Alert: COPA DEL MONDO 2014: GROUP STAGE (1) ITALY VS ENGLAND, MANAUS, AMAZONAS, BRAZIL

Discussion in 'Italy: National Teams' started by world cup lover, Jan 28, 2014.

  1. world cup lover

    world cup lover Red Card

    Jan 25, 2014
    Not confident. Draw I reckon if not a loss. What do you guys think?
     
  2. Taib

    Taib Member+

    Lazio
    Italy
    Sep 7, 2007
    Club:
    SS Lazio Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    A win.

    England will not know what hit them with conditions. Technically and tactifully very limited. A mediocre team at best. I think we have very little to worry about as shown in Euro 2012.
     
  3. world cup lover

    world cup lover Red Card

    Jan 25, 2014
    #3 world cup lover, Jan 28, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2014
    Are we going to finish our chances tho? vs Spain, Croatia and England at euro 2012 we missed a hatful of chances and should have been out of sight. At least vs Croatia and England. Also same against Germany. We should have won that game 4-0.
     
  4. Taib

    Taib Member+

    Lazio
    Italy
    Sep 7, 2007
    Club:
    SS Lazio Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    How many teams have kept clean sheets against us? Not many. I would say only Spain consistently. We have a very reliable attack.

    I would be worried about us giving them a sloppy goal. We are much better team then England. If we can can not see ourselves beating England then we are just making up the numbers. There are teams that are ten times better then England.
     
  5. world cup lover

    world cup lover Red Card

    Jan 25, 2014
    I hope you are right.
     
  6. Taib

    Taib Member+

    Lazio
    Italy
    Sep 7, 2007
    Club:
    SS Lazio Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    I do not see the point of being pessemistic even before a ball has been kicked.

    Looking at the match objectively we hold the advantadges. We have been to Brazil before and more importantly we are the better team. I do not see any reason why we should fear them or a result. If's, but's and maybe's can wait after the match.
     
  7. Parcae

    Parcae Member

    Nov 3, 2013
    Italy have a miserable record in the early matches of World Cups:

    1994 - lost their opening match, ended with 4 points and were lucky to go on
    1998 - 7 points but drew their opening match against Chile (a mid-ranked team, much like England now)
    2002 - won their opening match but were lucky to scrape through with 4 points
    2006 - tied their opening match, again against a mediocre team (the US), this time with an own goal
    2010 - the less said the better

    In 5 tournaments, then, Italy have only won their opening game once. We are definitely a much better team than England, but history is not on our side. I expect us to scrape through the group, but we are by no means certain of first place. Overconfidence has always been Italy's enemy early on; the players and coach are generally already thinking of subsequent rounds and tend to struggle until they hit the knockout stages.
     
  8. world cup lover

    world cup lover Red Card

    Jan 25, 2014
    Great write up. Let's not forget 1982 when we drew all 3 group games then went on to win the tournament. 2006 the USA was our second game but point still remains we needed a result in our final game to assure qualification.

    Euro's are much the same.

    1996 - exit group stage

    2004 - exit group stage

    2008 - only won our final group game to scrape through and needed Holland to do us a favour vs Romania

    2012 - same thing. won our final group game and could have been eliminated if Spain and Croatia dogged us with a 1-1 score line.
     
  9. meazza

    meazza Member+

    Jul 12, 2013
    in 2006, Italy won 2/3 games and finished the group top with 7 points. I wouldn't call that miserable.
     
  10. Nek Sanalet

    Nek Sanalet Member+

    AC Milan
    Italy
    Dec 30, 2013
    NYC
    Club:
    AC Milan
    All true other than we played Ghana in 06 to start and won 2-0 on goals by Pirlo and Iaquinta. I think the fact that we are matched up against England to open up the World Cup is a good thing. I think Italy will come to play early. You know Balotelli is showing up for sure. At worst we will draw against the Three Lions. We are vastly superior, and they will park the bus. They also won't know what hit them with the weather, and unlike us did not play the Confederations to get a clue of the humidity. On top of that Roy Hodgson criticized the tropical venue and offended the local populace. The mayor of that city said the whole town will be rooting for Italy and booing England during the game. That means we will have somewhat of a home field advantage (though English fans travel well). I think it would be a major shock if a minimum of 1 point isn't claimed. My prediction is we win by one goal and dominate play.
     
  11. LToni

    LToni Member

    Nov 25, 2007
    toronto
    Club:
    AC Milan
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    This will be a repeat of euro 12 except england won't be so lucky this time around. Im predicting a 3-0 or 3-1 italy win. If Rossi gets the green light, Italy will easily win the group.
     
  12. Daei_10

    Daei_10 Member+

    Aug 22, 2007
    LA, California
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    if i remember correctly, in 2006 first game was against Czech which italy won 2-0 starting with a nice pirlo goal

    US was 2nd game, Ghana was last game....that was a great finish

    That 2006 no one scored a goal on italy....only 2 goals conceded the whole tournament; own goal against US and penalty against France (which shouldnt have even been called)
     
  13. Daei_10

    Daei_10 Member+

    Aug 22, 2007
    LA, California
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    as far as England game, u never know which italy team will show up. If they show up to their potential, i say England is toast, it'll be something humiliating like 3-0 or something. I think England deserves that, i really have been wishing to see the day italy hammers England and puts them in their place to let them know italian football is superior to English kick and rush they call football

    but like others said, my fear of italy in any game is giving aways stupid sloppy goals. If the defense can keep it together and focused, italy can go very very very far in this tournament. We need my Juve boys, especially chiellini and bonucci on their top game....as great as they are, they have moments of stupidity
     
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  14. Taib

    Taib Member+

    Lazio
    Italy
    Sep 7, 2007
    Club:
    SS Lazio Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    No, our first game at the 2006 World Cup was against Ghana and won 2-0. Our last game was against the Czech Republic which we won 2-0 as well.
     
  15. Nek Sanalet

    Nek Sanalet Member+

    AC Milan
    Italy
    Dec 30, 2013
    NYC
    Club:
    AC Milan
    Yes we beat the Czechs in the last group match. I remember Nesta got hurt during the first half and never played again in the tournament. His replacement scored a goal…none other than Materazzi. I think Inzaghi scored the second goal.
     
  16. Parcae

    Parcae Member

    Nov 3, 2013
    Yeah, sorry about that. Thinking back, I think I had work and didn't get to see the actual first match, so for some reason I remembered the USA matchup as the first match.

    Anyway, the point stands: Italy underperforms early in tournaments, so the fact that we are a better team than England, while true, is not a guarantee of victory.
     
  17. Deleted User x

    Deleted User x Member+

    Mar 21, 2006
    #17 Deleted User x, Feb 1, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2014
    True that. Italy usually loses or draws the opening match regardless of the opponent.

    Italy dominated England in Euro 2012 but squandered so many chances. The record books will show that the Azzurri needed pk's to beat England which is flattering to The Three Lions.

    If they were to face England in the second or third group game I would be more optimistic. Facing them in the opening game will be interesting.
     
  18. Parcae

    Parcae Member

    Nov 3, 2013
    On the flip side (and I know I'm arguing against myself here), Italy's habit of underperforming early on is linked to our general habit of underperforming against mid-ranked teams and overperforming against good ones. Consider 2006, for example, when teams like Australia and the US gave us at least as much trouble (arguably more) than France or Germany. This means that, if you consider England and Uruguay to be "good" teams (doubtful, especially for England), we should perform well against them.

    Being in the Group of Death might actually be beneficial for us, especially when combined with the fact that we aren't favorites to win. The players might not take getting to the next round for granted, the way they usually do.
     
  19. totti fan

    totti fan Red Card

    Jun 24, 2010
    Club:
    SSC Napoli
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    Using Italy's performance in the last 10 or so years (since WC '02) in tournaments as a guide/predictor because that is the period of time that will have the most influence on the current players psyche/experience. And of course past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour.

    WC '02 - strong early performance beat Ecuador 2 nil, although went defensive and came under pressure later in the match
    EC '04 - 0-0 Denmark in 40 celsius/100 fahrenheit temperature. Italy played well but were unlucky with Denmark goalie man of the match
    WC '06 - Strong 2 nil v Ghana. Prompted Blatter to say that Italy were the team of the tournament (thus far) after the first match
    EC '08 - 3 nil loss against Netherlands.
    CF '09 - 3-1 v USA. Although Italy were losing for the first hour.
    WC '10 - 1-1 against Paraguay. In what is a poor tournament for Italy this is probably their best performance over 90m.
    EC '12 - 1-1 against a highly favoured Spain side.
    CF'13- 2-1 v Mexico. A score that flatters Mexico

    Record in opening matches since '02 - 4/3/1

    Italy has a reasonable record in opening matches and generally the opening match has been a good bellweather for how Italy is likely to play and perform later in the tournament.

    In '06, '12 and '13 strong early matches set the tone for successful tournaments.
    In '04, '08, '09, '10 shaky early performances preceeded early exits from the tournament.
    As seen v Ecuador in '02 Italy's approach of score early and defend later was an approach that saw them eliminated against S Korea.
     
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  20. Deleted User x

    Deleted User x Member+

    Mar 21, 2006
    Don't forget they got smoked by Holland in the Euro Cup opening game.

    Edit: after reading totti fan's post it is clear that Italy isn't really that bad in opening games since 02.
     
  21. Deleted User x

    Deleted User x Member+

    Mar 21, 2006
    Well that and convicted heroin trafficker Byron Moreno doing all he could to ensure that FIFA's plan for the host nation to go far happens.
     
  22. Vulpinous

    Vulpinous Moderator
    Staff Member

    Mar 15, 2007
    Jersey Shore
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    I see this game going just like the Euros, except a stronger Italy.
     
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  23. LToni

    LToni Member

    Nov 25, 2007
    toronto
    Club:
    AC Milan
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    #23 LToni, Feb 16, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2014
    England will arrive home before the postcards.


    Also Its been reported that Fifa will allow water breaks every 30 minutes during the game.
     
  24. Waliatiger

    Waliatiger Member+

    Jul 1, 2013
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    An easy win for Italy. England is seriously lacking in every position this is the weakest England NT in recent memory.
     
  25. Deleted User x

    Deleted User x Member+

    Mar 21, 2006
    Music to my ears. :)
     
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