't touch the ball.

Italia 0-1 America

Pirlo sometimes passes the ball like a Sunday League player. what's happened to him?

And I don't like the long ball tactic. where the hell is G. Rossi?

EDIT: Grosso is like Toni. a-few-game wonder.

Pirlo had a few good balls... I think he's played okay. Italy hasn't been creating much, U.S. looking dangerous on the counter before the red card. I think Iaquinta should be taken off for Rossi. Gattuso has been solid so far.

my god hurry the fck up and get rossi on dumb ***!

Italy are disappointing. the likes of Zambro and Grosso shouldn't play anymore IMO. especially Grosso.

Montolivo and Rossi on.

Rossi!!!!!! what a goal!

GET TREFUCK INN ROSSSI AMAZING GOAL!!!

BRING US ROSSI

god zambrotta and grosso have been aweful... well most of the team...

De Rossi!!! 2-1

DEE ROSSSSI LOGN RANEG AGAIN

Italia better find replacements for Zambro and Grosso fir the World Cup.

rossssi again

Rossi!! 3-1

Finally a brilliant move by Pirlo.

Please Galliani, sign Rossi before Giuve get their dirty hands on him.

pazzini should start up front next game but we all know lippi loves old slow players... almost cost us the game since rossi should have started. so toni will have plenty of chances to misss more 1 on 1s with the keeper

Wow Pirlo on that last goal - amazing.

Certainly a nice move by Pirlo and excellent ball as well for goal number 3.
Hopefully he will build some confidence from there on forward, and then begin to play with more consistency as we were so often spoiled with in the past.

FORZA ITALIA!

still not sure about italy

i'm wondering what the outcome would've been with a full US squad. The US played much better in the first half than Italy did. being one man down really hurt the US imo. Just too many waves from Italy.

should be an interesting set of group games...i don't think any of the 4 teams in group b look better than the rest.

basically...2 good teams will not make it out of group b and one really bad team will make it out of group a...kinda sad.

Something about the U.S. team, just about every time we seem to be gaining momentum, we wind up taking a step backward like today.

Our horrific performance in the '06 WC still lingers.

they did play poorly but in the end had toni, gilardino and legro scored their sitters italy would have scored 5-6 goals...

See the Italians needed an American to beat the Americans, surprise, surprise.

Finally? I thought Pirlo had a great game! I hope Leonardo plays him ahead of the two DMF's in Milan too cause he's restrained when he's fielded deeper and he's become predictable.


No he's not!

He's as much Italian as he is American. And no American can play that kind of football. Their best player is London Donavan for Christ's sake!!! They only challenged Itay because they think this is American football. The only impressive one on that team is Micheal Bradley.

And 2 of the goals were down to the 100% Italians, De Rossi's blinder and Pirlo's genius on Rossi's goal.


Pirlo was great. It's no wonder that he's been cr@p for Milan Carlo's system was so constricting for him. Under Lippi he's always been great because he always plays Gattuso and De Rossi further behind him. Our only problem is that we do not have De Rossi, but Ambrosini or Seedorf. De Rossi is great playing there because he's not a conventional DM, he's box to box. We really need to try and find a player along those lines.

Blog: I hate Brazil…

It is not just because they are Confederations Cup rivals of Italy that Steve Wilson wants to see Brazil fail

Unless they are playing England I can’t stand Brazil. Actually, let me clarify that. I don’t actually dislike the players, or their style of play – it is the endless fawning and excessive flattery poured on them by commentators, pundits and fans that I cannot stomach.

Yes, they are great to watch, their players are sublimely talented and they play the game with a smile on their faces, but do we need to be reminded of these facts at every available interval?

Come each World Cup the South American nation is always everybody’s second team. You will invariably see a plethora of yellow and green shirts on the streets, in bars and on the terraces of League grounds as May arrives and breaks into the Mondiali month of June.

Reminisces about the magical 1970 side are spouted by people who weren’t even a randy day-dream in their father’s mind at the time. The sun makes everyone go, literally, Brazil nuts.

But are they worthy of this obsessive gushing? At the last World Cup they were woeful in their quarter-final exit to France. In 1998 they did not turn up in the Final, again against Les Bleus. And prior to 1994 they hadn’t reached the Final for 24 years.

They are drifting towards qualification for 2010 but have already been held to draws by titans like Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru and lost to Chile. Meanwhile, at the Confederations Cup they needed a 90th minute penalty to beat Egypt. They quite clearly aren’t the invincible force they are made out to be.

Spain are European Champions and, rightly, ranked No 1 in the world. Italy, though, are World Cup winners – having conquered the globe at the last edition in 2006. Listen to the hype, however, and you would forget the Azzurri lifted the golden ice-cream in Berlin.

The pre-game over-looking of Brazil’s opponents, the incredulous shock of the commentator when one of them dares to score against them, it has all become so predictable and tiresome.

Historic – cynics insert xenophobic – reasons prevent most on these shores from supporting Italy, Germany, Argentina or France, so until the emergence of Spain that only really left the supposedly honest and true Brazilians to cheer for.

Personally, I’d rather enjoy the sneaky shenanigans and ‘furbizia’ of a team like Argentina or Italy. I can’t wait for La Nazionale to expose the Seleçao and cause the cooing commentators to choke on their superlatives.

We have Flamini too! He's not exactly De Rossi but I think it would still work great with him there.

If Rossi isn't American, there's no such thing as an American.


I disagree. Anyone can play any kind of football if they want to. Gattuso is Italian, but he can't play "Italian football", hell, he can barely play any kind of football.

for some reason I only pictured Ambro as a candidate. Carlo has traumitized me forever with that Rino-Pirlo-Ambro combo.

Flamini was heavily misused under Carlo. But I still think that we'd need more creative input from midfield, though if it works well and Pirlo is freed up and able to perform at his best we wouldn't need another creative mid

Rossi is as much Italian as he is American, his father is Italian. So I don't see how that makes him any less Italian and more American.

There's that anti Rino bias coming into play again. Rino is more of a footballer then that American team combined. And please tell me which American player has that style and ability that Rossi does? That's all Italian. And I wasn't really pointing to how he plays his football but the talent he has. There are many Italian players that are considered great but are not the best to watch, Rino, Ambro, Pippo all players who are not the most sylish around, but they're great at what they do.

EDIT: Moved to Rnadom Stuff Thread - Off Topic here.

^^^



Going OT is not a crime!

I think this would work fine:

Flamini - Gattuso
-----Pirlo-----
----------R80
Pato - Box Guy

I'll leave the hijacking to the pro's.

"When I was younger Bruce Arena wanted me with him for the USA squad at the World Cup. However, my dream was Italy and I wanted to fulfill that and do more," Rossi told La Gazzetta Dello Sport.

sounds like an american thing to say.

the only thing american about him is that he was born there and lived there for half his life.

The only English thing about me was I was born here and lived here as well.

Clearly this is getting silly. We're starting off from a different base and there's no meeting place.

The thing is Rossi made his choice. You cannot call him an American because it's his own choice. The same way, had he chosen the American nationality I would not be able to call him an Italian just because I think he's Italian in blood.

you see from your prespective that might sound funny but theres many things to consider when we identify ourselves. your opinion is so bias cuz your completly ignoring all the glaring factors, ur looking at one thing where: your born.

That does not really reflect on what nationality someone is. I could have been born in Zimbabwe and lived there until I was 90 years old, but the fact of the matter remains that my mother and father are Maltese. Therefore I am Maltese.

In Malta we've got 100's upon 100s of Illegal immegrants coming ashore each year. Most of the women are pregnant and give berth here. But that does not make those children Maltese by any strecth of the imagination. This is an extreme case I'm mentioning but I'm using it to give you an idea.

Many children these days have dual citizenships because they're born in different countries, because people travel around a lot, it's dual because no one can deny their heritage, no matter in which country you're born.

Rossi has an Italian father, he has an Italian name (first and last). Italy is part of him, he has the right to choose which team to play for because he's both American and Italian.

By your definition, if I was born on a plane or on a ship, therefore my nationality should be the RSS Titanic or whatever. It just does not make any sense

I'll just pick up on a few things since you already know my opinion on the rest.

Illegal immigrants: I dare you to come to England and tell the countless amounts of illegal immigrants that they're not English. These people weren't born here, neither were their parents, but they consider themselves English.. in your opinion, surely this is okay though, since people get to chose where they're from?

Immigrant children: You're contradicting yourself here. Even though they're born here and live here, or in Malta in your example, they're not Maltese at all? But you said the individual should chose?

Names: The only reason he has an Italian name is because of his dad. I have some American family and some American friends.. I can't think of one that has an American name, despite the fact they and their parents were ll born there.. are they not American then? Just to add on from this. Let's say Rossi's dads grandparents were English and called Smith, this would result in Rossi's father being named Smith and in turn, Rossi would be called Smith. Would this make him English, even though his parents are Italian and he was born in America?

Dual citzenship: But it's also dual because no-one can deny where they're born too. I just think it seems silly saying where some other person is born is more important than where you're born.

Plane/ship births: You are from the country you took off from, you remain 'in' that country until you go through passport control at your destination.

FInal thought: What if your grandparents found out they weren't born in Malta (i have no idea where they were born, obviously), like I said to Habitant, this would make your parents none-Maltese right? Since there parents were born elsewhere, then this would make you a none-Maltese.. would you just consider yourself something else, just over something as trivial as that?

This is a pointless argument. Why don't you all agree that you can be Indians. With a population of 1 billion, a few tens more won't make a difference. You can all crash at my place as well.

You can wear dhotis and kurtas and saris.

LOL, landon donavan has never been the US's best player.

Clent Demsey
Freddy Adu
Jose Altidore

much better players than donavan. just because someone is the face of the team doesn't mean he's our best player.




but i thought you said no American can play like that?

LOFL. That was dope jack!!

Freddy Adu better than Donovan? The same guy who has one goal in twelve appearances? Surely you jest.

(Oh, and the spelling of all the above players' names has been corrected.)

I hope he shines with a team soon, I mean you can't be bad playing with pro footballers, in a professional league and scoring at the age of 14.

It will be good for American Football, and I'm talking about the better version.

i hope Iraq does good today =(

Anyone else annoyed by the stupid sound of horns!?! It sounds like a cat is dying or like my fridge is broken!!! I hope they won't distribute them in the World Cup too!

That's my point there they're illegal, the imagrants you have in England are totally different to what we have in Malta. Here unless you're granted refugee status and then citezenship, you're NOT Maltese. Some of the illegal immagrants (if you want to call them that) have been in England longer then you have been living. It's England's fault that they did not take care of the problem when it was starting.

On the children, again that does not come into factor as they came ashore illegally, therefore they are not given the rights that any other person who's come to Malta through the system. That's a different case altogether. These chidlren and their parents could be deported from the Island at any given day if their refugee status is not approved.

I think the right to choose theory comes from how the person feals, if you are part English part American, was born in Americaa and had parents that are from the 2 different countries, but lived in both countries and are a citizen of both countries, I think it should be your right to choose which country you feel closest to.

Regarding the name, I only mentioned it to make a point of his Italian identity. His father is Italian, that makes him as much Italian as he is American. I don't understand why all the complaints here, just because he was born in America does not make him any less Italian. It's does not mean the American part of him is given more bonus points just because he was born there. Had he been born in Italy but chose to play for the US it would be the same situation, because he has that right to choose.

Personally I don't think this has anything to do with one's birth place. And I don't think it has anything to do with one place being more important then the other (I don't know if I understand you correctly here but are you saying that because it's football Italy is more important, but had the sport been basketball(ex) he would have chosen the US? )

The plain/ship theory was an exxageration of what I think you're trying to imply. That your national identity depends on where you're born and not your heritage/blood.

Yes they would be none-Maltese. Just because there's a piece of paper saying that they/I am of Maltese nationality does not autimatically mean I'm pure Maltese. I wouldn't deny what I am, but again it would come down to a decision on my part if I have citizenship in the other country. Personally I would choose Malta because it is what I feel closer to, but Rossi's situation is different, he's lived in both countries, so just because he was born in the US does not mean he'll automatically feel more close to the US then he is to Italy as he's lived in both countries. It goes down to personal decision, It should not be something that's decided based on where you were born. That's all I'm trying to say.


Freddy Adu, I wouldn't put on that list...

It's his Italian half that's made him play like that The American half was when he was lunging in every which way


Yes, it was like I was in some warped version of the spanish league, or a cat being drug through the street.

i really don't like donovan. he is probably the most inconsistent player on the US team. imo, him and beasley are holding up spots that younger players could be better at.

they've both done a lot for our team, but i don't think it's a shocker to anyone that these 2 are at the end of their int. careers.

and in the u-20 world cup there was only one player who was better than adu (and not by much). and that was pato. adu just needs experience and he's not getting any. he's probably the most creative player on our team...maybe not a goal scorer, but could do a very good job at setting up our other players for goals.



one of the announcers was saying that Africans believe that they can "blow away the competition" with their horns. that's why they never stop blowing them. some superstition thing.