World Cup teams 70's 80's 90's 00's and now ?

Prandelli got us second in euro and 3rd in confederations cup. I don't know what the hell happened in 2014 but we had a team good enough to at least make the quarters

 

Prandelli was flip flopping formations on a daily plus injuries late into the tournament really screwed us. The issue now is a stubborn coach with a shit formation and a bunch of nonni's still playing on the NT

 

We had a bad world cup but so did Portugal, Croatia, Spain and even Brazil who were the hosts. Brazil made the semis but were awarded a dubiois pen in the opener vs Croatia while it was 1-1, drew with Mexico and beat a horribly bad Cameroon too. Lucky to scrape past Chile on pens in the qtrs and the Chileans did hit the bar late on. Smashed in the semis and 3rd place with a 1-10 aggregate score. England finished bottom of the group. Marchisio got a red which was debatable and Suarez who should have been sent off set up Godin from the resulting corner kick which was the match winning goal.

I don't blame Prandelli. Balotelli had two chances vs Costa Rica that he should have finished also at 0-0 which changed our world cup. He can't be blamed also, and he did get the match winner vs England in the previous game. I didn't like our tactics however vs Uruguay. Looked as though we were playing for a draw but then again perhaps we were smashed after the conditions in Manus, and thereafter. Prandelli did take us to a euro final, you can't forget that. That's more than anyone else has did since Lippi in 2006.

Don't forget we also went through the playoff route vs Russia in 1997, but we were a different team then. Beat England at Wembley when they were flying high at the back of a semi final birth at euro 96 where they lost to the Germans on penalties. We also went unbeaten that campaign but the 0-0 draw at home to england in our last game is what sent us to the playoffs. Or before that drawing 0-0 away to Georgia in Tibilsi.

We also got k.o'd by Germany only last year, without our first and second string midfield.

But, that was then and this is now. This manager looks inept { although this was what was being said about Conte pre euro and look what he did } but I don't have faith in this manager. He does look inept, clueless, no poise, he doesn't look as though he has what it takes at this level. Sure we may get through, but be worried if we face an in form Sweden. Look beyond that though. Even if we make the world cup, do you really trust this side, with this manager? We haven't looked convincing at all this campaign { also sounds familiar } but again, look who's in charge.

In any case, 2010 and 2014 we exited at the group stage. We may not even get there at all this time. Maybe that's the best thing for us. We need a complete overhaul from the ground floor up. I hope we draw Northern Ireland then after that well Greece would be like playing us and Ireland would be tough as they are rugged and have good fighting spirit. I don't have faith in our team anymore and our D looks shit. I wouldn't even care if we missed out. It would be the best thing for us, we are rubbish and what would we honestly do if we get there. I don't want a qtr final appearance. I want to win the thing.If we casn't go there with a chance of winning it, what's the point? So the same old shit can get regurgitated over and over for the next 12 years until we might fluke a world cup?

Fix this ********n team once and for all. And it starts by not employing shit managers like this banana, and Lippi after what he did with us in qualifying 2008-2010.

With Lippi 2010, the writing was on the wall. Same is the case for this strunzo.

 

I honestly think there have been so many problems. From 2010-2014 we actually had a lack of talent as well.

2010 World Cup: I honestly don't know what went wrong there, as Lippi appears to be a good manager and while our talent was not what we previously had, we had a good squad. Many Serie A teams that produce talent to the Azzurri like Juventus, Milan, and Fiorentina were having a really bad year. Inter and Roma dominated the Scudetto and we had no Inter players in the squad as well as only one Roma player. We also relied on many aging players in key positions. Its ok to field a few, but when you have too many, it just slows down the whole pace of the game, and players start to get tired easily. Not to mention Pirlo was injured and hardly played until he came on in the second half vs Slovakia. By the time we started to score the goals it was too late and Slovakia were already up by two goals. Also many of the young players Lippi threw in were still inexperienced especially at international level. When we mixed up young inexperienced players who haven't found their primes yet, with too many old players that could hardly run, it made a huge problem as a team.

2014 World Cup: Prandelli really was not that good of a manager. He got lucky in Euro 2012. Let me tell you in Euro 2012, we only officially won two games. The rest we drew and scraped on penalties. Spain usually doesn't start that strong which is why we drew them. Also another huge problem is the team was not united. Many individuals were playing for themselves and not for the team. Did you see the way we played in World Cup 2014? Balotelli was horrible, except for the goal he scored vs England. Did you see how selfish he was in the Costa Rica and Uruguay games? He was really wasting chances by trying luck and was not passing to teammates. Prandelli himself even confronted him for it vs Uruguay. Verratti, Insigne, and Immobile were not playing well either. This left Pirlo with a lot of work to do and made the whole team rely on him. While the team on paper looked good, the unity and passion was a disaster literally. I feel like Buffon and Pirlo were the only players who really had the passion for their country and cared at that World Cup.

 

Used to be that Italy played poorly in the Euros and always performed well in the World Cup. Now the script is flipped. Three straight poor WC cycles should be labeled a disaster. We are now no better than a Denmark, if that happens.