its true that italy did not shine in the world cup in korea but if you look at the players it had i think that it had the potential to be one of the most powerful teams in a long time. i mean look at the talent: defense: buffon:arguably best goalkeeper in the world maldini-despite his age very few can get past him he used to be the best defender in the world nesta- the next maldini amazingly solid defender cannavaro- another world class defender pannuci and coco- not as good as the previously mentioned but still superstars midfield: totti-needs to grow up but capable of winning games by himself del piero- italy's golden boy always creates opportunities gattuso-very energetic never gives up even when he is beat(an essential player in Ac Milans champions league victory) tommasi and zambrotta- reliable and hardworking they get the job done attackers- vieri- a monster in front of the net inzaghi- always finds a way to score montella- one of roma's leading goalscorers all of these players plus toldo, delvecchio, tacchinardi, doni, albertini etc ready to come off the bench it was a team full of superstars that failed to shine. one reason was definitely the unfairness of the linesmen and referees towards them( i believe they had 5 good goals annulled). But i think the biggest reason for their failure is without doubt the manager Trapattoni. He played antiquated defensive football with 5 defenders and only one striker. If only he had used 2 strikers and an attacking strategy like they showed in the first half of their first game against equador...
I dunno about that, even when playing two strikers Italy haven't always been inspirational, unless it's against a small team. I think they have some very good individual players, but also some average players. I also don't think the defence is as strong as it's hyped to be. They're a bit too vulnerable to pace and the fullbacks are a tad average.
It also didn't help that in the match against Korea Nesta and Cannavaro were both out and Maldini still didn't recover from all the injuries he had during the season.
They were almost as good as Portugal on paper. The fact is that the best side is the side that wins. It takes more than talented players to make a team great.
2003 Italy NT is much better than the 2002. The 3-4-1-2 system failed for Italy with the the ex-mid field players. Moreover, since The Trap has gone to a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-1-2 , they haven't lost a game. Also, adding Oddo, Perrotta, Camoranesi and Legrottaglie has made a difference. Plus Zambrotta has made a big difference in his new position.
what do u mean almost....they WERE as good as portugal on paper...both teams got killed due to injuries to key players..and poor coaching and overconfidence..and in italys case...the refs
Lets get this right, Nesta is not amazingly solid at all, he gets caught out a lot. Panucci and coco superstars? Come on! Totti and Del Piero have never done at international what they've done at club level. Totti hasn't even produced in European football so how can he produce internationally? As for Gattuso, i get the feeling you were had trouble to think of anything to say about them. Montella - 'One of Romas leading goalscorers' - exactly, not Italy's. If the team or players were so good, they'd have been able to play Trappatonis system.
well they certainly had a lot more depth and talent than the ENgland NT. and it is hard to score many goals with trap's antiquated defensive style that he used in 2002. nonetheless, Italy DID adapt to it and they did score in reality 10 goals in 4 games(5 plus 5 good goals that were cancelled by incompetent linesmen/referree.
The first World Cup I saw was Spain 82 and that was the best Italian team ever. End of discussion. They were solid. Italy's problem today is the style of play. I think they should be much more attack oriented and with the skill level they have, I can't understand why they do not play in a style similar to Brazil which is essentially a series of Give-N-Go's and One-Touch play. This style of play is so suitable for Italy that's it's sick.
Or and France and Argentina too. The belief that Italy was cheated by the refs in the Korea game has got to be the biggest piece of *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# that I see on the Internet all the time. Totti exaggerated the contact, look at the replay; he deserved the second yellow. If Italians want to complain about the refs, they better complain about their incompetence in front of goal, and the late-game lapses in simple defensive tactics before they think about blaming the refs. Italy's only real gripe comes from the first dissallowed goal in the Croatia game. A true team would have put that behind them, but the Italians continued on this "world is against us" trip, and look where it got them. Sorry, I know this is a well-discussed topic, but the only team that got anywhere near cheated was Spain, but that's it. Talent has never made the best team in the World Cup. Scoring more goals at the end of the day does. Ask Brazil '82.
LOL get real joker. England have more talent than Italy, certainly in the best XI, although Italy do have a lot of competent players after that. Trap did not play that negative, the reality is that Italy just weren't that good. They were outplayed by Mexico and Croatia and made hard work of Ecuador. Depending on the draw Italy might not even make it out of the group stages at Euro 2004. Although the fact that they're hard to beat (usually) could make them an interesting bet to reach the later stages.
How can Italy's 2002 World Cup team be one of the best ever ?. They didn't win the World Cup, and lost to South Korea, who would have normally been beaten with some ease. OK, so a few players may have been injured, but then the replacements would have to be as good, for Italy to have been the 'best'. What next, England 1990 team the best of that year ?. Or France 2002 team ?.
i just looked at englands starting XI and i must say that their level of talent is nowhere near Italy's.If Italy played a balanced attack style of football they could crush england. Italy was outplayed neither by mexico, croatia, nor korea since they had 5 good goals annulled by incompetent linesmen.The actual scores of those games should have been Mexico-1 , Italy-2 Croatia 2, Italy-3 and korea 1, Italy-2. also i would like to add that for the most part of all of the above matches italy controlled the play. for example against croatia italy dominated the first half, the first half of the second half, lapsed for 10 minutes and let croatia score two quick goals, and then dominated the rest of the match.
Oh please, Italy cannot crush anyone, least of all someone like England. At best they can beat minnows like Wales (as long as it's played at home). Clearly you haven't actually seen Italy play in anything other than the World Cup and even then only through rose tinted glasses. Come back when you have a clue.
Sorry, burn357, but it's all about results, and a team that won one game out of four cannot be considered "one of the best ever". And I'm a FAN of Italy! If I did a positional analysis of France's or even Argentina's WC2002 teams, I could reach the same conclusion. But neither of them even advanced out of their group. OTOH, this year's Italy team is certainly doing well (9 wins, 1 tie and no losses this year), but they'll still have to win Euro2004 to prove their greatness.
If you look at Italy on paper, they probably had one of the best defenses and deepest group of strikers ever. The problem was the fact that their midfield was VERY average for a team that fancied itself as a WC contender IMHO. Even if they dropped Totti back to attacking mid from striker they were still weak. They didn't have any truely dynamic wingers to give width to their attack. This decreased the effectiveness of a player like Vieri who can feast on quality crosses. If you compared Italy's midfield against a potential USA midfield of DMB-JOB-Reyna-LD then Totti is the only Italian that I think could crack that lineup. Of course I would pick the entire Italy backline and front line over the corresponding USA players.
Ha! Ha! You do not have a clue. *#*#*#*#ing limeys! First of all, what the *#*#*#*# do you know about Trapattoni? Second, the talent between Italy and England is not even comparable. Outside of Beckham, Scholes, Owen, and Gerrard you have nothing more then decent players in your side. Buffon is head and shoulders better than anyone you have had at keeper since Shilton. NONE of your defenders can compare to Nesta (the best defender in the world), Cannavaro (top five best defenders), and Maldini (a legend). Tommasi and Gattuso are both much better than Butt. Gerrard is better than them when healthy. Zambrotta is a better winger than anything you have. Totti is much better than Scholes. In attack, other than Owen and a promising Rooney, you have nothing. We have Vieri, Del Piero, Montella, and Inzaghi. All 4 of these guys are world class players. Wake up man! Don't let your silly limey pride keep you from reality.
It still stuns me every time I see Pannucci line up in the first 11. I just don't know how this happened. In addition, Trap is reportedly trying to convince Maldini to reconsider his retirement and return to the Azzurri for Euro'04. Paolo Maldini is probably my favorite player ever, but he had a horrendous World Cup. Was he carrying an injury? I don't know. I also did not see much of his Champion's League campaign, and Milan hoisted the Cup, so that's saying something. But to me, Trap's plea speaks to the potential crisis facing the world's most vaunted defense.
Maldini was injured for most of the 2002 season and just came back to Milan right before the WC. He was never 100% fit and it showed in Korea. Whereas, last year he was 100% fit and he proved that there is no better defender, outside of Milan, than Paulo. I know Italy's midfield isn't the greatest but let's not get carried away here. If Fiore, Totti, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Zanetti, Perotta, Camoranesi, and Zambrotta could be naturalized Americans I think Bruce would find away to fit them into the squad at the expense of every American midfielder. Although, John Obrien could find a place at left back on the Italian NT.