I was just thinking....in the past 10-20 years how many times has this team made comebacks to win games? not ties...but wins....have they come back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 or come back from 3-0 to perhaps tie it 3-3 ? even a 1-0 game.....i dont recall many times that italy made comebacks. This is one important aspect prandelli needs to work on, cuz it seems like italians lose focus when they trail. My friend said this in the euro final and i didnt wanna believe it and surely it came true.
In qualifying we came back against Estonia in the very first game I think. We won 2-1. The last time we came from behind in a game before then that I can think of would have been our last wcq game vs Cyprus when we were down 2-0 to win 3-2, Giladino hattrick. In 1994 we came back to beat Nigeria 2-1, with ten men, although we finished the job in extra time. We beat England 2-1 at elland road in a friendly. we beat norway 2-1 wcq end of 2004 after carew scored in the first minute only for de rossi to equalise 3 minutes later and toni to finish the job in the 80th minute or so. We also trailed Belarus in 2005 wcq equalising soon after and we blitzed them 4-1. I think Toni got a hattrick that game, camo scoring too.
I know in a friendly in 1992 vs Holland we won 3-2 from 2-0 down. euro 2004 beat bulgaria from 1-0 down, i was at that frustrating game and we also beat portugal in a pre euro friendly in portugal where Miccolli scored the winner direct from a corner.
also 2-0 down vs austria in a friendly after euro 2008 and we drew 2-2. think we may have beat switzerland 2-1 in a friendly in 2003 from 1-0 down. With Prandelli tho, only once that I can think of.
btw, could have made a great comeback vs France in that 2006 september euro qualifier if not for a bullshit no call when Semioli was clearly brought down in the box. Would have surely made it 2-2 after 2-0 down. Instead we lost the game 3-1 and govou's first goal shouldnt have even counted for offside.
so not many comebacks, especially not in important competitions and against good teams. This team gets too demoralized when they go down even 1-0 thats not good furthermore i think a 2 goal cushion isnt even good enough for them cuz they quickly panic when the other team scores
In the final against Spain it went downhill pretty fast. We have given away games when we've been in front vs France in the final of euro 2000, Croatia and Korea 2002. Sweden in 2004 drawing 1-1, Spain and Croatia 2012. Youre probably right, at least in important games. We did come back from 1-0 down in the final of 2006, also drew to USA 1-1 after leading 1-0. As for come backs there arent many I agree. We've salvaged draws after being a goal down against Chile 1998 where we also led 1-0, Mexico 2002, Romania 2008, Paraguay and New Zealand 2010. Won the games I mentioned above like Nigeria 1994, Bulgaria 2004. You have a point about not coming back, but then again we dont go behind much either. I think with the exception of 2002 where the games were refereed pretty abysmally our tournaments have been pretty okay bar a couple of hiccups like Ireland 1994 where we still went to the final and lost on penalties and the final of 2012. Include Holland 2008 and Czech's 1996 also. 2010 I blame Lippi for as do most of us. If we analyse it further 1990, 94 and 1998 exited on penalties only had one loss in 90 minutes to Ireland 2002 - loss to Croatia and loss in golden goal extra time. Dubious decisions however. 2006 - Winners 2010 - 1st round exit. First time we went out in the world cup group stage for 44 years, first time in 24that we went out without penalties or extra time. 1996 - 1st round exit euro, superior goal difference to the czechs but lost on head to head. Zola missed a penalty in our final group game vs germany. 2000 - lost the final golden goal extra time. That was a choke, not good enough and Del Piero cost us plain and simple. 2004 - first round exit. Whether or Sweden and denmark drew 2-2, our goal difference wasnt good enough anyway and we shouldnt have to rely on other teams. 1 win and 2 draws, blew the lead against Sweden. 2008 - 3-0 loss holland opening game, first goal was rubbish. Lost to spain on n penalties in the qtr's. 2012 - runners up. Demolished in the final. These are the times we've been behind in a game in the last 22 years. In 1990 we were never behind at the tournament. 1994 we trailed Ireland and lost, trailed Nigeria and won in extra time. 1996 trailed the czech's and lost. 1998 trailed Chile and drew. 2000 we were never behind until the final when the golden goal cost us the tournament. 2002 lost in 90 minutes giving up the lead to croatia, trailed mexico and drew 1-1, gave up another lead and lost to korea in extra time. 2004 came from behind to bulgaria to win 2-1. 2006 behind in the final. 2008vs Holland and lost. 2010 behind in all 3 group games and lost only 1 and in 2012 behind in the final and never came back. 2002 we have an excuse and 2010 we can forget because of our inept manager. Apart from that we've done pretty good however I do agree some what, we're not good from playing from behind because we have lost games, and in some we even led. They are 1990 - Argentina semi final 1998 - Chile 2-2 2000 - Final vs France 2002 - croatia and Korea 2004 - Sweden { that really cos us 85th minute zlatan goal. that killed our tournament right there } 2006 - USA 2012 - Spain and Croatia
no the team has done great overall.......its just that they are not capable of come backs...which is huge. It means if they go down, you can almost bet they will lose or tie at best. Which is not good, its a big morale downer. Thats probably how they felt in the Spain final too....after 2-0 they thought it was impossible...where as most other big teams fight til the end and try to make a comeback. I know the game was over after motta injury but they still could've pushed a little more, but it seemed like they really gave up and just wanted to end the game.
I disagree, as Di Natale had 2 chances to tie the game. After the Motta injury, i dont believe they gave up. They just couldnt get the ball, despite what the possession suggested. Its impossible getting possession against spain 11 v 11, going a man down would be a nightmare. I do agree about going behind tho, we dont win enough games from behind.
The defense gave up early from what I remember walking around not doing shit, as someone who have always admired Italy's awesome defense, that was really really hard to watch, sorry but I'm not going to re-watch the match to be sure, wounds are still too fresh lol.
Sounds like a problem with the coach failing to properly motivate his players. Although this can be expected from a coach that sits Balzaretti, who twice saved Buffon's bacon early in the game against Germany (without of which none of us would happy those happy memories of the semi-final b/c it was before Balotellli scored) for the Juventino Chiellini, who has not played a game since that day, because of a bruised ego thanks to getting torched during that David Silva goal.