Zambrotta was one of the few good players Italy had, their problem wasn't the fullbacks, just everything else

It's worse because they had such an easy group. At least France had 2 respectable teams and the hosts to contend with, some of NZs players had 2nd jobs..

It was an easy job for any team, stifle the static Gila, Iaquinta duo and Italy are done. Even a part time player could get the upper hand on these 2 headless chickens

I can't wait for Prandelli to get his hands on this team, I'm pretty sure 3/4 of them won't be in the qualifying for the Euros

LOL good thing it wasnt englands goal that was disallowed for offside.

Well that's that. Now onto serious business....Hup Holland Hup!!

Here are some of my comments:

Miccoli? I don't think he's special enough to be sure he'd do something. If Lippi picked Miccoli and left Di Natale, we would speak probably about the same thing just vice versa.

Cassano?Lippi's son got into a dispute with him. He's crossed off Marcello's list as a troublemaker. I understand the reason, but no doubt, Italy could also benefit from his skills.

Ballotelli? Another troublemaker who did this season nothing to deserve a call-up. Just trashed his Inter shirt like he's a Milanista fan.

Reality! Italy nowdays lacks of real quality. Serie A teams are mostly average. So are the italian players and coaches that play there. We have only Milan and Roma to present on international level, where both did nothing more then average in the last few seasons. They struggle against teams like Man Utd., Barcelona or even weaker ones, while Sampdoria, Palermo, Fiorentina or Genoa never really come near to the level of Sevilla, HSV, Arsenal, etc.

Coaches also seem to fail mostly. Once Serie A presented clashes of teams managed by Lippi, Ancelotti, Capello, Trapattoni, Simoni or Scala. The generation we see nowdays is nothing compared to the mentioned ones. Spalletti, Prandelli, Allegri or Del Neri all together combined have not a single international competition won and only 3 domestic cups/titles won!! While at the same time Nevio Scala, a manager who is not as well known as Lippi or Capello has won 4 international and 1 domestic trophy. It is a fact that gives insight.

This is not 1982! The player selection Italy can present nowdays is nothing special. There's not a single striker with both domestic and international pedigree avaible, so no Paolo Rossi, no Gentile, no Inzaghi. Also, no Baggio, no Totti, no Alex. The 3 components a great Italian side allways had are: a rock-solid defense, a fantasista and a striker who can be a decider. None of it now, in 2010. Cannavaro may have been at fault, but with or without him I do not see great difference. Fact is, Italy's top defender may be Chiellini, who all in all had also a terrible WC performance and is at fault for at least one goal today.

It's sad to make does remarks, and I am sure in some time things can turn, but I do not see Italy being a great and strong side for quite some time in the future.

Yeah Lippi got if badly wrong. The team in 06 wasn't exactly young, so to use alot if the same team was stupid.


Huh?

It wasn't even close, Defoe's goal was never in question. Not really sure what you're getting at.

I think he's trying to say that had situations been reversed you would react in a different manner. ie had that been England with such a close call for a deciding goal you wouldn't think as such

muahahaahah yaaaaaaaaaay

Honda, NICE free kick

Ah, I see.

I would probably be annoyed about the goalline clearance, but even with Italy I said it was a close call so I'm hardly reacting differently. The goal was offside though, I wouldn't have been that annoyed because he was leaning forward which made it clear.

I only get pissec over real obvious mistakes, today's weren't obvious really.

Is that just the 2nd FK that was scored?

2-0 Japan , Endo, nice free kick again !

One would assume the danish defenders are either semi-professionals or playing in low-rated leagues.

So the '06 WC's two finalists are out just like that in the first round. Nice. Shame Italy waited until regulation was nearly over to start playing with something resembling a pulse.

I was listening to Italy-New Zealand (I think) last week and one of the ESPN analysts called Cannavaro one of the best defenders in the world. Fill in your own joke.

Ugh. The ineptness of ESPN has been an unpleasant memory of 4 years ago. They're a little better this time (at least when Klinsmann and Gullit are talking) but the superficiality of the play by play guys is just...really bad.

I'm not even surprised anymore!

Before today's match almost every Dutch person still thought Italy had a world class defense or something like that. Azzurri got that name and people think automaticly Azzurri is a tough team to beat and actually might knock out the Dutch with counter football. They compare this Azzurri to an Azzurri in the past who also had trouble in the group round (but won the whole thing). But the Dutch seem to missing the fact Italy got an awful squad these days, very awful compared to any Azzurri squad ever.

That was NOT a penalty... come on... Agger, get out

Tomasson scored via re-bound (penalty)

(don't get too close to him, Chu-lip, you'll get scouser cooties).

EDIT: At least one Milan player scored this world cup. Goal Huntelaar. (LOOK, OTHER CLUBS! HE SCORES GOALS!)

Good for Huntelaar. Even though I want him to be sold, I won't hate on him. I like his character etc.

And lol

Honda such a genius play !!!

Bah, Morimoto hasn't played yet!

Honda was amazing !!!
Italy could get a draw but if they only started to defend before it was to late.

Glad that Serbia didn't win , thank u for putting Zignc on the bench:D

what i'm saying is you wouldnt share that opinion if england was in italys place. it was very close but onside.

from what i saw this was more onside or just on par with the disallowed usa goal which everyone said was on.

amazing performance from japan especially honda. i guess nakamura taught those boys a thing or two about free-kicks

how things looks so far... it doesnt look too bad for ze dutch, who will most likely face brazil, spain, portugal (however it works out) and if they could overcome them, then there's gonna be an easier semi-final awaiting them than a quarter final

Well I thought they were both off, though I think the US one was a closer call.

Anyways, Spain have z very tough task tomorrow as they may very well have to beat Chile or go home.

so i was interviewed by the local media and i was aired on the news today loll it was fun got lots of calls.

this was of course regarding the italy/slovakia game

clip?

How many words did they bleep out?

haha none i was pretty sedated, i havent seen it yet i'm looking for the clip. but the words "diaster" and "it hurts" were said...

they dint air everything i said, it was more of a retrospective thing they wanted from the fans how we felt about the result, i dint bother going into details as to what went wrong. the woman ahead of me was rambling on and had no clue what she was saying, too bad tennie wasnt around

You mean wanted two women rambling on not knowing what they are talking about??









I am only joking, of course

i like the fact that they're trying. this is the first time they've done coverage this big. i'm not even sure if they had anyone that was actually in Germany four years ago. so the fact that they're doing an all out coverage of this event is promising for things to come. if any TV station in the world could pull off the best coverage of any event...it would be ESPN.

i love Chris Fowler though...he is, by far, my favorite person at ESPN period. a lover of everything sports.

plus they somehow got Martin Tyler. for the life of me I have no idea how ESPN snatched England's best commentator to announce for the USA games. and to his credit...he seemed genuinely excited when Donovan scored the goal against Algeria.

double post, woot!

found this video earlier today...this probably happens all over the world and is fairly commonplace.

but being a soccer fan years and years before it was cool to like soccer in this country, this almost brought tears to my eyes while i was at work. i've been waiting forever to see something like this in my country. to finally see it feels surreal.

fishdoll, i know you don't like donovan...but you have to be excited to see this kind of passion in the US.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w

great video . i love that old lady's reaction at 1:10

That's really cool warchant...

That's what I hope to see tomorrow when Brasil beats Portugal and Chile beats Spain.

so this is the clip

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Local_News/...l/ID=1529713432

the report on the game starts around 11:00 and i'm first seen at 11:15.

they cut my comment short but basically what i said is this arguably italys worst ever showing at a world cup and result in any major tournament.

then later on at 11:40 you see me (blue home kit) and my brother (pirlo away euro 08)

theres other versions that are longer but i cant find them.

well that distracted me a lil lol....

wow thats cool
I wonder how the americans will react when they win the Super bowl or somthing
Is it the first time USA goes trough?

Because he sucks.

Anyway, Italian websites are talking today about Prandelli and the new Italy that it's about to come. Here's how I'd play the azzurri:



That would kick @ss! Any thoughts?

I think it's because he is contracted to Sky Sports and therefore can't work for thx BBC or ITV (the only channfls showing the games here), he is awesome though. We've been stuck with the likes Adebayor and Redknapp talking about the game, horrible.

I like your lineup XOff, except for Aquilani. I wouldn't start him (not sure who I would start in his place though). And once Ranocchia is healthy I think he'd give Bonucci a run for his money.

Aquilani is great, he's just unlucky for getting injuries so very often. If he was fully fit, he would have had a much better season at Liverpool.

I hope the Portuguese beat the hell out of the Micky Mouse and his team.

Viva Portugal.

<333333333333 the midfield

I would put Santon as right back. Next European Cup and World Cup he must be ready, right?

I don't really like the 4-3-3 formation. I think it's too lightweight and a really talented 4-5-1 formation (like France's in 2006) could kick the crap out of it. But that's from a tactical viewpoint.

I personally find X-Off's formation to be a little lightweight and imbalanced. I would never after this horrorshow entrust DDR with sole DM responsibilities. He's half a DM. So you need another half a DM and to put Pirlo there is too waste him.

Here's my lineup:

Santon---xxx---xxx---Criscito
----------Palombo---DDR------
-----------Pirlo------------------
Maggio/Abate-------------Cassano
---------------Balotelli/Pazzo-------

So Palombo is your sacrificing holding MF, who can play the simple passes. DDR is the same except he can also rush the box. I think Palombo's got a mean shot on him as well.

Maggio and Abate to play on the overlap with Santon.

Depending on whether we play Balotelli or Pazzo, Cassano would either be a SS or a CAM. Pirlo would have a free role.

I couldn't think of any good rightwingers. Only Abate and Maggio came to mind. I'm hoping the two CB positions might be filled up by Milanese defenders.

I think this lineup would last us till the Euros. And Pirlo not being an 'athletic' type could fit in even at the next world cup. But then I'm blind to his faults..so y'all can go screw yourselves.

Abate? I cannot think of a single usefull skill he has either then just running around like a lost man.

I believe gangstas call it 'hustling'. Tennie or MizNelson will explain what it means.

Abate is not even close to being NT worthy man!

I know. I was just being Milan biased.

I don't know any rightwingers right now. But I'm sure there are a few.