Netherlands vs Italy - Monday 9th June [r]

[DonMancini]

Be careful what you wish for

I agree, let's not jynx this :p haha

[AFCA]

What do we care who is injured ??

We want your BEST !!!:D

No you don't :D

[feyenoord_for_life]

He limped off the training pitch that's all. Poor AFCA is a bag o' nerves.

you can add me to that list. i almost had a heart attack. next to van der sar hes the one guy i dont think we can afford to lose :)

[Campioni_2006]

Pirlo is overrated.

Really? I find that he's one of the most underrated players in recent years.
Never quite heard anyone say that he's overrated..

[grodada]

Really? I find that he's one of the most underrated players in recent years.
Never quite heard anyone say that he's overrated..

I agree
he's probably one of the best (if not the best) midfield in the world and it hurts me to say that about an Italian ;)

[forza_azzurri]

I agree, let's not jynx this :p haha

Here's a jinx ........

Outside the World Cup hangover of early qualifying ....The Azzurri have been a stable strong team that finished first in the Qualifying group of death.

Netherlands barely finished 2nd in a weak group G.

The ball is round and anything could happen ....BUT it is The Dutch and their fans who will be losing sleep prior to this game ...NOT the World Champs !!!:cool:

[grodada]

Here's a jinx ........

Outside the World Cup hangover of early qualifying ....The Azzurri have been a stable strong team that finished first in the Qualifying group of death.

Netherlands barely finished 2nd in a weak group G.

The ball is round and anything could happen ....BUT it is The Dutch and their fans who will be losing sleep prior to this game ...NOT the World Champs !!!:cool:

do I smell a bit of overconfidence? do I hear champagne bottles poppin'? how familiar is that? :D

[Nickless]

Originally Posted by Campioni_2006 http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/bigsoccer/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=14795331#post14795331)
Really? I find that he's one of the most underrated players in recent years.
Never quite heard anyone say that he's overrated..

That's partly true indeed. Pirlo plays on a position which is underrated in general. A couple of years ago, Pirlo was indeed underrated, but after the World Cup (In which I thought he deserved the prize for best player), he became rated by most of us. Pirlo, in essence, is one of the best midfielders (if not, the best) playing the game of soccer. However, he plays in such a style, that it isn't spectacular. That's why these kind of players get underrated very much. I always have rated Pirlo, although, I think that certain people indeed are overrating him. Here on the Dutch telly, they go on and on about how good he really is. Sometimes it's too much of a praise. Maybe it is not a form of overrating Pirlo, but more a form of underrating Dutch players. For example, on television shows in Holland, they keep on talking about Toni, and how Holland will face big problems defending him. Almost 80% of the discussion about the Holland-Italy game goes about this. In a way, these discussions are right to mention the danger of Toni, however, they never once mentoin that it could also be possible that Italy should be scared of a player like van Nistelrooij, who is nothing less then Toni. That's why it sometimes seems that Pirlo, and other players, are overrated by the media, however, in fact, they are underrating their own players.

When I think of Pirlo, I think of a player which does (almost) nothing wrong, has a great pass, sight, and shot, and he likes to offer himself for the team. Not many midfielders of his class are able to do that. However, one point of criticism on Pirlo, which has nothing to do with his football abilities, but more on a game I once saw in the Champions League. In this game (QF: AC Milan vs. PSV), Pirlo was playing as he always plays, thus, very good. At one moment, the PSV-Coach (Hiddink), tries to change something in the game and gave a 16-year old player (Ismaïl Aissati) a great chance, playing Pirlo on his debut. Pirlo, in this game, was totally outplayed by this 16-year old, who gave us the notion that Pirlo also was just human.

[DaveyGorgeous]

do I smell a bit of overconfidence? do I hear champagne bottles poppin'? how familiar is that? :D

I don't think that's overconfidence. That's just facts: Italy did finish first in the Qualifying Group of Death and Netherlands finished 2nd in a weaker group.

[grodada]

I don't think that's overconfidence. That's just facts: Italy did finish first in the Qualifying Group of Death and Netherlands finished 2nd in a weaker group.

ok but how is it relevant for group C ?

[forza_azzurri]

ok but how is it relevant for group C ?

Netherlands and Italy are both in group C :confused:

[Nickless]

Netherlands and Italy are both in group C :confused:

One sentence, which I quote, "Past performance is no guarantee for future results".

[forza_azzurri]

One sentence, which I quote, "Past performance is no guarantee for future results".

Where do you see the word guarantee anywhere in this thread ??

[Nickless]

Where do you see the word guarantee anywhere in this thread ??

Nowhere, but you have to see such a sentence in perspective. The performances in the qualification tournament, have actually no (direct) influences on the performances on the actual last stage of the tournament. Indeed, if you'd underperform (like England) in the qualification stage, there is a direct influence, because you wouldn't be on the tournament in the first place. However, when speaking of the game of Holland vs. Italy, there is not an influence of how both countries performed in the qualification stage, and therefore it isn't relevant in the discussion about how this game will evolve.

[grodada]

Where do you see the word guarantee anywhere in this thread ??

previous page:

BUT it is The Dutch and their fans who will be losing sleep prior to this game ...NOT the World Champs !!!

that's why I answered about overconfidence

[forza_azzurri]

previous page:

Where do you see the word guarantee ?

That statement clearly suggests that Italy are the favourites .

Even the most die hard Dutch fan would agree with that.

[feyenoord_for_life]

I think its safe to say that our last 4-5 friendlies have been our best under Marco's reign. Our 1-1 draw with Denmark has left everyone buzzing (we missed about 3-4 literal tap-ins). We've finally rediscovered our attacking prowress (it only took 3 years;) ). Yes they are only friendlies, so you can only take so much out of it, but confidence is extremely high within our country and for the first time under van basten we actually believe we can win it. all of our key players have come off fantastic season with their clubs and we feel we have momentum.

we say we'll be happy with a draw, but we expect a win just as much as you guys do.

im just hoping to see great football, with the table slighty tilted in favor of the dutch of course;)

[grodada]

Where do you see the word guarantee ?


nowhere, you talked about garantee, I didn't :rolleyes:

[forza_azzurri]

nowhere, you talked about garantee, I didn't :rolleyes:

When did I say "guarantee" ?

You do know that the word "prior" means before the game and NOT afterwards.

[feyenoord_for_life]

just out of curiosity? to all the italiens out there. be humble for a second. what would you describe as your greatest weakness on the pitch? (im not passing it off to van basten i promise)

i'll start. we're scared s**tless that mathijsen will be starting. our defence is actually relatively strong. Mathijsen is a decent defender but he makes 1-2 bonehead moves a game. he wasnt caught because recent friendlies were only against the likes of wales and denmark. we know that if its Luca Toni, were going home early.