What has happened to Italy ? The world cups : 1970, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006 ? Mean nothing ? 4 stars on our jersey mean nothing ? Tradition does not stop Is Prandelli the culprit? remember 2012 ? and the confed cup 2013 No !! He should stay !! he is a good manager Balotelli ? Absolutely No ! He still is the future So what is the problem ? Bad refereeing ? maybe , similar to 2002 ? But the loss to Costa Rica similar to the loss to Slovakia in 2010 are unacceptable The loss to Uruguay I can fathom, afterall they are a good footballing nation, and they defeated Italy 10 men with a shoulder bite to Chiellini in south america. where is rossi, giacc, gio, maggio instead of aqua, motta, abate, paletta etc... Cesare you are a good manager so why ???? seria a is in decline but Italia national team needs a wake up call I do have hope, but i just cant sleep Cesare just cant experiment new formations at the world cup games, it simply has to be done way before the tournament, but I still like him as manager and hope he change his mind finally Montolivo was missing , did you guys notice that Uruguay will get eliminated , if not by colombia, by brazil, mark my words. and then there will be no ghosts wondering over rio since 1950 !! afterall uruguay should only have 2 stars instead of 4 on their jerseys, and suarez should be in amental hospital !
2010: Italy were robbed by bad refereeing vs Slovakia. We had one goal taken away from us that was wrongly ruled offside. It was clearly onside. Before that we possibly have scored on the line, but a defender blocked it out. It was questionable whether it crossed the line or not, but to be honest I don't think that crossed the line. Also one of the italian players got a strong punch by the slovakian goalkeeper which should have been a penalty but wasn't. Anyway we should have at least tied 3-3 to slovakia which would have put us through on second place. Also against New Zealand, the goal that new zealand made was clearly offside and the referee allowed it. We should have won by 1-0 against New Zealand. But it wasn't just bad refereeing. Buffon got injured and only player the first half vs Paraguay. Marchetti was a horrible replacement as he feared the ball sometimes. Also Pirlo was injured and came in on the second half vs Slovakia which helped Italy score those goals, but the referee disallowed a great goal from us. We should have came in second and played the Netherlands which we probably would have lost anyway. 2014: I think Prandelli ruined that one. Prandelli is a horrible coach, yes we got to the final in 2012, but in the worst way possible. We won Ireland by only 2-0 which we were possibly favored by the referee, and only tied Spain and Croatia. Tied England, but went through on penalties. Beat Germany by 2-1, got smashed by Spain in the final. We really only won 2 games and none of them were comfortable wins. Same thing with the confederations cup. Against Costa Rica for some reason we played horribly, I blame it on the coach. Against Uruguay we were robbed by bad refereeing, but still we made mistakes. Marchisio got a red card for a normal tackle in the 55th minute, and then Chiellini got bitten by Suarez, which led to a Suarez corner which made the goal by Uruguay. Italy got distracted because of Suarez' bite who should have been sent off. Get it Now? I hope so. Its really sad, I cried both times.
We were garbage in 2010. Blaming the refs doesn't do it for me. Some of your excuses are reasonable, but we weren't going anywhere in South Africa regardless. I will forever be grateful to Marcello Lippi for getting Italy the cup in 2006, but he's as much to blame for that WC failure as Prandelli was in 2014.
By the way just to point out, we should win in 2018. We reach the final every 12 years, and its time now in Moscow. The other thing is: every time an italian referee referee's the world cup final, we win the next World Cup. Nicola Rizzoli was the referee in Germany vs Argentina Final in 2014, who gave the 2018 World Cup to Italy
reach every 12 years not win, win every 24 years. either way its not looking good to even reach it at this point
every time an italian referee referee's the world cup final, we win the next World Cup. Nicola Rizzoli was the referee in Germany vs Argentina Final in 2014, who gave the 2018 World Cup to Italy
We will come back, Immobile will be at his prime, and should be similar to Thomas Muller. Pirlo will likely be gone, but we should have Candreva and Verrati. Chiellini and Bonucci will also probably be at their prime. Also I have not lost hope on the come back of Totti and Toni. True they will be old by then, but three coaches said that with the kind of feet Totti has, he could play and be a star until he is 45 years old. Also Conte and Totti played together in 2000, so I think Totti might go under Conte. Toni I am not so sure about, but don't lose hope on their come back! Lets hope Conte is smart enough to call them at least Totti. Totti was considered with Prandelli in the 2014 world cup, but then Prandelli said he's too old. He's an idiot. Conte, Marcello Lippi, and our coach in 2002 world cup, stated that Totti could play like a star until 45 with the feet he has. He is 37, and yet he is still leading A.S. Roma who i hope wins tonight and advances to next round. Without Totti Roma would never be in the champions league. Don't lose hope on Totti and Toni. Immobile will be comparable to Thomas Muller this year. Verrati should take Pirlo's place (if Pirlo retires, which I hope doesn't happen soon), but I suppose he will be gone after the 2016 euro cup for sure. De Rossi should still be around. Candreva will be at his prime as well. Chiellini and Bonucci should work good together and also be at their prime in 2018. Zaza and Pelle should also be doing well and at their prime in 2018. Marchisio, I am not sure, and I think he's not even good enough to be in the squad, but I haven't watched him closely a lot though. Buffon will probably also be gone sadly, but we will have Salvatore Sirigu who is also an amazing goalkeeper and should be comparable to Manuel Neuer in 2018. Even if Totti and Toni don't come back we still have Immobile, Zaza, and Pelle who I believe will be much better in 2018 and at their primes, I especially really have faith in Immobile. Florenzi should also be good to help the midfield as well. Also Jaccarini and Gissupe Rossi should be there to. I don't see how we aren't doing well. We are winning all our games except when we drew with Croatia. Croatia is a big team and really strong, and we were missing quite a few of key players, and yet we still managed to get a tie. I thought we would lose, but we didn't! Look at Germany, Netherlands, and Spain. They lost some of their qualifiers. Spain lost to Slovakia who was an average team. Netherlands losing to Iceland? (Who hasn't even joined a world cup before), and also to Czech Republic. Germany losing to Poland, and drawing to Ireland at home. A lot of german players that won the world cup retired. France also drew to mediocre teams in friendlies: Serbia and Albania. We beat Albania in a friendly recently, and France just drew them in a friendly. And those were all in France if you didn't know. At least we are managing the wins, and not to lose a single game, and a draw with a team stronger than us at that time. We are doing pretty well in my opinion.
well lets hope the cycle has shortened then. not sure if you're taking the piss. part of me hopes you are, the other part hopes you are serious of course you can see how we arent doing well, You think Frankie Totts and Toni are gonna make a comeback lmao, Toni is a big lump of shit and a slow lump of shit. Pelle is 29 s0 33 in 2018, G.rossi cant even play for a month with out taking a 6 month lay off so forget about him. giacherini is a work horse with some talant which is inconsistent, we simply do not need anymore of these guys, we need guys who can play football. if these are the guys you hope to lead us then we are fcuked. as for lippi saying they can play untill they are 45, guess what, no one gives a shit what lippi says after 2010. that guy is not the same guy as lippi 2006. lipp could not even see he took a squad full of players who could not score in 2010 and the 2 who could score he left out untill the last 45 minutes, nothing he says is worthy of taking note and the fact he says these 2 can play at the top level intill 45 shows that he cleary took a huge knock to his head after 2006. im surprised you (or anyone) are buying that shit
Conte should wake up. He's sleeping at the Stadio Olimpico right now meanwhile he should be watching Verratti, who apparently is playing out of his skin against Barca.
2010 Lippi >>>>>>>>>>>> Prandelli (any year). True 2010 Lippi wasn't good but he made mistakes, I think he is still a good coach. He didn't have much options.
Totti and Toni in 2018 is intriguing to say the least...lacks a bit of pace, but intriguing nonetheless. ..
I was thinking more along the lines of Maccarone + Tavano, but Franklin Tater Totts and Lucas Antonius is also an interesting pairing to say the least.
Totti I think will still be better than most of the options we have, at his prime he was even better than Messi now. I am not so sure about Toni, but he preformed well at the 2006 world cup and 2008 euro cup.
Prandelli is the worst coach for Nazionale ever. His big accomplishment was getting Parma from midtable to upper mid table! ********in' genius
Nice try. Your post said his big accomplishment was... His biggest failure was.... is a different story.
I think Prandelli ruined that one. Prandelli is a horrible coach, yes we got to the final in 2012, but in the worst way possible. We won Ireland by only 2-0 which we were possibly favored by the referee, and only tied Spain and Croatia. Tied England, but went through on penalties. Beat Germany by 2-1, got smashed by Spain in the final. We really only won 2 games and none of them were comfortable wins. Same thing with the confederations cup.
Did you know this at the time or like many others were you blessed with these enlightened views some time after June 2014?
I figured this out around the beginning of June 2014, when I was making world cup predictions before the tournament started. Nobody told me that. I just figured it out myself! What a horrible way to reach the final. I am in love with my team of course, but to be honest Germany and Spain deserved it more than us. I am glad we went through, but to tell you the truth, a team that can only actually win two games in one tournament and not even comfortably, doesn't deserve to be in the final. You can tell that Spain was much better than us, because they smashed us. Another thing is even though we beat Germany, I think it was luck because German style just doesn't work with our style as you can tell. But if Germany went to the final, they would have put up a much bigger fight with Spain, possibly could have won it.
Question: How come or why is it that no one cares about the national team during the regular season? Just curious because everyone seemed to cry bloody murder in June but seem to care less about "gli azzurri" now.....
I care about the Azzurri at all times. I have been watching the 2016 Euro Qualifications, and I am pleased with the results. Italy looks much better now under Conte. I am following the Azzurri News as well. Honestly after the Euro Qualifications began, I am now confident we can win Euro 2016.
Because there is no azzurri activity, I still check these blogs every other day. What do you guys think of Astori? Since back from injury he has impressed, I always liked him and found him similar to Nesta, not exactly him but the closest thing to Alessandro of our current crop. Just the elegance and positioning he has, has a way of intercepting a pass before even having to make a standing tackle
Exactly my point back in June. When the Serie A begins play , no one cares about the national team. He is good but you know as a national team player? Well not sure....