http://sports.yahoo.com/news/motta-nearly-misses-bus-final-171855563--sow.html Italy midfielder Thiago Motta on Sunday nearly missed the bus taking the team to the final of Euro 2012, television pictures broadcast by UEFA showed. The door to the Azzurri's bus was closed when the Brazil-born star ran out of the team hotel and was able to get on board just in time, as a dozen or so hotel staff who had turned out to wish them well looked on with grins on their faces. If only he had missed the bus... it at least wouldn't have gotten this bad.
Prandelli got the back 4 all wrong. With balzaretti the first goal doesn't happen. No need for bonucci if you have both cheillini ans barzagli. Also questionable subs
Motta and even Chiellini should never play again for the Azurri, what an embarassment to be five minutes on the pitch and be down and out.
totally correct. that said, however, i am so ready for the spanish dominance to be over. so tired of spain and barcelona.
Ah, NOPE. There's shame. There's a lot of it. NOBODY is going to forget this. Embarrassed! Forza ITALIA. SEMPRE!!! k skifo questo partit di merd....uuuuuuuuhhhhhhh
Agree. 100%... Prandelli did a lot of things right, but his choices tonight proved to be wrong. Of course hindsight 20/20 is easy...
Spain game is more than Tiki-taka. At present the back 4 of Spain is > back 4 of Italy + Iker was in great form in Euro 2012. IMO if DiNatale scores from 1/2 chances before Italy went to 10 men this game may have been closer... - Congrats to Spain and good tourney for Italy. .
As Bari, II don't think so, really. History looks back on the 1970 azzurri fairly favorably due to their impressive semi win, even though they got trounced in the finals by one of the best teams ever. Barca dream team lost by same scoreline to a great Milan. I think this will be remembered similarly, more remembered for how great Spain was, than say how poor Italy was. Maybe I'll be wrong who knows
well at least there is a future if this guy stays on there is many young players coming through. this was just not meant to be for italy how did di natale missed that , motta injury and so on but i like that they lost 4 0 because if they lost only 2 0 with 10 man they would be well we played great we are not that bad. like vialli said this type of play should be played in club level too and why didn't he played sweaper is just crazy
Why would Prandelli drop an in-form Balzaretti to play a half-fit Chiellini at LB? There's a reason Paolo De Ceglie is preferred to him on the left flank at Juve.
he is a great tactician but some times you over think simple things. t is easy for me to say now but they should have played 3 5 2 this game too. but they played lot more then spain and had lot less rest so maybe that is why he played with 4 in the back
Balzaretti wasn't dropped for chiellini, he was dropped for abate! Guys, come on, sometimes the other team is just better, chiellini had a good match versus germany. Nothing really Prandelli could do. That was our best lineup...and we got smashed. The only thing you could argue is perhaps, though probably wouldn't have mattered, he could have went back to 3-5-2, and we might have a better chance there...but then again with how well we had played with the diamond, people would have ripped him a new one for switching formations. He had a good tourney as coach
Can't blame the, for getting injured. Chiellini was never 100% and Motta was a freak injury or poor warming up. And for the record, I'm no fan of Brazilian born Motta but still just sh%t luck.
But with Abate returned to fitness, Balzaretti should have been automatic to start again at LB, his more regular/natural position. Chiellini is a central defender. He's only moved to LB in times of emergency, because he's just not a good fullback. And I would disagree that he had a good game against Germany. Never looked fit imo, and there were moments, especially in the first half, where he looked shaky. That isn't to say that Spain weren't better. They were. But there were some serious errors made by Prandelli in this one.
There was nothing for us to do in this game. Even if Di Natale converts one, the Spanish were always going to steam roll us. They were simply too good This is the 4th final i've witnessed in my life. Of the 3 losses, this one stings the most. Because vs. The French and Brazilians, we were always in the game. Tonight we were completely annihilated
Buffon: 'Hats off to Spain' By Football Italia staff Gianluigi Buffon took his hat off to Spain. “Italy had a wonderful journey, but they have an inestimable value.” The Azzurri had been unbeaten up to the Final in Kiev, but were defeated 4-0 by a side that made history with a third consecutive major tournament. “The game with Germany felt like a Final, but tonight there was nothing to be done,” the goalkeeper told Rai Sport. “They were too superior and so the regrets about losing are possibly less hard, as when you face a powerful and invulnerable force like this, you can accept the defeat easier. “We had a great tournament, it was a wonderful journey and clearly you want to win when in the Final, but here you do meet a side of your level. Tonight we met a team with an inestimable value. “We thank the fans with all our hearts, as they never abandoned us and it gave us pride to give them these emotions. At times you meet someone stronger and so credit to them. “The Nazionale belongs to everyone and is the only vehicle that reanimates and brings some joy back into the homes of fans.”
Cant say im not dissapointed but im still prod of Prandelli and the boys in blue. For the most part they played their butts off this tournament and proved to the world we still have it. If you're going to lose, lose to the best and come back stronger. The disheartening part was seeing them throw the towel in after Motta's injury.... Get it though. Reality sinking in. Playing 10 exhausted guys against 11 of Spain's class, down by 2 makes it nearly possible. Just kills me that it will look like the biggest blowout n history on paper.
I think even with Motta on the field, what would we have prevented? 1 more goal? I think the score would have been 3-0 or even still 4-0
I knew this will be the first match that we're going to concede a goal first and was really afraid how Italy would react to that, that happened and then of course they continued to destroy us. Bad Pirlo = Bad Italy, as I said 10,000 times before. Italy played with no heart and deserved this loss, people got so caught up to the point of saying this team is better than the Azzurri in 2006, are you ********ing kidding me? That team was all about heart. I had hope until Motta fell down injured yet again, I knew there was no way in hell we'd be able to compete with Spain's midfield while being a man down, that's just physically impossible. That sub was stupid on so many levels, I mean why the ******** would you bring on Motta? That makes no ********ing sense AT ALL! After Motta went down I knew it would get very ugly and was just hoping to not eat a few more goals, but of course that would happen. Our defense were a joke, Buffon had a bad game, the back line was PATHETIC and how they played was a disgrace to Italian football, they were literally walking around watching Spain play like they're not even in the match. Nothing more to say here, I really wished we would have lost to Germany than to Spain, at least they would have put out a better fight. What kills me is that we had a great tournament but awful Final and the exact opposite can be said about Spain. Maybe we'll get another shot at the Euro in 45 more years? ******** Lets see how they'll do in the WC, that's if we qualified.
Aside from their technical dominance, it must also be said that Spain are on another level of fitness. Their players are better athletes than ours. I'm hoping this defeat will serve as a wake-up call to the figc
We are talking about team that nobody thought would get past the quarter-finals at the very best. I'm not even a supporter, but the one thing you can never accuse the Azzurri of is a lack of heart. They did amazingly well to even get to the final. And I'm saying that as someone who wanted them out at the group stage.
If there is any positive to take from tonight is that Prandelli is staying on board. There were talks that he would leave : IL FUTURO — "Nella prima partita del girone abbiamo affrontato la Spagna nelle condizioni fisiche migliori - spiega ancora Prandelli - e siamo stati in grado di ribaltare bene il fronte di gioco. Stasera, invece, possiamo solo fare i complimenti a una squadra che ha dominato. Il mio futuro è già scritto, anche se in alcuni momento il mio stato d'animo era un po' quello che era. Mai nessun problema con la Figc e coi dirigenti, c'è un progetto e vogliamo portarlo avanti. Chiellini? Ha avuto uno stiramento".