I gotta say, I disagree with some of this. Switch Pedri with Busquets. I felt that Busquets was the one that really changed it for Spain. Spain looked very mediocre in the first two games without Busquets. Enrique decided to change things for the third game (a must-win) and start Busquets, and they smashed Slovakia 5-0. The midfield was a lot better controlled and Busquets made a huge difference. He was also very key against Croatia, Switzerland, and us. Switch Hojbjerg with Delaney. Both were great, but I feel Delaney had bigger influences on the games. Also switch Lukaku with Schick. Schick was one of the top scorers and really did well to carry the Czech Republic to the quarterfinals. He was extremely key. Not so sure if Sterling belongs there either. Maybe put Ronaldo? To be fair though, much of Ronaldo's goals were penalties. Maybe De Bruyne? I really am stuck on that one. Dolberg even?
11 Luglio 2021 ore 23:54 18 Luglio 2021 ore 23:54 Una settimana fa esatta l'Italia divenne Campione d'Europa. Per non dimenticare.
That is my point, I think this version came with a squad of players still growing, that 2006 vintage came with players with pedigree before setting foot on German soil. Oddo was primarily an attacked RB. Jorginho and Camoranesi are entirely different players but both materially impacted their teams with key roles all tournament. Spinazzola is a better athlete, but Grosso was a fine fullback at WC2006 -almost didn't miss Maldini. Iaquinta - sorry had him at JUVE. Belotti is not materially inferior and works far harder. Barzagli in 2006 is very similar to Bastoni now, a promising young defender. Barzagli in 2006 was still at Palermo, Bastoni is a key part of a scudetto winning team. Barzagli went on to have success at Wolfburg as well, but his glorious best was saved until he joined JUVE to form the BBC, when he was nearing 30 already. Bastoni is 22. Barzagli was an absolute legend, Bastoni may yet be as well, but comparing 2006 Barzagli to 2021 Bastoni, I give Bastoni the edge. Peruzzi was better, but similar role experienced veteran 2nd choice goalkeeper - hopefully Meret has a better post trophy career than Amelia. To be fair I used the comparables to show there weren't crazy differences, but agree some in 2006 could be considered better, but almost all to a man in this team have many more years to define their legacy club/internationally as well so not on board with calling them inferior just different points in their careers. Perhaps more people engaged in viewing parties? Slightly better? No disrespect to Di Lorenzo who did very well (Florenzi barely played) but Zambrotta was in his prime in 2006 and is quite simply one of the very best Italian players of the last 30 years and one of the 5 best fullbacks period over that time (I am extremely biased, count him as one of my favourite players ever).
Iaquinta in 2006 was with Udinese and was highly touted. Lippi still praises him. I think at one point Barcelona even wanted him. then when jr went to Juve in 2007 things changed. Getting involved with mafia ties and drug dealings I’m sure did nothing to his his career.
Yeah I guess you're right. He was one of the best defenders in the world. I think the reason I said slightly was because I was thinking more of Florenzi at his prime. I feel Florenzi is an underrated player and was almost world class at his prime. He's past his prime now and barely played cause of injury. In my mind I was kind of thinking of Florenzi 2014-2016. Still though Zambrotta was better than even Prime Florenzi.
It's not even close between Zambrotta and Florenzi. Gianluca Zambrotta is one of the best right backs in the history of calcio. Fast, elegant, great crosser of the ball, stifling defender. He had it all. I remember watching him at Bari and thinking wow...what a player.
Everyone should watch this documentary on RAI. They followed our team for 10 months and you can really see how Mancini built it. Humility, hard work, dedication, risk-taking, and an iron will. Everyone bought into it. I picked Italia to win it all before the tournament. Had I seen this documentary, I probably would have put big money on it. Enjoy!! https://www.raiplay.it/programmi/sognoazzurro
I've already posted this on 4chan /sp/. Mi serve una mano. Let me know if there are any mistakes. I only did the transcription, another person took care of the translation.
Top 5: Most-watched soccer games (2021) 1. England-Italy, Euro 2020 final (ESPN/Univision), 9,388,000 viewers 2. USA-Mexico, Gold Cup final (Univision/FS1), 7,450,000 viewers 3. Brazil-Argentina, Copa America final (Univision/FS1), 5,336,000 viewers 4. USA-Mexico, World Cup 2022 qualifying (Univision/ESPN2), 4,215,000 viewers 5. *USA-Mexico, Concacaf Nations League final (Univision), 4,200,000 viewers *Viewership on CBS Sports Network is not publicly reported.