Tell me about it. To give up 3 in a row is no joke. Interesting how S. Korea beat Paraguay when Japan only drew 2-2; Brazil destroying S. Korea 0-5 shows how football can change in one match.
Paraguay was also experimenting with a different lineup. That is part of the reason why it is hard to take anything away from friendlies.
They were able to accumulate points during the World Cup. Something we missed out on. They were ranked 1 in 2022. Then dropped off but obviously not enough for us to leap frog them.
2 wins and 2 draws in the Qatar WC, plus they haven't lost many matches in two years other than against Argentina (they were ousted in PKs both in WC anc CA so they count as draws).
So I just saw the highlights of the losses of Brazil and Paraguay and yikes they tend to be more of their errors and less than their opponents. Brazil gave the ball away in the worst way possible, then an own goal with a terrible clearance, and the nail in the coffin their GK couldn't properly handle the ball coming at them which was pounced on. For Paraguay they also had a bad clearance that gave their opponent a freebie. The second goal was more of S. Korea actually getting a clean break and staying offside before beating the keeper. I thought these losses were due to the skill of Japan and S. Korea and less on errors made even with experimenting with new/different players.
Norway drew with the Kiwis; they did much better than expected, making me think that when we face them next month they won't be as weak as a nation as I would have expected.
Uruguay and Mexico drew; boring ass game based on the highlights. Though Uruguay were robbed of a penalty towards the end of the game.
Norway destroyed Italy 1-4 in Milan, Italy. Wonder how Gattuso will cry and whine about this time. They are certainly dark horses if not in the same category like us (tier below world cup favorites). I would love it if we had a friendly like I've been suggesting for a few months piror to the world cup.
Just watched the highlights - felt a lot like our game against Venezuela to end qualifying, Italy needed the game so bad and when the Norse broke though they just fell apart. Crazy to see the Italian defense give up 3 goals in like ten minutes...
They have the confidence but they would still need to face real opponents to test and ready themsleves.
Everyone is; they have every right to feel confident but the fact that they are returning to the WC for the first time since 1998 and have only faced less than challenging opponents in recent memory isn't gonna help them.
love a friendly vs Norway totally dominated Italy. Also we can not bully them with our size. We pretty much just played garbage teams taller or stronger than us.
Did you watch the same match I saw? Italy pretty much dominated Norway the first half. Second Half Norway made some adjustments and played better. Once the match was tied then Italy just went full panic mode and Norway made them pay.
And of course, the similarities to how Venezuela pushed for a win against us at home where we punished Venezuela significantly. Norway was smart and calm because they were still going to the world cup no matter what; pride was the only thing at stake for them and they made a statement about themsleves and how weak Italy is.
Spain had an entertaining 2-2 match result against Turkey. Scotland leapfrogs Denmark to take the automatic qualified spot with a 4-2 win against 10 man Denmark. Austria, Belgium, and the Swiss qualified. Brazil drew with Tunisia 1-1.