We can’t match up to Turkey, only in our dreams. On a brighter note Croci 2 goals 2 assists for U16, another kid that might not ever develop.
Turkey is an amazing team but we also tied them last time we played. We also got them in the Nations League, it'll be a good test to see how well we stack up against 3 great teams in France, Turkey, and Belgium.
Honestly bringing someone in like Guardiola is a waste of time at this moment. There's absolutely zero point in hiring a big name coach while our league is in shambles and overrun by stranieri. Let's fix the root of our problem first.
⬆️ If fuel really is THAT low that world supply won't last until June then the US will back off once and for all. FFS, stop listening to Israel they will lead you to ruin.
https://www.figc.it/it/nazionali/ne...nisce-4-4-pasqual-prova-di-carattere-ux4w89w1 Baldini watching our U16s play. If we don't bring back Mancini, I want us to continue with Baldini.
You guys want attacking ball ? Yet nobody threw out EDF’s name… he can’t keep a team in Serie A but I’m sure he can win a tournament with Italy.
One would think that since Asia has already met the minimum quota at 8 ( the + 1 which brought them to 9 maximum total was gained by Iraq after the intercontinental playoff when they won against Bolivia ) that it would be in Fifa's monetary best interest to bring 12th ranked Italy if needing to replace Iran ( should they drop out and since the ultimate decision is at the total discretion of FIFA alone. ) . Rather than with the United Arab Emirates being who are ranked near # 70 . Hmm , let's see ? Bring a globally recognized team with a history many are aware of like 12th ranked Gli Azzurri, with fans well outside Italy, over to this WC ? Which is being hosted in the USA and Canada more to the point as there are plenty of Italians there ? Or let's replace Iran with ~ # 70 ranked UAE who absolutely no one gives two shits about and is not the same money draw in the least versus Italy? But FIFA , is just likely going to FIFA , and bring the UAE anyway. Then spout some bullshit about trying to be more accommodating and " inclusive " ( key words there ) to other smaller nations ( who no one cares about outside those nations respectfully ) as a means to making the sport more globally recognizable. Which is ludicrous as football is just about as globally recognizable as it can get right now , being that viewership for the world cup surpasses even the summer olympics. How much more globally recognizable can it get from this point simply by handing these nations participation trophies after their easier paths to qualification? Yeah I am sure many folks outside New Zealand and Egypt are going nuts waiting for that match up. Oh not good enough you say ? Tosh...Well how about Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia ? That's going to blow the roof off !! That being said, I don't really care in the end.... If italy was there ( cool ... but it's not like i'm exactly optimistic about anything nor even enthusiastic anymore when seeing the current talent pool we have at our disposal )....and if they're not there, oh well , I got better things to do anyway. I look back on the team from 2006 and it makes me cry ( almost ) . For never did I think at the time we would fall this low. No, I don't think UEFA Euro 2020 was our last hurrah and Italy will go the way of Hungary post WW 2 . But I do think its going to be a while before we have anything to be proud of again . And you can times that by 10 for me if our team starts looking like France or the Netherlands. There is only so much of this civic bullshit I can stand. Blood is thicker than water.
@Pambiero, all.... If you are interested. I agree with much of it other than his comment why Confederations are split up the way they are (ie; when he brought up why is Italy and Norway, Spain & Turkey in the same Confederation, Brazil/ Mexico). Anyhow, pretty much all POV's already discussed here. LOL @ Donyell Malen.
Wednesday’s reports claim that Gianluigi Donnarumma has made himself available to interim Italy head coach Silvio Baldini for the upcoming friendlies in June and that the Azzurri captain will lead a youthful side that features a lot of the current U21 squad. pic.twitter.com/HvvcZZjUpO— Football Italia (@footballitalia) April 22, 2026 FWIW Donnarumma phoned Baldini and asked to be apart of the June friendlies. Baldini gave him the OK
Hopefully they also call some under 19 stars like Inacio. This is the right thing to do for various reasons.
Buffon “It has been a painful page for Italian football and myself. If they had told me this would happen [12] years ago I would have said that it’s much easier to see 1,000 aliens around me rather than Italy not qualifying for three tournaments consecutively. But that’s the reality. “In order to overcome this we need to understand why there are difficulties. We need to change. If we are clear about this analysis, we have the potential to create a much better future. But if you deny there is a problem, then that problem will always be there.” What are the reasons for the decline of Italian football? “I would say there are three clear ones,” Buffon says “The first is globalisation, which has made it possible for all teams to be very competitive, and the average level of play has increased a lot. Secondly, up to 15 years ago when we used to win, we were stronger tactically than our opponents. And thirdly, we have some fantastic players but what’s missing is the truly creative talent like [Roberto] Baggio, [Alessandro] Del Piero or [Francesco] Totti that used to help us prevail.”
He said absolutely nothing. Soccer has always had a global reach and we always had foriegn players just when he played they were all major talents. If he said clubs rather bring in foreign players rather than promoting italian youth then you are saying something. It all comes down to failing our italian talents and not letting them play.
It is nice seeing Vincenzo Montella's Tukey qualify for the World Cup. At least we will have one Italian in the tournament. His "Italian" players will be as follows: Zeki Çelik 17 February 17th, 1997 (age 29) Roma Hakan Çalhanoğlu 8 February 8th, 1994 Inter Milan Semih Kılıçsoy August 15th, 2005 Cagliari
I really want mancini back badly. We went 37 games unbeaten and won the euros durimg that period we scored loads of goals and played great football. After the euros mancini should have made some changes with players and made mistakes although the jorginho missed penalties cost us dear as well. I think hes learnt from his mistakes and can rebuild the team with a mixture of youth and a few current players like pio, kean, calafiori, tonali, donnarumma etc. We must must must cap inacio asap and try everything to get tresoldi although very hard at this point. Baldini should call them both in june and ring tresoldi and speak to him. Mancini would have called tresoldi months ago if he was in charge. Mancini is definately the best option he will ve very motivated and regrets how things ended.
Really good points made here. A training camp on june would be really good. Hearing Donnarumma rang baldini to say he is available for june. We dont need him playing in those friendlies let carnesecchi play one game anf either caprile or motta play the other
I saw the interview and the quote is lacking context. When he says “globalization of the sport” he’s talking about the fact that even medium sized teams caught up to Italy at the TACTICAL level. He said that he noticed this in the early 2010s. In the early 2000s and 90s it was easier for Italy to manage games even when they were up against game opponents. He laments that Italy were sitting on their hands while the game at the high levels changed, and the teams lower than us got better. He’s 100% correct
Sat there status quo and while everyone got better and expect to be better is pretty crazy. No innovation just let the league be taken over by foreigners and not develop our youth, it’s madness.