Job well done to Prandelli and the 2012 Azzuri

I have put some thought into it and realized that the biggest thing bothering me with appointments like Donadoni and Prandelli, i.e. people that have little to no experience, is that it seems like they are trying to use the national team as a springboard to land some well paid post in Europe. The Azzurri deserve more respect then that. Italy deserves to have the best coach available, period, not be a starting place for up and coming coaches!

well if they use it as a way to get a better club job, only way they can do that is if the NT does good. If the NT does good then whats the problem? if they do bad then they wont get the job lol

i think you're just too influenced by the crazy world of futbol today....everyone wants to buy trophies or champions...no ones willing to MAKE it. People who win championships werent born champions, u work hard and then u become one and then u go for more. I believe in Prandelli, i like seeing this team play, its attractive and they get results. I want to see what he can do in the next 2 years.

I had to google Miccoli to know what you were talking about. Have to say, I'm not really impressed. Palermo? Might as well be playing for Wolverhampton. You have to be playing on Juve, Milan or Inter to be any good.. maybe Roma too, every now and then.

The thought of firing Prandelli is an intriguing one though. People talk about how he changed our style of play and how we dominated England, but let me ask you this... did it ever, at any point in time, look like we were capable of scoring four goals in a single game, let alone in a final?

Isn't that what Serie C and B are for? Why is it that some coaches will forever stay at the lower levels while others get handpicked to coach the national team for their first job, despite not having any qualifications? Prandelli is the rich kid whose daddy owns the company but tries to convince everyone that he got his job b/c he is smarter than the rest.

How does a record loss in the finals prove that Prandelli was the right choice? Despite the disaster in 2010, those of us in the 'know' were not too worried b/c we knew that team was not really representative of our soccer potential and that all we needed was a chance to prove it. Prandelli had that chance.. He failed.

Prandelli has experience. Other coaches that were considered when he was appointed already signed big contracts with other clubs (and NT in the case of Capello) and were not available.

If Prandelli left after 2012, then maybe you have a bit of an argument, but he's staying on, so I disagree.

Yes, both against England and Germany we could have had four goals with better finishing.

??

Explain...

His bad decision making already cost us an embarrassing record loss in the finals of the Euros. Are we really going to wait until he fails again and loses a once in a lifetime opportunity to tie up Brasil in World Cups in their own home before sending him away? The opportunity cost is too great to dilly-dally.

The federation should have been kissing Capello's ass, begging him to take over before the chance was gone forever! Instead he signed for Russia yesterday! Stupid.. stupid, STUPID!!! Oh well.. at least we have our record setting coach.

That wasn't your argument. You argued that he was using the National Team as a spring board to land a lucrative club position. I pointed out that this was hardly the case because he signed on for two more years.

One argument at a time

You want Italy to defend with 10 men?

He had to. Do you think neutrals were going to be as praiseworthy about a coach after a 4-0 loss in the final as some of us are being? Prandelli had dreams of taking over for Sir Alex at Man U but after that performance, was lucky to get calls back about the Newcastle job at a bargain rate.

Capello has won everything in Serie A and run the international gauntlet including winning the champions league. Prandelli is a novice in comparison, who owns the record for biggest loss at an international tournament final. Yes, at this point I would rather go for the proven winner and win ugly then suffer anymore embarrassing losses b/c some dreamers want to take a chance and see what happens. Time to wake up and smell the cappuccino, compa.

lol, are you having fun trolling these boards?

Capello is not coming back to Italian football, and not because the talent is some place else, but the $$ certainly is. He'd be earning half of what he gets in Russia and 1/4 of what the English FA paid him coaching the Italian NT, and the pressure would be double. So I think he's probably loving his position right now.

dude u are really smokin crack.....prandelli got RESPECT for this squad now. Everyone took italy as a joke after 2006 WC, starting with a loss to latvia or lithuania followed by france loss in qual. then disasters of 2008, 2009, 2010.....

prandelli made people fall in love with this team again....and made teams like england, germany and everyone else play SUPER CONSERVATIVE cuz they were scared of italy. I havent seen that in a long time. Surely next round the pundits and critics will have much better expectations. The record loss is non sense cuz the game was 60 min...really and the last 2 goals with 5 min. left were BS

Therein lies our problem.

I disagree with 2008 being a disaster, as Donadoni took us to PKs against Spain instead of a humiliating record loss. Also, 2009 and 2010 were brought on by Lippi not picking the most in-form players. The humiliation of 2012 however, is all Prandelli's doing.

I always love this team.. Well, except when we are making records for heavy losses.

That won't mean crap unless Italy wins. NOTHING BUT GOLD WILL MATTER IN BRASIL! THERE WILL BE NO ROOM FOR LOSERS TO MAKE EXCUSES. IT'S EITHER GOLD OR BUST!!!

Maybe you can petition to put an asterisk on their. Until then, those of us that realize that we got our asses kicked by a record amount will try (in vain probably) to get the rest of you to see the light.

If trolling means educating, then yes. It's obvious that nobody in here has the passion or creativity to create or even care enough about the national team to write this stuff when a summer tournament is not about to happen.

Prandelli is not good enough.. what do you want me to say? FINE! Losing is okay with me and I enjoy getting screwed up the ass by the Spanish. Can we be friends now?

If Prandelli would have won the Euros, do you think he would be as adamant about staying on? I don't think so. Like a previous poster said, it's all about the $$$ and the Italian federation is surely not forking over the moolah, so we have to make do with the crap that the left over money can afford us. Hold your loved ones, fellow Italians! Things are sure to get worse with this formula then they are to get better.

well maybe they can put an asterik next to lippi's 2009 -2010 team as well

and donadoni was a failure...losing 3-0 to holland and tie romania...only to barely beat a 10 man france...he also failed to create ANY scoring chances against Spain


even if italy lost 12-0 against spain, it was still a huge achievement to get to the final with the teams italy had to beat. Nothing to be ashamed of

Everyone just ignore Scorp...cough cough I mean Cyclonis cough cough. Scorp, or Cyclonis I should say, dude it's obvious by your writing style, redundant and non sense opinions and most clearly by your choice in your avatar that your Cyclonis with another username...bro give it up....as DDR said it's pathetic

What is really pathetic are those people trying to cling onto the edifice of a crumbling past, as the federation knocks down the walls, brick by brick.

We have a new style of play, do we? Let's see how many trophies it brings us, not including the Confederations. Afterall, what is style with no substance? I'm certain however, that if we were to fail in Brasil, many here would still defend Prandelli no matter what.

I suppose that is logical in some ways, b/c no matter what we think or how we feel, we just have to take the decisions the federation makes at face value. Still, so long as I have a place where I can put down my dissenting opinion, even if it goes unheard, or uncared about, I will do so, b/c it makes me feel better. In the end, we all want the same thing, that is, to become a winning team again. I just disagree in the manner in which we arrive there.

How can someone who claims to have had to google Miccoli because he didn't know who he was, educate anyone on anything calcio related?

But aren't you the one who wants 10 man behind the ball Capello, rather than the new approach Prandelli has instilled?

It was one game. You can't ignore all the others in that tournament without being questioned as unreasonable.

This is the national team forum, so why am I going to spend time talking about someone who is not even on the team? My cousin Pasquale, was a good goalkeeper back in the day....

People keep saying that they can't believe how well we played against England. Oh, we dominated England! This and that! If it is true that Italy has never played that well, then I find it remarkable that they were able to win 4 world cups. For all the ball possesion, we could not score a single goal! Nada! We coughed up the lead against Spain in the first game, were horrible against Croatia and then had to rely on scoring from set pieces against the Irish along with some help from the Spanish to get into the 2nd round. And Cassano did not have an assist to Balotelli until the semi-finals, which was also his last contribution to the team, despite jogging for the first 45 in the final.

After 2010, we needed to win. I don't care what the media told people to think, Italy was always supposed to make this final. It was not a surprise. The only surprise was the large margin of defeat after Prandelli screwed the pooch and left us bleeding to death on the field. And if that wasn't bad enough, they have given him a 2nd chance!

After setting records for historical losses, is it so bad to want to set a record for something positive like winning for a change? And let us be frank, the only thing that matters in Brasil is winning, not how fancy, smancy our style is. If that is too hard, then perhaps the critics are right and this generation of Italians does not have the courage to fight to be the best, like the others of the past have. I mean, Prandelli forced us to play with a heart patient that had not seen action all year, a decision that cost us the final, and people are applauding him for it? You don't need to google Miccoli to know that wasn't smart.