France vs. Italia 17/6/08 [R]

[Reazzurro90]

Well the Italians are always complaining that nobody likes their team and the blatant refusal to actually play football is why.

Who really cares if you like the team or not?

All I care about is if we do ourselves proud.

Although I really didn't see much "letting the French attack and bundling up", even if we did, Italy can. A team can defend itself, believe it or not - it's still soccer.

Look at you Dutch. You've been known for your beautiful, attacking game for years now ("total football") - yet, what do you really have to show for it? Two World Cup second place achievements and a European championship?

Even little Greece, for all the criticisms that team has been bludgeoned with for being very defense-minded (what else would they be against a strong attacking team?), won the Euro 2004.

For me, the sport is always beautiful. But if Italy could win the next three World Cups just playing "hideous" soccer as you term it, I would take that in a heartbeat.

[ultraprime]

I am not sure what more some of you want from us.:(

Well, here's a short list:

To not go down when a slight breeze hits you.

To not embellish minor fouls to make it look like a sniper shot you.

To not complain about EVERY SINGLE call that goes against you.

Start with those and we'll go from there. :D

[forza_azzurri]

Well, here's a short list:

To not go down when a slight breeze hits you.

To not embellish minor fouls to make it look like a sniper shot you.

To not complain about EVERY SINGLE call that goes against you.

Start with those and we'll go from there. :D

This list holds true for every footballing nation in the world.

Forget what your grandfather or father have told you.

The WWII is over ...no need to hate Italians anymore :D

[shalom82]

Well, here's a short list:

To not go down when a slight breeze hits you.

To not embellish minor fouls to make it look like a sniper shot you.

To not complain about EVERY SINGLE call that goes against you.

Start with those and we'll go from there. :D

Really, there's no need to bring Portugal into this.;)

[Gandalf The Red]

no, just sound tactics. no problem.?

Disgusting:mad:

[guignol]

I get upset when people here offend my nationality. As for "playing football", we have created chance after chance this tournament. For some reason Luca Toni has not been able to knock even one in. But we are certainly playing football. With a 1-0 lead everything changes [...] I am not sure what more some of you want from us

To not go down when a slight breeze hits you.
To not embellish minor fouls to make it look like a sniper shot you.
To not complain about EVERY SINGLE call that goes against you.
these bother me much more than any so-called catenaccio. scotland and gers are much worse than italy for refusing to play. if the shoe had been on the other foot tuesday, we would have played exactly the same way.

believe me, it's not the nationality per se. i've lived in italy, and really love the country and the people. i have plenty of italian friends, i play football with them every sunday morning, we even kiss each other on the cheeks when we meet, which between men is not as common as all that. but even kicking the ball around among pals... these guys cheat :D !

[shalom82]

Disgusting:mad:

Why disgusting? And why all the anger?
Personally, I really enjoy italian football.
I also happen to think that it's an acquired taste. The 2003 CL final between Juventus and Milan was IMO a perfect game, a tactical game where none of the teams made mistakes.

I understand the idea by which spectacular plays and lots of goals is the point of football, but quality does not necessarily = spectacular & entertaining.

Take a chess match between two amateurs, every move will result in a taken pawn. Take a match between Gary Kasparov and Anatoli Karpov, and it'll be hours before anyone makes such a move.

My point is that at their best, Italy has turned extreme defence into an art, one that anybody with true understanding of soccer must appreciate. Then, one is free to prefer other styles of course, but the Italian style is legitimate, intelligent and it certainly works for them.