I really have had a gutful of all the anti italian crap and all the jealousy. Whenever Italy wins a game we were lucky according to many people i know. But when we lose its totally fair. Never get credit where its due from many people, especially in Australia where they all became experts after one game in 2006 '' Italy are divers, cheaters '' Yet if asked to name another Italy game where an Italian player dived they couldnt tell you if their life depended on it. '' Materazzi got Zidane sent off '' Are you ********ing kidding me? What is this kindergarten? The idiot got himself sent off. It doesn't matter what was said right or wrong. Zidane like any other adult in the real world is responsible for his own actions. These idiotic Australian dead beats mention nothing about the red card. Their logic was '' If Grosso didnt dive and the penalty wasn't given, Australia would have gone on to win the game '' Ok lets say that is true, lets use that same logic to the red card then. Italy was in control of the game. Gilardino and Toni were having chance after chance. Sooner or later one of those would have been taken as we were creating numerous of them. Italy would have won the game if the red card didnt happen as it was also controversial. Yesterday a friend of mine said '' yes! sucked in '' when i told her Italy had lost. Her family wanted Italy to lose the euro final to spain last year because '' we'd never hear the end of it if Italy won '' VA FUNCULO! My mate reckons Italy won vs germany in the semi final 2012 because Germany were cocky and arrogant. Ignore the fact that Italy had a great euro, played awesome football, is the 2nd most successful nation in world football and played them off the park. But Germany underestimated Italy. Ignore the fact theyve never beaten us in a major tournament. Same guy also said England had their chances in that quarter final. Yeah, ignore the fact we had about ten more good chances. When watching highlights with me vs the czechs in the recent qualifier, after the very first 2 shots the czech's had, he reckons Italy should have got smashed based on that. Really? so 2 shots on goal ten minutes in and that's it? we should have got smashed? Call it quits end the game there. Friggin idiot. Granted the czechs did deserve to win that game and could have beat us by 2 or 3 if they had taken their chances. But thats the kind of idiotic logic i have to hear. Always this one eyed bullshit where they dont give italy any credit, they just see the positives for the other team and thats it. Would love to win another trophy just to rub it in the haters faces. Morons.
Who cares? Honestly, I laugh when people hate on Italy. It used to bother me but after a while, it feels good to be hated on like that - means we're doing something right. Besides, why do I care about their opinion? Unless they are Brazilian, then they shouldn't talk. We have 4 World Cup wins, a rich history, a great team currently, and class. Take comfort in that and ignore the haters.
You are right. But I guess what it comes down to is they should keep it to themselves. I dont go around saying to them '' I can't stand Croatia I hope they lose. Theyre ********ing cheating cunts '' etc
I agree dude. It's because they have no class and most of us Italians do. It's really that simple and the fact that many are just jealous of not only Italy's success, but our culture. At least that's my take on it. It's ignorant racism but I'm over it and don't pay any mind to it.
We have the best cars, food, clothes, coffee, machines, the baddest bitches and best football. Of course they're gonna hate. Fuck 'em.
Yep well said. They're jealous and they think we're stuck up because many of us are well off. They think we were born rich. We worked like dogs our whole lives and deserve our riches. Maybe if they did what we did instead of talking shit, they would be successful.
When it used to bother me, I heard it more. It's like you attract it if it bothers you more. I don't deny it exists, but I don't give a flying fvck anymore. That was like dozens of years ago, around the time when Italy could have captured #4, circa 1990-94, and when the British, who may be slightly over coming their superior inferiority complex, had a shit league. I say slightly, because even though it's been richer lately, and almost won a little more, they still suffer from that inferiority complex. For a while now, I don't give a rats ass. Most people rattle off what the media says, and of course themultitude of cliche's the commentators constantly mumble. It may be subtle, but the disdain is typical from the British guys, though our American commentators are hardly better and I imagine the Aussie ones are not either. I found Aussies to be very sore losers Fvkc em, fvck em all. Now that it doesn't bother me, I hardly hear it, or bother to pay attention. When I do, I start talking about how awesome some Italian player is (insert name:_______) talk about some clever goal, play, or save they made and I put up a big smile. Hey, if they're gonna hate, give em something to hate about, but be nice about it. It's actually pretty entertaining. Picture this... "I hate Italy, they cheat and dive all the time...I'm glad Spain beat them 4-0" etc etc Smile and say "Man but what do you think of Pirlo? He was so awesome against England and Germany, world class performances, there aren't many at his level. Spain has one maybe, but Pirlo is separate from the rest, wouldn't you agree?" Are they seriously going to say anything to that? If they do say something ala Sheva07, that Pirlo sucks or something, just shake your head in bewilderment and say "What?!? Oh come on now, no need to get carried away!" Just turn it into a positive, don't let it bother you. or "Did you know that Buffon has a 16 year save percentage record? I heard he shattered the previous goalies record!" Even if it's not true, it's not like they're going to know. Most of the time I see people who talk like that internalize it all and get more depressed...lol... let er be!
it used to be bothering before italy won 2006 and made 2012 euro final. This is what i tell people...is italy has done good on multiple generations...30s world cups, 68 euros, 70 wc finalist, 82 wc winner, 90 wc 3rd place, 94 wc finalist, 2000 euro finalist, 2006 wc winner, 2012 euro finalist i mean look at all the different generations that they were at least top 2 in the world. That doesnt come accidentally or with some dives and bad ref calls lol
Okay I'm going to play devil's advocate here. We Italians don't make ourselves very likeable when it comes to this game -- and the way we win our games doesn't exactly win fans. We dive plenty, just like any other team (though I think the extent to which we're blamed for it is exaggerated), we have a domestic league whose reputation has been tarnished by game-fixing and other types of corruption, we have more racist fans and incidents than any other country in western Europe, and our infrastructure sucks in comparison to that of the other big leagues. When we win in the big tournaments, we often do so in very unspectacular fashion and eek out results against minnow underdogs that non-Italians often root for. Couple that with the fact that we Italians have a legendary and age-old tradition of corruption outside of this game both in Italy and abroad, an American diaspora that seems to take pride in that fact (think how many Italian restaurants do you walk into with pictures of mafiosi on the walls - real life or silver screen?), the fact that our urban populations comprise some of the most ignorant and racist neighborhoods in the big cities (at least in the US), compound this all with the negative portrayal in the media of our people (think Jersey Shore, just to scrape the surface), and you have a recipe for not being so likeable. Just my $.02.
^Yeah I agree it goes both ways. When we beat England in the Euro's there were more classless posts by Italian fans towards English than I could count. Never stoop down to the level of your adversaries. Always take the high road. Unfortunately there are Italian football players who personify the ego and bitterness that fans hold against us (the Totti's, and the Materazzi's etc.) but thankfully there are at least some Italian players that did marvels for the countries reputation like Zola and Baggio etc. You don't have to be a dick to win, especially during celebrations. You can be humble and still be a champ. If we were to scratch out Spain next year in a big game, that fan (or fans) of Spain that rubbed it in your face two years ago; just say to him: "hey man, Spain played well, good game." And that's it.
^^^Most Italians aren't a "good sport" when it comes to calcio. For example when i was in Italy last year visiting family we went down to the Milan bar to watch a match, i believe it was Fiorentina and we lost. At the end of the game i said "Fiorentina played a good match and we looked lazy" Man i got some nasty looks followed by countless ass chewings lol They didn't want to see it my way and they blamed the ref's, weather, opposing players diving, the field....you name it and they blamed it, except for Milan itself because they did nothing wrong hahaha.
I agree, just a few additional points: We are labeled as divers, but what I'm seeing is a big difference between the Italians of early 2000s and before and our new generation. We have a ton of tough midfielders now and I've noticed considerably less writhing in pain than before. Other national team bases are way worse at their worst. Football hooligans & the arrogance that I see from a country that has won very little is mind boggling. The one real criticism I have for Italian fanbases, and this is mostly relevant to actual Italians rather than 2nd or 3rd generation Italians whose parents have emigrated from Italy, is the racism. It's awful. There is no excuse for it. I have family near Lazio and I know that it is a serious problem in Italy and it really bothers me to see it. Both Balotelli & El Shaarawy are Italians, and I'm sick of hearing intolerant people saying extremely dumb things suggesting otherwise. In Canada, if one incident happens at a hockey game that is racist, its a big deal. For example a guy in a local town at a hockey game through an object on the ice, and he literally was outed by the media, humiliated. I feel as though certain areas in Europe are way to complacent on this issue.
Just a few weeks ago I was watching Italy v Brasil match at a local bar and all the crap I had to hear from all those Limeys and all there critiscim of Italy was just awfull especially with all comments about Balotelli and Abate . My favorite was that England would be able to beat both teams . Luckily for me the owner of the Pub a Indian chap who pent many years in the U.K. and huge admirer of Calcio who once told me that his favorite player was Luigi Riva shut them up. Next thing this Irish guy was yapping I was able to shut up by asking him how Ireland fared against Italy in 6 nations Rugby this year.
I totally agree about the racisim in Italy it is hoorible and something has to be done At the same time look at the people who are causing this shit.
Irish dude yapping? They have Trap for crying out load. The others make me laugh really. I remember the English commentator calling Diamanti a West Ham reject last Euro. Who popped in the winning pk? In Your Face!
Only reason Diamanti didn't last was because he isn't a midfielder who runs in a straight line in a flat 4-4-2.
I think most of it has to do with jealousy. Every country has corruption and racism...it's just that other countries do a much better job of hiding it. Don't think for a minute Spain and England are squeaky clean. What it comes down to is expectations. Italians have always been admired for their fine art, food, culture, fashion, cars, music, etc. Most people expect our calcio teams to perform magic every time they are out on the field. When our team wins "ugly" we never hear the end of it. When Spain eeks out 1-0 wins or PK wins, they are praised for their possession game which can be very defensive. Sure, there are some serious problems in Italy right now. The economy is in a really tough situation. The politics are more broken than ever. The youth are depressed. The birthrate is low. People have lost faith and not just in the religious sense. But, amid all that, you still have talent coming up through the youth system. Players like Balotelli, SES, Insigne, Verratti, etc. are still produced even in tough times. What does that show? In the end, this game is in our blood. We live it, eat it, breathe it. And, we are ONE World Cup away from being up there as the most decorated team in World Cup history. That is going to get under a lot of people's skin.