Lippi's 25 game unbeaten streak is still alive as the last game he lost with Italy was against Slovenia in Oct of 04. He went almost 2 years without a loss. This is exceptional.
Very possible. We're lucky to have such an easy qualifying group actually. Qualifying starts in September. Sept. 6 - vs. Cyprus {Away} Sept. 10 - vs. Georgia {Home}
Hey now, we were bad in the Euro, but we weren't that bad... and it helps that we're in one of the weakest qualifying groups.
granted, but lets not get ahead of ourselves or too cocky either. The #1 priority is still simply QUALIFYING, regardless of how difficult or easy our group might be. If you think about it even our Euro qualifying group shouldn't have been that tough, other than France. Scotland may be a resilient squad, but they still aren't a squad that should've given us as much of a scare as they did.
Seriously, it couldn't get worse after Donadoni. Donadoni is the LUCKIEST of bad managers. We should have been out after the group phase.
"I am very, very happy. And very motivated. See you next week," were Lippi's first few words. Hahaha, you gotta love the guy.
Its sad to see the veterans go as I'd think they could still contribute but sooner or later I'm sure it will be LARGO AI GIOVANI!
I agree with the voters http://www.gazzetta.it/appsSondaggi/votazioneDispatch.do?method=risultati&idSondaggio=2923 Lippi should've just stayed going out on top Nothing personal against him, and it's better than Donadoni, but I wasn't a huge fan when he was the coach. Just because you do win doesn't mean the coach is great. Our scoring and style of play wasn't that much different this competition compared to 06 (And don't forget we were missing Totti, Cannavaro, Nesta, and Pirlo in that last game). I guess he used Materazzi in a different way, and that's where some of the different scoring chances came from, but otherwise it was the same stuff, a couple free kicks, a penalty here or there, and the same scoring chances that sometimes Toni nails, and more often than not he didn't Main point though, I would've liked to have gone younger, if that still happens, then great, I was thinking maybe the coach of the Azzurini would've been a good fit since he would know the personal if we went young.
I didn't agree with alot of his decisions but he got us playing good possesion football and totally fixed up our midfield. We played WAYYYYYY better than we did in this competion. For a start, our main game plan wasn't just hoof it to Toni. Maybe Spalletti/Prandelli/Mazzari would've been good to blood the new youngsters in as opposed to Lippi but they still have club commitments and are not the finished article yet.
Are you kidding? The only extensive coaching experience Casiraghi has had is in the Serie C2! If we want to call Donadoni inexperienced, then there's no way we can turn around and appoint Casiraghi as our savior either. Let's not forget that a team full of rising stars didn't make it out of the group stages of the U21 championships under his guidance. Casiraghi can also be a bit naive tactically... I remember in the Toulon tournament final, he had the Azzurrini retreat and defend for the last 20 minutes of the game when he of all people should know that the defense is very shaky at that level... his tactics practically gifted Chile chance after chance to equalize and we were saved by a goalpost in the end. I consider Casiraghi a coaching option for the future if he continues to excel with the younger players, but you'd have to be smoking something to want Casiraghi above Lippi.
With all do respect to Lippi and his winning WC team, I believe he had it a little easy and also had a lot of luck. I mean Italy traditionally gets better as a team the farther they go along in a tournament. History has proven once again how unlucky we are in the pk tie breakers and it happened once again. I'm surprised we actually beat France in the pk's. I mean he beat Ghana in the opener, then got the USA which played Italy tough but Italy never lost to the USA and they ended up with a draw. By the 3rd match, it was easier to dictate their performance as they wanted to win the group and avoid facing Brazil. They beat the Czechs 3-0 and then were onto the Aussie's which we actually got lucky against as we were awarded a pk in the final minute of play and then we faced the Ukraine. Although there are no longer easy victories in world soccer, as a rule with the strength of Italian football, there shouldn't be any excuse to lose to the Aussie's, Ukraine or the USA , for that matter.
we got some breaks in the tournament, like the penalty decision against Australia and winning the shootout against France. I think you do need an element of luck to win these tournaments. However, it's worth noting that things could've backfired unfairly on us since the Materazzi red card against Australia should've been a yellow and Malouda dived to win France's penalty. You have to admit though, we played good football.
You wonder what would have happened had Nesta not been injured and if Materazzi never came in to score 2 goals in his place? We played well but the opponents Italy faced were hardly world powers. If we were to lose against Ghana, USA,Czech, Australia and the Ukraine, it would have been disastrous and Lippi would have faced McLaren's fate. The Euro's are relatively tougher as we faced Holland, Romania and France but when Italy faced Germany in the WC, they already had 5 games under their belt and became a cohesive unit which Italy has always needed as a group in tournament play.
Nesta wouldn't have left us down to 10 men against Australia and wouldn't have given away a penalty against France. Fair enough, we had the easiest QF, but to be fair, we had the 2nd hardest group which IMO made up for it. I wouldn't say the Czech Republic were exactly pushovers, they still had Nedved, Poborsky, Rosicky etc. and were one of the best teams at Euro 2004. I agree that it could've all ended up differently. The game at this livel operates on very fine margins. But certainly, we suffered enough bad luck in previous tournaments, and i was very happy when we finally got some breaks in 2006.
Yes, the Euro draws are always more difficult. There are no Saudi Arabias in the tournament, Gabri. And we usually get better as the tournament goes on...And who formed this cohesive unit your are talking about? Lippi. We beat Ukaraine 3-0 no? And played beautiful football against Germany in Dortmund. And what coach other than Lippi has held an Italian team mentally together enough to win on penalties? He is a great coach Falvetto, quindi preparati a godere! 2 years without losing. Victories against Holland, Germany (2x) and World Cup Champions. Bentornato, Marcello!
The two teams I know most about in the world are the USA & Italy. Italy would never lose to the USA. The only reason the Americans was becuase of an own goal by the Italians. They never came close to scoring a goal. DeMarcus Beasley scored but he was way offside and the Italians planned it. By trhe time Italy played the Czechs, the pressure was already off and they dictated the game as they at that point were pretty much qualified all they had to do was play their game.
Amazing that people can find faults in someone who led the Azzurri to a 2 year unbeaten streak, put together a team that allowed only 2 phony goals in an entire tournament, beat the hosts (a world power mind you) in a stadium where they had never lost, and then beat another world power to take the trophy home. All of that after taking over a team with an injured #10, losing one of its best players, playing several games with Materazzi, and overcoming a massive scandal at home... The man brought us our first World Cup since 1982, and we try to find fault in him? Nuts. Lippi will put together the best team possible and we'll be riding high once again going into the World Cup, IMO.
We have had too many difficult groups over the years. And Brazil just to name one has had how many groups of death, something which certainly helped them win? We won the group of death (it was so called before the tournament) with 7 out of 9 points. I thought we were very good in the tournament, got one or 2 breaks (every champion needs them!) and had excellent coaching and players who believed in the system and that they would win. No Nesta? No problem. Totti coming back from injury and a shadow of himself, no problem That is what great CTs do! Gabriele, if coaching does not matter so much, can you please explain Hiddink?
Actually many players attributed Italy's success to the massive calciopoli scandal back home. Gennaro Gattuso even stated that if it weren't for the scandal, they most likely wouldn't have won the trophy as they used it as a motivational tool in their play.
Well i totally agree with this. Except that Argentina's group was the group of death, ours was definititely the 2nd hardest group though.