The 2010 edition the Worst Azzurri Ever. Which was the best?

Based on the results, you have to give it to the 1982 squad.

 

Pozzo's team's without a doubt. Nobody in the history of soccer did what they did. Back to back in 1934 and 38 with an Olympic medal in 36 when the Olympics was much bigger than the WC. For a single team though sure it was 1982.

 

I would have to pick the Italia '90 edition as afar as talent. The sides of the '90s were a great generation... many observer credit the triumph in Spain 1982 for that as the motivation for a lot of young player to persevere in training and develop. Hopefully that is correct and we will start to see the same effect from 2006... all those boys 10 through 18 yrs old when Cannavaro lifted the WC should be starting to show up soon.

Anyway, back on topic.

Italia '90 performed below potential due to some stupid decisions by Vicini and had to rely on Schillaci... still we were eliminated without allowing a goal until Caniggia infamous flick. That is a WC that we gave away... however the roster itself was the richest in talent

[1] Walter ZENGA (GK)
[2] Franco BARESI
[3] Giuseppe BERGOMI
[4] Luigi DE AGOSTINI
[6] Riccardo FERRI
[7] Paolo MALDINI
[11] Fernando DE NAPOLI
[13] Giuseppe GIANNINI
[17] Roberto DONADONI
[19] Salvatore SCHILLACI
[21] Gianluca VIALLI
Substitute(s)
[12] Stefano TACCONI (GK)
[22] Gianluca PAGLIUCA (GK)
[5] Ciro FERRARA
[8] Pietro VIERCHOWOD
[9] Carlo ANCELOTTI
[10] Nicola BERTI
[14] Giancarlo MAROCCHI
[15] Roberto BAGGIO
[16] Andrea CARNEVALE
[18] Roberto MANCINI
[20] Aldo SERENA

 

1970 squad was fantastic too. But unfortunately, we ran into the Brazil train. 1974 team was solid, too bad they choked.

We should have had italia 90'

 

In my lifetime, it has to be 1982. Watch those games closely. Almost every player on that side had excellent feet. The ball moved around with grace and we would cut through defenses with ease. There was a lot of passing, give and gos, and great movement off the ball. I have to give the nod to them.

 

i started watching after 89 when i was 9yr old....90 team was legendary and they would've for sure won it if it wasnt for ZENGA's stupid mistake coming out of goal....that was the shittiest goal ever!

1994 was great too, baggio was at his peak with back to back world player of the year.....but he was unlucky to get injured for the final game and i still dont understand why ZOLA didnt play in that final


But i'd have to pick 1982 overall cuz they won it and they beat a great brazil and germany team the last 2 games...and it was convincingly, not last min or penalties

 

1990-1994-1998

The Baggio era

2002 > 2006 but missing a Pirlo.

 

1982 for sure, winning the second round group over Argentina and Brazil (what Brazil called their best squad ever) and strong Poland team and then Germany in the final. I dont think we will ever see a team again go through 3 of the last wc champions again.

Unfortunately we never got to see what would have been the best Italy team ever in the 1950 WC due to the Torino air crash. Torino was considered the greatest team ever and their starting 11 were all Azzurri. What could have been.

Up until this year, even though the 06 team won it all, I still dont think they were better then the 90's squads we had in those 3 WCs even though we didnt win.

 

The 98 team wasn't that strong. We had good defenders and strikers. That was it. The midfield was slow and useless. We didn't have the legs to play Maldini's 1960's style catenaccio.

 

I can only comment on the basis of squads that I have seen play from '90 onwards.


2002 was the strongest team that I ever saw.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_FIFA_World_Cup_squads#Italy

Look at the defensive centre pair (Nesta (26 yo) Cann (28 yo)). Brilliant and in their prime.

Up front we boasted the strongest strike force in the world
Vieri - (world transfer record 1999) (28 yo)
Totti - (25 yo)
Del Piero - (27 yo)
Montella - (27 yo)
Inzaghi - (28 yo)

GK:
Buffon (24 yo)
no2 (Toldo 30 yo)

Have a look at the ages, the main players were pretty much in their prime, and they were also all playing with big clubs and used to the big match pressure that came with Champions League & the experience of Euro 2000.

The midfield was the biggest weakness of this team but theoretically it didn't matter b/c Totti was playing as more of a trequartista at the time and was more than capable of handling creative midfield duties. And the super clinical Vieri only needed a half chance to finish.

The reason why this team didn't perform apart from the fact that a number of perfectly good goals were disallowed was that Trappatoni was a defensive old school coach. As soon as the team were one up they were basically told to shut up shop (sub on Di Livio) and Vieri and Totti were forced to run around like headless chooks in isolation up front.

Plumpish Vieri was a powerful striker but he just wasn't the type of player who could run non-stop for 90 mins, so by the time they got to extra time in the 2nd v S Korea he was physically spent and as am I'm sure most of you remember missed an absolute sitter that would have sent us through.

After that miss, Vieri was never the same player again his form deteriorated at an alarming rate and Italy lost one of their big occasion strikers as a consequence. And it was all Trappatoni's fault.

 

Definitely a good case for the 2002 squad.

Trap may have been the wrong choice given the quality... but to his credit vs South Korea he was missing both Cannavaro and Nesta.

I would say it was all Moreno and Panucci's fault

Anyway... in 2006 we *may* have had a bit of luck, but look at 1990-1994-1998-2002... we should have 2 WCs in that era!!

 

Lots of people are hinting that we were lucky in 2006.

Consider this:
> We had the world's best central defender (according to Pele) pick up a tournament ending injury in the 1st game
> Materazzi was unfairly red carded v Australia early on
> Totti (our star player) picked up a severe injury going into the tournament and many doubted he would play at all, he played at 85% at best
> France non-penalty awarded in the final
> Drawn against the other form team of the tournament at home in their
unbeatable stadium in the semi

 

People who say we were lucky in 2006 are just hating. They will always be jealous of the Azzurri because we are 4 time World Champions, former European Champions. We have reached 6 world finals, 8 semi-finals. We consistently produce the best players in the world. There will always be haters for Italy because aside from Germany & Brazil, no country can compare to Italiano success.

 

The 2002 team was fantastic. A young Totti and Vieri in your squad is just mouth watering.

 

The mighty Italy of the 30's was the best ever..

 

I have to say that I don't understand how people can pick a generation they didn't live and experience. Even if you go and watch all the games, there is no tension or excitement. You know how things play out. How can that possible compare with either 1982 or 2006, where you lived, suffered, and celebrated with the azzurri?

 

Those were great times, no doubt, but I am nothing special and don't feel that my personal bias for those teams should influence the fact that the team of the 30's was capable of back2back WC victories with two very different squads. Think of how deep the talent pool was back then for Pozzo to have only brought two key players from the previous WC winning team, Meazza and Ferrari.. and then think of the current situation, with all of us bitching that Lippi brought too many old players that peaked at Germany

 

No. We were not lucky.

We were good.

But NOBODY wins the WC without catching a break or two... in 2006 we had a couple of breaks in decisive moments that helped us.
We were also good to overcome bad breaks.

In 2002 we had ZERO breaks in our favor and we had so many things going against us that was impossible to overcome all that adversity.

 

Speaking only from emotional point of view:

I can only speak about my lifetime, so I pick the 1982 squad. It's so special for me because it was the first World Cup I was old enough to really follow. So many beautiful memories and moments in that tournament, and the feelings I was caught up in. In a nice twist, the 2006 World Cup was the first cup my son was old enough to understand and follow, and we won it, so there are special memories of us and nice pictures of him grinning in his Azzurri shirt. So, so happy to be able to share such a moment with my son, and him yelling Fowza Azzoooowi when Canna held up the trophy, lol.

*sniffle*

I need a tissue...

 

Was not even born to experience 82 tournament, but watched last 4 Italy's matches. Truly an incredible team, stacked with quality all over the pitch.
Here is the full match against Germany, if anyone didn't see it on another thread.

[ame="http://vimeo.com/12300745"]1982 World Cup Final on Vimeo[/ame]

 

Cannavaro and Nesta werent paired centrally until after that World Cup. Juliano was Nesta's partner.

 

Spot on and add to the fact they won the Olympics in 1936 with a bunch of amateurs when the Olympics was still a major tournament. Easily the greatest accomplishment of all time. Italy didnt lose a game for about 5 years. And who knows what would have happened in 1950 if the Grande Torino team didnt perish. Pozzo might have won three WC's in a row.