Cant believe the cup was only about a year away!! Ho Ho baby! 1 year is stuff all considering we have group games to come then playoffs and the world cup draw itself. Awesome. I hope each and every one of us can be happy and healthy in the lead up to the world cup during it and beyond it! God bless all of us! How do you feel we'll go? I think we can win it. Will be hard but at least we should be a serious contender and that's all you can ask. Hows our defense looking tho im not sure if we have any young blood coming up through the ranks after that final debacle vs spain last year we cant afford too many old and slow defenders. Some of the guys like Pirlo, De Rossi, Chiellini will be another year older. Chiellini doesnt worry me not sure about the first two tho. Pirlo's poor form vs Bayern did concern me. Verrati, Marchisio, Giovinco, Balotelli, El Shaarawy, Montolivo, Insigne and Destro etc inspire me with confidence and give me great hope. I think we're a legitimate threat and will be disappointed with anything but a quarter final appearance at the very least. I have us with Brazil, Germany and Argentina as the favourites to win it.
******** a good showing! After that thrashing in the final of the Euros, Prandelli is obligated to bring home gold. Point blank, brass tacks, bottom line! Anything less then a clean win will be looked at as a total disgrace and only underline the magnitude of Prandelli's failures!
def. a contender but they have to be super focused every game and the offense needs to improve. Brazil sucks now days...although at home will be a different story. Argentina, Germany, Holland and Spain will still be a force and some of these other teams will be surprises too. Todays football is unpredictable so we shall see. In the euros everyone thought holland was gonna go all the way and they lost all 3 games LOL
I think Spain or Germany will win. Both of these teams have a strong core of players practicing together daily (think Barca and Bayern) and they're used to winning. It's really hard to beat that. I don't think Italy has the degree of cohesive chemistry that these teams do. Spain - extremely confident and used to winning, excellent chemistry and very difficult to beat with their posession and passing game. Germany - finally winning (all-German CL final, for ex), will be very confident coming into this WC, and *hungry* (last title was in '96, and that's a long time for Germany if you look at their history). Italy - buoyed by Euro 2012, but not enough champions with a winning mentality, and not enough cohesion and scoring power. France (if they qualify after falling in 2nd place to Spain), Netherlands, and the former Yugoslav countries may go far as well. I don't think that Argentina or Brasil have what it takes this time around to take it all. Of course, I hope I am wrong about Italy and I hope we win in 2014 -- it would be an awesome payback for 1994 winning 20 years later in Brasil.
I like Diamanti too -- very dynamic and intelligent player who does great when he's fielded in blue. But he's not a starter, so as a sub it will be hard for him to be a determining factor.
It'll be difficult for European teams over there IMO, South American teams will have crazy support from the crowd. Plus all of Italia's world cup wins were in Europe so far. The problem with Italy's matches has been inconsistency, they have a habit of playing an amazing half while completely losing focus in another. If they managed to somehow play entire matches at their absolute best, I don't see any team in the world Italy has no chance against, so yes I believe they can win it and it'll be so Amazing considering Brasil is my most hated team, there's just something about the scars of the first world cup I watched in 1994 when I was a kid that won't heal until we get some payback directly from Brasil. If they however lost focus much, don't be surprised if they got out of the first round again, World Cup matches aren't forgiving at all, they must play with the attitude of each half being the final, unlike 2010 where they wokeup in the last 15 minutes of the tournament *smh*.
Hahahaha youre like me. First world cup you watched was 94 and you hate BrazilI agree, we need payback! Nice write up man
Italy is always sleeping until they get scored on, then they go into "Oh hey guys i think we're in the middle of a soccer game" and wake up but sometimes it's too late. For some reason the game that really sticks out for me was the friendly against Spain last year, that first half was amazing and i wish they played like that every game, it was an all out attack. I see Italy going pretty far next year but i doubt we'll reach the final, especially IN Brazil.
I predict quarter or semi our attack looks better than defence, I cant se us winning but at least we get to witness the sexiest world cup ever, my money is on Argentina, brazil, Columbia, belgium yes i said Columbia theirs always a dark horse, in saying that i think brazil will win, theyll joga bonito with ronaldinho and they will win cause their so scared if they dont theyll get kidnapped. Ole Ole Ole i hope no horns and their better be a good theme song!!!!
2 teams need revenge really bad; Brazil & Spain it'll be complete if they get revenge on both.....although im a Juventino and barza-bonu-chiellini are good they also have screw ups here and there that cost the game. I just hope it doesnt happen in really important games like the Euro final
I agree, I think our attack looks better than our defense which is a shocker to say when it comes to Italy. Makes me kinda nervous too.
hey same dude here different account yeaa me too but it's the world cup I look forward to sexy football when it comes to the world cup 2010 was boring as ********
Did you mean defense? I think the offense can score goals on anyone. They have developed a fluid attack that seems likely to score often, at least to me.
I wonder if this is really true. Obviously the South American fans have an easier time traveling there. But imagine an Italy -Argentina match at the WC, do you think the local Brazilian fans would support Argentina or Italy? I think their big rivalry with Argentina could lead them to support Italy in this case.
Realistically, our goal should be making it out of the group stage. Not enough world-class players to compete.
That's an aim for Euro runner ups?! Italy should be in it to win even though it'll be a very difficult task, the further they go the less we'll be disappointed, getting out of the group stage is never a "goal" for the Azzurri.
The goal in 2010 was to get out of the group stage which we failed horribly at. This time around i'm confident we'll go far even if Gilardino is in the squad
Right now Italy is in transition similar to were Germany was in the early 2000s . But I do like what I see from some Italy's ypounger players If Balotelli and El Sharry are healthy that is a decent Strike partnership . Look for guys like Marchisio Montolivio to improve in the next few months. I think Italy will be alright and will surprise a few people. Look out for teams like Japan and Belgium to really turn heads
I can not envisage us losing to anyone. Do not take that the wrong way, I do not think we are the best team by miles but I can not think of thoughts of us losing. Never have I thought that we can not win the World Cup. The minimum requirement for me is the quarter finals. Once we get there it is about getting momentum going and switching off from other distractions and just getting over the line. And of course some luck. I do not care about our opposition. On our day we can beat all of them. Let us go for five stars!