TBH, as much as the loss was painful to get belted, I think having the benefit of hindsight I'd rather we lost the way we did than lose on penalties. I know it would have been far more creditable going down in a close shootout, but that would be all the more heart breaking knowing we came so close. I'd rather lose knowing we had no chance than going down in penalties, extra time or a goal coming in the 90th or 120th minute.
What? You would rather be humiliated by a record score in a final then lose on penalties? I think you might have had some bad limoncello or something.
U no thats not the first time i've heard that, I went to my barber the other day and they were these old italian guys that were talking how there was a story in italy that it was rigged for spain to win because of their financial situation. Personally I don't believe it was rigged look at the game.
Although loosing on penalties would have been heartbreaking, I'd much prefer Italy had lost that way. Spain winning 4-0 was really embarrassing. :S
every loss hurts, and the 4-0 loss definitely was embarrassing but it was also definitely a lesson learned for prandelli on how to play them. they definitely played better against Spain in the confederations cup because of it.
No offense, but do you know how many times I hear dumb ******** americans say '' that game was rigged '' after a team they bet on loses? More times than Burlesconi boned hookers and underage girls.
Even though we know pretty much better than anyone else how bad it feels losing to penalties, I'd still take it over the 4-0 in a heart beat, that result broke my heart in many ways, for one it was such a humiliating result, but the most important part is it totally didn't do justice to Italy's great tournament, it was very unfair to them because unfortunately people (hell even some Azzurri fans) will only remember the final result and not how we got there. It's tough to hold your head up high after such an exit even though the Azzurri made us proud in the tournament overall.
That 4-0 ripped out my heart! At least in the past when we were not good enough we still made other teams sweat to try and score on us. That reputation was shattered into a million pieces when Sergio Ramos laughed at us after almost back-heeling Buffon. And for what? A more offensive attitude? PLEASE! I have absolutely 0% faith that Italy will beat a top team by four goals or more under Prandelli. Without Balotelli, this team is mediocre and even with him we are still not racking up the scorelines, and of course when we played Spain again at the Confederations Cup we went back to playing defensively and still lost. People say that the scoreline of the Euro finals doesn't matter, that is was just important to reach the final. I will accept that notion when it is Italy doing the smashing. If we had gone out in the first round of the Euros at least Prandelli would have been fired. Instead, because he got the team to the final and they lost, supposedly by bad luck, they gave him another chance. The Confederations Cup was a success as well in that we were not embarrassed by Spain again and only lost on penalties this time. Now people are expecting this team to go a step farther than the last Euros and win something. That is not going to happen. The only positive I can take from Prandelli's reign is the hope that these crushing defeat can psyche up the next generation for Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018 in Russia. Brasil? Forget about it!
What about Spain? Spain was humiliated by Brazil 3-0. At least Italy played well against Brazil. We played without Pirlo and De Rossi. By your standards, and Del Bosque should have been fired because Spain was destroyed by Brazil. You mentioned that you wanted Italy to be eliminated in the first round. What about Pirlo, and Balotelli? Balotelli was discovered in Euro 2012. It was his breakout tournament. He scored two goals against the great Gremany. Pirlo dominated the whole game against England. Prandelli instilled confidence in Balotelli not like Lippi. We should give Prandelli Credit because he built a great team. Prandelli created a great player, Giaccherini, who scored against Brazil. By your standard, If Italy was eliminated was in the first round, Italy would have not played the confederation cup. The confederation cup was a great test to Italy. Italy and Spain will have a big advantage next year because they played the confederation cup in Brazil.