Official 2016 European Cup Thread (FORZA AZZURRI)!!!

Now you're stealing my material tho haha. At euro 2000, we were also drawn with Sweden too! And pre euro 2012 we lost to Russia 3-0. Lost to Germany 4-1 this time, another 3 goal margin. History says we lose the final to france/Spain. It will be France.

 

And see the Spain friendly that I mentioned here. Similarities to euro 2000 and 2012.

 

That wasn't good just OK

 

That's because everyone was in the game thread lol.

 

I guess I was wrong about Giaccherini. Well done Italy!

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This Italy will be like Greece 2004!

 

I think they've already scored more goals than that Greece did.

 

Except we'll score more than one goal a game

 

saint miccoli and puts his favorite club as juve. O.K....

 

Guess what..
It will be either Croatia or Spain in the round of 16 !!

 

Yes, that's why this Belgium match wasn't important to me, finishing 2nd in our group matches us with Portugal who we can destroy. Winning the group mostly Croatia who I think give us problems, then Germany and possibly France in the semis. The path on the other side of that bracket is easier.

 

Yup. We can beat anyone with the right attitude. For some reason Alot of our fans still think we are nobodies. We are Italia and the team wins games not individuals

 

Conte rescheduled training supposedly for the afternoon to the morning the day after the game against Belgium. He knows they haven't done anything yet and wants his team to remain sharp. The boys have a sense of real team unity and you can see it when they celebrate. You can feel this tournament means the most to them

 

This is what separates Conte from guys like Prandelli. No complacency. No comfort zones. No coddling. We may disagree with Conte's tactics and player selections, but he clearly has a vision. He's had it from day one. Primadonnas? They can stay home.

He is a master motivator. His one achilles heel throughout his career (especially in tournament competitions) is his refusal to adjust and be flexible at times. He's incredibly stubborn. There will be key moments in this tournament where he will need to sub his "favorites". If he can do that, and keep everyone involved, then this team can truly go far.

It's a 7 game tournament and 30 year old legs aren't going to make it the whole way. We have a lot of youth sitting on that bench and they will need to be mixed in at some point, or it will catch up with us.

 

The youth will be used. Conte knows this. Surprisingly Italy had the oldest starting lineup in a Euro ever with an average age of 31 something years. Shows that youth isn't all what it's cracked up to be. No Parolo No Party

 

I wish I could rep this 1000 times. People become enamored by youngsters that haven't accomplished a thing; as if you're going to throw in a Berardi, and all of a sudden, we will become some world beater.

 

Thats weird so winning the group gives you a tougher team than finishing 2nd ?

 

Having 24 teams simply creates a weird structure and situational irregularities. If they must add more teams, just go 32. Its not like Europe is suffering for footballing nations. Personally, I liked 16 best, but if UEFA needs more squads to line their pockets,, just make it 32 and stop the nonsense of basically making the group stage irrelevant.

 

You're right and I've been saying this for months. Half the people on here can't grasp that concept.

I'd like to see if Conte makes any changes in game 2 or if he's looking to get this starting 11 even more comfortable with eachother. It'll be interesting.

 

I don't think anyone is dismissing the importance of experience, but if I honestly look at that second half, some of our senatori were "cotti" if you know what I mean. One of the big reasons we lost our second game to Costa Rica in WC2014 was because they ran circles around our old guard in game 2 of that tournament. Look, this is a different CT and different time. I don't want to compare them too much, but trotting out older players with short rest periods is a recipe for disaster.

Lippi was a stubborn SOB, but he wasn't afraid of turnover when needed. Hope Conte is the same way.

 

Or worse, like 5-6 new faces that have never played together, like they'll automatically gel and be instantly effective. It's like the concept of building a team with chemistry and understanding has no meaning to some.