2002 was garbage. I refuse to count that tournament as legit with all the cheating that happened. Euro 2012 hurt because injuries robbed Italy of a shot at a championship. That's the only brain fart that Prandelli made in that tournament. 2010....yikes...
The most heartbreaking Azzurri loss? All of them... How many times have we gone out in either penalties or injury time in the most dramatic of circumstances? With the exception of 2002, I would say pretty much every major tournament has been ridiculously heartbreaking.
My blood still boils watching that. Truly pathetic, absolutely scandalous and pure idiocy that ********ing world cup in 2002. The worst part of that is even if we did beat Korea Totti would have had to sit out the game vs Spain on the worst red card decision Ive ever seen. Italy bias aside, you could have even called that a penalty! But a yellow for diving, when Totti clearly got tripped up???
The best part of 2002 was that all the traditional Italy haters were failing to acknowledge just how shocking the officiating was. Then, it happens to Spain, and all of a sudden it's a scandal. Throw in the bad calls against Portugal for good measure.
I live in vancouver and I remember when Spain won euro 2008 there was about 15-20 Spanish celebrating. Then in Euro 2012 there was hundreds of "Spanish" South Americans.
No doubt for me 2002. I will never forgive for that bullshit. The whole tournament, as far as I'm concerned, should be wiped from history. It was a disgrace. Watching Italy v South Korea made me sick to my stomach and completely turned me off of the game.
yea exactly what i say. i dont ever count that tournament. teams were cheated so that korea and japan can go far. lots of good teams went out early....brazil didnt deserve to win that one. the attendance was low so they had to have korea reach semis to pack the stadiums.
Brazil's route to the final was a joke. A group with Turkey, Costa Rica, and China. Round of 16 game vs Belgium, QF vs England, SF vs Turkey, and finally Germany in the final. Two tough games the entire tournament. What a sham! Good ole Septic Bladder! I hope they don't pull any BS this time just to keep the angry hosts happy.
Im expecting buncha controvertial shit to go brazil's way so that they can win it all and keep the country happy. brazilian people are mad and anything less than a final they would burn the place down. lol italy better win the group to avoid them in quarters cuz FIFA will not allow brazil to go out in quarters...and def. not to Italy!
If Brazil win their group and Italia finishes 2nd place in D, we're f*cked lol. Neymar's diving will be our death. As long as Italy does it's job and stays on the other side of the bracket we will be fine. Despite FIFA's cheating, I think Brazil will still fail to win the cup. I don't think this group is good enough despite having an excellent coach. I think they are mentally soft as well. This newer generation of players lack the mental fortitude of their predecessors. I think the new Germans are the same way as well. The old Germany would have won a cup by now. Here's to a good tournament and hopefully Italia doesn't get screwed like in '02!
It already happened in the Confederations Cup. Brazil manhandled Spain in the final and got away with everything. The fact that so many observers and pundits are already saying that Brazil need to make the final's at minimum to placate disgruntled citizens is a bad omen. I could see another 2002 happening all over again to be honest. That World Cup was an absolute sham, and this 2014 Brazil side is not a powerhouse on any level. Will anyone be shocked if FIFA helped them along with phantom offsides, red cards in favor of a diving Neymar (who is so overrated, he makes Balotelli seem like Maradona), and soft penalties given to the home team. I would like to think FIFA has risen above all that, but with the human cesspool that is Sepp Blatter…don't hold your breath.
Easiest sport to have an official/organization totally manipulate a game. Flash a red card and put a team down to ten men will shift any advantage. Call a soft penalty or raise the offside flag one or two times on a legit goal…even teams like Spain, Germany, Argentina, and Italy can't overcome that against a quality side like Brazil (regardless if they are superior). The last two World Cups were mostly free of controversy, but this one is shaping up to have all sorts of social/political ramifications if the host country doesn't deliver. I'm not really a conspiracy type of person, but when Blatter is running the show how much faith can one truly possess. Look at all the news about Qatar….we are talking about a diseased organization with zero ethics and no sense of morals. They have no problems with slave labor being imported to build stadiums, or countless workers dying while building up their WC hosting infrastructure.
Some interesting comments here. I wonder how much FIFA would care past the quarters for Brazil? They'd have their money already so what does it matter. One will have to look at how refs are chosen too. They should be kept in secured locations so nobody can 'get to' them. Having said that... Brazil does have a very strong team (on paper at least) and if we run into them in quarters (because we finished 2nd in our group), then it's partly our own fault.
People here seem to think that all Italy has to do is place 1st in their group to avoid the other side of the bracket that Brazil should be in for the knockout should Brazil place 1st in their group, but should Brazil place 2nd in their group and Italy 1st then Brazil would wind up in Italy's side of the bracket for the knockout stage and could face Italy as soon as the quarters. In theory Brazil "should" win their group but you never know? If Brazil places 2nd in their group then I would rather us place 2nd too and end up on the opposite side of the bracket....plus it looks like that side would wind up being the easier side should Brazil place 2nd and end up on the other side...but you never know how all the other groups will play out? Have fun here....sorry if this link was posted earlier http://games.espn.go.com/world-cup-bracket-predictor/2014/en/entry
Brazil and Spain are the top two favorite teams for the casual fan. Brazil making it to at least the semi-finals is good for TV ratings. Add an angry public and the risk of riots into the equation and it makes sense for FIFA to do everything they can to get Brazil to at least the final 4.
Well said! Brazil will get favours when needed. If they go behind like they did against belgium in 2002 theres a good chance the goal will get waved off etc.
No chance Brazil finishes 2nd. They will every game in a canter. Id be surprised if any team in group A gets within 2 goals of them.
In 2002, everyone was saying ' deal with it. It happended to other teams. Sour grapes and stop whinging you sore losers '' The Australians were the worst. Then 4 years later when they got knocked out ' you cheating cunts. we were robbed '' funny how 4 years later they were the biggest whinging crying sore loser ********s out there. They didnt even mention the fact we played with 10 men and it changed the whole complexion of the game.
are u talking about 2006 game between italy and australia ? that whole thing was comical....not only did australia made it out of the group stage for the first time in their life but they had the audacity to think they deserve to go through to QF ??? LOL some people need to know their place...for teams like that just making it out of the group should be enough...to expect to not only go thru but to beat a former champion is just comical to me. especially the fact that they had only 1 chance that whole game. lol
IIRC, Lucas Neil (what was he doing on the ground in the first place?) was not only confident they would have gone through against Italy, even though they had some 60+ minutes to score against 10 men on a bogus red, but he was also confident that they would have beaten Ukraine, essentially because he says so. Don't get me wrong, that was a soft penalty call, but you can't just lie on the ground and try to make a play on the ball, miss, and then complain. I mean, you can, but you come off as a whiny b.
The Aussies were completely delusional there; more wishful thinking than anything else. Although uninspired, we were better than them playing an hour minus one man. I was not impressed with our attack that day though. We were fortunate that Neill was as stupid as he was on that play.
I think Lippi might've played a weakened team for that game. Took it a little lightly and almost paid big time.