I don't think it can be overlooked that in the end, Di Natale failed again. He failed to put away Germany, forcing Italy to spend more energy closing out that match, adding to the fatigue problem. He failed twice to get Italy back in the final when given excellent service. Other than the goal against Spain in the first match, with practically his only touch, he really was quite useless. In contrast, Cassano tested defenses constantly, including Spain in the first half. Obviously with him not being back to full match fitness and the accumulated fatigue, he could only go 45 minutes in the final, not even the 60 he was managing up til then. Also, Chiellini in the end had a kind of bad tournament. Giving up that Croatia goal, and obviously shouldn't have been on the pitch in the final. Once it was clear Balzaretti was up for it, Chiellini really shouldn't have been playing any more given his condition. Amazingly enough, after Barzagli's nightmare final, Bonucci finished as the defender who basically never ********ed up in the whole tournament. Abate was also very solid and made decent attacking contributions, as did Balzaretti. Marchisio was completely spent. He said himself he was so tired at the end of the Germany match that he couldn't even see! Prandelli really should have started Nocerino. What was Prandellli's problem with Nocerino? He played great all season and played great whenever he did get on the field for the Azzurri. Italy couldn't afford to the luxury of never using a player of that quality, and that was definitely one of Prandelli's critical mistakes.
Interesting to look at the stats for a match that Italy was crushed on the scoreboard and played for 30 minutes with 10 men. A great example of how little stats tell the story in soccer, in one sense, but in another sense, evidence that even with such adverse circumstances, Italy were not really played off the pitch. They made a couple of critical mistakes early, and then were denied a road back by some bad luck plus excellent goalkeeping by Casillas, and then of course, the match was over in the 60th minute due to Prandelli's poor lineup and sub decisions. Shots On Target Possession Corners Bookings Red cards SPAIN 14 6 57% 3 1 0 ITALY 11 4 43% 3 1 0
Spain were very very good. But as a neutral I don't think the gap is as large as the scoreline. First goal was bad bad defending by Bonucci. Letting a dangerous player such as Silva ghost in behind you without putting a body on him is high school error. Second goal, again bad defending. I have become a big fan of DDR during this tournament, but he made some critical mistakes today. On the second goal he should have closed down the ball carrier much much earlier. Gave too much time. Perhaps he thought he had enough defenders back to cover Alba's run, but he shouldn't have let the ball reach him in the first place. The third and fourth goals were against 10 men with tired minds, worn-out legs and broken hearts. It's football. It happens. Agree with what others are saying: i) I thought Montolivo was playing well despite spacing issues. Pirlo was being ganged up on and there was too much gap between regista and trequartista. Monto should have dropped back more earlier to help with the ball retention and defensive playmaking especially as there was no joy down either wings. There was a 20 minute period at 1-0 where he started doing this and things were clicking. Can't see how Motta was going to improve things when chasing the game. Monto should have stayed on. ii) Cassano was subbed too early. Would have given him 10-15 minutes of the second. Would have replaced him with Giovinco who could be more direct and run at the defense, which both Ramos and Pique do not enjoy. iii) Fitness. This more than anything really caught up with Italy in the final. Cassano and Balotelli when they received were swarmed. Midfield support usually arrived late. Needed harder running two ways. Ultimately, 2 day rest, 2 injury subs and 10 v 11 meant 4-0. Spain are the best in the world. But Italy are not that far off. Having been smashed by Russia 3-0 in a thoroughly uninspiring performance just a few weeks ago, your team has come on leaps and bounds and you should be proud and excited for 2014. Good luck.
First off, hats off to Spain. This last few years they have really dominated. While I thought we could not only compete but win Im proud how the team played through out the tournament. We showed skill, and determination, and a winning attitude. From game 1 vs Spain, we continued to play better as a team and unfortunately ended with such a poor taste in our mouth. We can go back to tactics and which formation is better, but the truth is, we gave up 2 easy goals. Chiellini let Fabregas go by and Silvas header seemed flukey. Alba ran right through our defense and scored. 2 mistakes and non typical "Spain" goals. Other than that we competed well. I thought we had a chance until Motta got hurt. I liked Montolivio, but I guess Prandelli thought Motta could come in and win balls/pressure midfielders INSTEAD of forwards so they can stay up top and recieve long balls. Sure Montolivio was the connection, but if we were changing to long ball approach, than we needed more chances, and another ball winner in Motta. Than we would have Di Natale and Balotelli up top instead of in midfield trying to win balls and pressuring Spains midfield. Thats just my $.02. However, as soon as he got hurt and we were down a man, the game was over. Overall, I enjoyed the tournament. The style of soccer, the new players, and the old legends we are used to. However, we just had to overcome so much. Injuries during the tournament linger and don't go away. Less than 3 days between Semi Finals and Finals is difficult. We played 3 games in 7 days. In normal domestic league play and Champions league, you can get away with playing reserves and such, but in a top tournament, its a lot tougher. Our players were broken, fatigued, and it showed. Spain is a quality team that makes you run, and when we are already at a brink of exhaustion, mistakes happen and we lose. We fought hard and put in our best effort. We didn't know Chiellini or Motta would get hurt. In an ideal world and in hindsight we would have changed it. This was the unlucky aspect that you must overcome and sadly its tough when your playing in the final against the best team in years. However, we found some new young stars to add to the mix and watched legends perform again. 2014 is going to be tough, but I think with our "new" style of play and the mix of old and young, than we are gonna be in for one hell of a tournament...
Not sure where you got your numbers, but Italy and England did not have "like 7 days off for the Quarters". To expect a team to play a high quality game coming off 2 days rest, after having only 3 days rest before the previous game, is plain ridiculous. There is no reason why the semis cannot be played on the same day, one game after the other, like the World Cup schedule. Three days rest should be absolute minimum. Days off for quarters: Czech Republic - 4 Portugal - 3 Spain - 4 France - 3 Germany - 5 Greece - 4 England - 4 Italy - 5 Days off for semis: Spain - 3 Portugal - 5 Italy - 3 Germany - 5 Days off for final: Spain - 3 Italy - 2
On the contrary, that was highly predictable based on their physical condition. Gambling on players who have fully fit and talented replacements... why? Very poor decision making by Prandelli, there's no way around it.
Yeah, I did. I watched the game at Cafe Notturno. I was near the front door and it was packed like sardines at 4 am! This was a bad loss but I think that nerves got the best of the players. Quite a few players seemed to be half-fit too. I've never been convinced by Motta and I was proven right. What does Nocerino have to do to get ahead of him in the Italian team? There were questions over the formation but even if the Azzurri used the 3-5-2 formation, Spain looked better anyway. The link between midfield and attack was almost non-existant and Montolivo went back into his old habits. A shame considering that he seemed to prove the haters wrong after the England and Germany matches. Most of the team played poorly so it's unfair to single-out one player. Prandelli did well to get the team into the final. Such a sad way to end the competition though. Pirlo might be gone come Brazil 2014 and we still need to wait and see if Prandelli goes or not. If this project continues, this team can get better. We also have some good prospects coming through and I hope some of the U/21 players can make it into the seniors. Good times and bad times, I will always be proud of my Italian heritage, even though I'm only half-Italian. I was in Italy when the Azzurri sealed qualification for the Euros in Florence but I'd love to be in Italy to celebrate a tournament victory. FORZA AZZURRI E VIVA L'ITALIA!
Life is a wheel Sometimes it turns in your favor, sometimes it doesn't This is the only thing that comforts me right now
you serach "doctor Fuentes" this man doped not only the new DDR but also half europe beacause was impossible to win witouth his doping methods.And he also accused the national football/soccer team.!you read the link..this is why all the others teams were tired (even Portugal! which has a league easier) after they played 50-60 matches in the whole year and the spaniards wrent tired (and they played much more games than other european players! ). http://calcio.fanpage.it/spagna-il-dottor-fuentes-accusa-la-nazionale-campione-del-mondo/ http://www.vip.it/doping-dottor-fuentes-addio-mondiali-alla-spagna/
Enough doping conspiracy talk, it makes us seem like sore losers. This isn't cycling. Drug-dwarf Messi is the exception rather than the rule.
I tell you one thing.... I would be interested in Jordi Alba being tested. Prandelli had to make a decision to either revert back to the 3-5-2 or stick to this 4-3-1-2 that did so well against Germany. He made the wrong choice. The funny thing is that if he had made the correct one 2 players that have been essential to the 3-5-2 got injured in the match. The Spanish running up the score and subbing in strikers/forwards when Italy is a man down and down 2 goal is classless. I can only hope we draw Spain in WC2014 for some revenge.
You're right. The people claiming conspiracy including myself are morons. I'm not going to deny that. The accusations are baseless and it makes us look like complete sore losers. The Spanish were incredible. Best team of all time no doubt. I'm not trying to be sarcastic either. But I want someone to explain to me (Prandelli or whoever) why our guys look completely beat to shit after 6 games and their guys look like they can play a 120 minute final for the next 8 weeks everyday. Something does not make sense. Are our preparatory methods that archaic? Is there a good reason we aren't producing athletes at that level? Are the spanish doing more at youth level? Or are the Spanish just lucky? All these guys, all these youth teams winning titles left and right has more to do with tiki tactics and a superior gene pool?
As i can see and definately feel, this euro final gutted us all out with Italy losing the way it did with spain - their was no game! the final game had bad tactics, bad choices, bad health and bad luck plus - 3 games in 7 days ( england-germany-spain ) WOW!!...and we all wanted to see a great classic game but instead got nothing but a major loss to a technically brilliant and amazing team . Italy did good in this tournement ( they made us dream again ) but ******** it sucks to lose the way we did in the final! ....thats all i have to say
I m just joking, it is quite obvious that the micro-passes strategy let you to regulate the expenditure of energy,in addition you ,better,we adopted a wrong tactic ,a 3-5-2 could be better against a 4-6-0. Just another thing...it is only in cycling the doping...maybe the Martha Dominguez (3000 steplechase ) case was more sensational (always doctor fuentes ...at this point i could call him,due to fact that he lives in New DDR, Herr Fuentes) ..even absolved by spanish court!!...so if "herr" fuentes says that he doped also the soccer players beh...maybe it is not true...but some suspects reasonably remains. http://archivo.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/1a_division/otras/es/desarrollo/717271.html "¿Usted ha trabajado con Real Madrid y Barcelona? No puedo responder. Me han amenazado de muerte si decía ciertas cosas, yo y mi familia podríamos tener problemas graves. Me han amenazado tres veces. Y no me van a amenazar una cuarta."
On a better note congrats to Balotelli, Buffon, De Rossi, and Pirlo for making the 23 man Uefa tournament team.
Hats off to Gli Azzurri. Not the way we wanted to see them go out, but let's be totally fair, they exceeded expectations. I honestly was prepared to watch them lose to Germany in the Semi's. The fact that they took care of business in that game the way they did was definitely a highlight and made Italy very relevant again. Unfortunately, we had a tired group by the time the final arrived. I hope UEFA improves their scheduling next time around. Spain may have won it regardless, but you have to think Italy would have made it a lot more interesting if they had been equally rested.
What was great about Prandelli up to the final was his ability and willingness to try new players, change tactics, play a different style, etc. Unfortunately, Italy was not able to give their best exactly because Prandelli completely lost his nerve for the final. Playing a not-100% Chiellini after Balzaretti had been so good the previous matches boggles the mind. Taking out Montolivo and putting in Motta who had been injured AND played terrible in previous games AND who is a DMF when we're losing 2-0 boggles the mind. Marchisio ran his ass off the previous matches, and by his own admission could barely walk after the Germany game. Why do you play him again 3 days later when Nocerino is sotting rotting on the bench? Yes, Spain is clearly the best team right now, and only a very special perfromance would have beaten them. But I'm mostly shattered because the coach that I had grown to respect enormously during the past couple of weeks morphed into Lippi 2010 edition for the final against that vastly superior team.
I think it was the was the best formation. He didn't know that Chiellini will get injured. Motta got injured too. We lost two subs because of Injuries. Here are some of the mistakes that we should have avoided: 1) Allowing the first goal. Buffon, Chiellini should have been able to clear the ball. That was a very easy goal to concede. 2) Di Natale was a big mistake he was selfish. He should have passed the ball to Balotilli. 3) Buffon shouldn't have allowed Torres to score. He saved a harder one three weeks ago. 4) We should have not conceded the last two goals.