Mancini crying at the end and almost dropping to his knees shows how much this meant to him and how hard he worked. Players can feel that. Immense respect to Mancini. And speaking of respect, a ton of it goes to Southgate. Was humble in defeat and was a class act.. the English are fortunate to have him. No manager is perfect.
Reflecting back on this game. Italy's performances before the 1st minute were crucial. Southgate was clearly spooked fielding a starting back 5 and England were pretty conservative throughout the 120 mins only creating 3 chances. Given that so many Italian players were down on the night, Insigne, Immobile, Verratti Italy's recent record and reputation played a vital part in keeping England down. Beating them in spirit even before the first kick.
Former Italy international Alessandro Altobelli said it’s ‘joyful’ winning at Wembley against England. ‘They always think they are the greatest, but in their trophy cabinet there’s one rusty cup from 1966’. The 65-year-old, a previous centre-forward capped 61 times by the Azzurri, was happy after the win on penalties over England on Sunday night. “It’s joyful winning at Wembley against England,” Altobelli told RAI Sport. “Who always think they are the best, the greatest, the most talented, the most beautiful. “And yet if you look in their trophy cabinet there’s one rusty cup from 1966! Go look at our trophy cabinet, it’s packed!” LOL
It's so satisfying looking back and reminiscing...I looked at the top of our forum and decided to check out the Top Prospects thread I started in 2014. 7 f-ckn years ago...time flies. Back in the days when myself and indestructible used to argue and call eachother names. 8 players from that list 7 years ago were on this Azzurri side. Incredible. Back in the days when I used to call my favorite prospects the Pescara 3 (Ciro was awful, but we win as a TEAM). I've always been a Verratti and Insigne supporter since day 1 and it was neat to see their promise come to fruition. Glad to see some old timers on here come around to him too. We got a bright team to look forward to! Tonight is celebrations and I hope the team spends the next few weeks soaking it all in...we all should! Beyond that, we all will keep a close eye on Zaniolo, any potential #9s coming through, whether Chiellini retires from the team, if Pellegrini and Sensi find their way back into the squad, how Gigio does in Paris... But tonight....tonight we party! From Torino to Roma to Calabria and everywhere up and above the nation, FORZA ITALIAAAA
Southgate is a humble guy but the performance was shocking on the night. Gutless at home with a full house. They had nothing other than a early goal from Italian nerves followed by Sterling dives. that was the height of their gameplan. Then you have the pen lineup and putting a 19 year old boy last.
The next WC is only 18 months away. I think my head would explode if we accomplished the double. I hope Zaniolo comes back stronger than ever. My old neighborhood, 18th avenue in Brooklyn NY went berserk today like the old days of 2006....
Southgate was a class act all the way. The English fans? They were the shocking ones. Barreling through security barriers to exceed capacity limitations. Booing the Italian National Anthem. Now, attacking their own players. Certain English players also were embarrassing during the awards ceremony...they ripped off the second place medals right away. Thank goodness for the class from Southgate.
Zaniolo and Spinazzola will be back. We have a really good young core on top of that (Chiesa, Raspa, Berardi, Barella, Pessina, Locatelli, Bastoni, etc.) who now have trophy winning experience and have gone through the big moments. Then we have some veterans who will still be at a high level in 18 months (Bonucci, Insigne, Verratti, maybe Chiellini, Jorginho). It's a nice mix. Why not dream? Mancini taught us that!! FORZA AZZURRI!!
England clearly scared after scoring their first goal. It will always be in their mind "can we finally win a tournament?" Its shows on their players body language. Italy showed more determination, that scrappy equalizer proof that. They never looked panic and keep trying to find an opener patiently. Other team can play defensively without making it boring. England would simply sit with 10 man in their own half and whipping a random long ball the whole day, its their footballing DNA.
We did get injuries to Zaniolo, Pellegrini, Sensi, and then Spina. A path of Belgium, Spain & England. Some still think we got "no names" ..just cause they dont play in that pussy league EPL. Belgium & England 0 titles.
“Italy have no world class players” LOL. It’s just cause those players don’t play in over hyped premier league. Don’t let anybody tell you we don’t have any stars.
There's a famous saying that the Premier League is only great due to all the foreign players and coaches.
I predicted before the tournament started in our German forum that for me Italy are more than a dark horse and could be the team to beat. You have the typical Italian grit at the back and have alot of quality in midfield and attack. I will say we will have Hansi flick in charge of us now and we do have alot of outstanding talent in the current squad and in the youngsters coming up. Hansi wi transform us quickly and it will not surprise me to see a GERMANY V ITALY final next world cup
At the risk of you guys getting offended, one of my biggest wishes as a German football fan is witnessing Germany defeating Italy in a tournament knockout match. It's something that has never happened before and I really want to cross it off my bucket list.
''Because of this I'm mostly glad for Chiellini, who has finally won an international trophy after so many failed attempts'' Not sure - as this is my first ever post - if this has been mentioned/discussed before but can anyone else Chiellini (or perhaps Bonucci as well) being a future Italian manager. Either would be great.