ITALY thread

Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

I think Prandelli nailed the tactics for this game. 5 midfielders to control the game, and indeed we did. Very impressed with Sirigu, Darmian and Candreva. WOOOOO
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

The way they tried to kill the game after the 2nd goal and just let England run around was really impressive. Also notice how Chiellini didn't go forward at all in the second half, it was so funny seeing him try to dribble in the first half :P.

Darmian has really turned into a good player.. a huge huge improvement on where he was a few years ago. Candreva also surprised me, he's good with Lazio but playing with Italy is different and he looked really calm and confident.

Also, apart from the right hand side Italy need more width on the left, with England's formation today (which was really bad IMO) I think if there was a proper left full-back, Italy would have been much more dangerous.
 
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Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Italy passing was just delightful, managing the heat the way you are supposed to.

I always thought Paletta was from Argentina tho.
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Did anyone mention No Italian players fell down from cramping. 42 yr old Pirlo didn't look knackered, he dictated the match .
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

That's what happens when you make the other team do all the running.
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

very nice start, i'm absolutely pleased with our performance. we didn't run that much (infact we tried to run as little as possible), but i'm very relieved to see our players didn't seem too tired at the end of the game (especially when compared to the english, who looked knackered). with one more week of cardio we might actually get on a good form.... besides, we won't have to play in manaus anymore.

i'm very glad for marchisio. he had a rough season and really deserves some glory. i was also very impressed with darmian! boy that kid looked like zambrotta in his prime yesterday! i absolutely love that little guy! i won't say i was impressed with candreva, barzagli or sirigu, because we all know they're awesome :COOL:

instead i gotta grab a fat slice of humble pie on balotelli! he was perfect yesterday, making the most of what little opportunities he got. it was a tough game to be a lone striker for italy yesterday, given prandelli's plan, but mario handled it brilliantly, without losing his composure and always mantaining focus. bravo!
immobile, on the other side, was a disaster! he clearely felt under pressure because of mario's goal and wanted to impress prandelli in those last 15 minutes. but he was so obsessed with overdoing things he didn't do anything right. let's hope he'll loosen up a bit, because he's no use to us, if he can't control his nerves.

one last mention to prandelli, who was brilliant, as usual. seriously his grip on the players is insane. a hypnotist couldn't do a better job. at some point, during yesterday's game, it almost felt like the match was a videogame and prandelli was controlling all his players with a gamepad.

and now, to my 2 main concerns:
first of, we need de sciglio back. badly. chiellini felt out of his comfort zone yesterday. he was shaky defensively and non-existant offensively. thankfully, on the opposite side, darmian was making baines and rooney his bitches, otherwise our formation would have been too narrow.

but my biggest issue with yesterday's game is paletta, obviously. he shouldn't be there, he's not italy nt material, and he proved it yesterday. he was a huge liability, he forced barzagli (god bless him) to cover for him dozens of times, and whenever barzagli couldn't help him, we were in trouble.
every single scoring chance england had came from his mistakes, and some of his blunders yesterday were just unforgivable.

i don't really like this new trend ot snatching foreing players from other national teams, but for the love of god, if we must do this, at least let's get some good players. i mean camoranesi was a monster, thiago motta is a very good player, but paletta?!? what the fuck! he wouldn't even make it into argentina's defence and we're calling him up?!?!? how the fuck is that possible. i'd rather have bonucci playing on a wheelchair than this guy!
and ranocchia wasn't called up to make room for this guy??!! seriously what. the . fuck.
sorry for this rant, but i was incredibly annoyed we lined up paletta instead of bonucci yesterday. at least i hope, after this performance, we won't have to see him playing again.
 
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Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

When it comes to the nazionale, Balotelli always gives his all. He even smiled during the goal celebration :D
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

yep. u called it stef. :APPLAUD:
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

oh god, I'm starting to dislike anyone getting overhyped by the stupid media. mind you, I "love" Pirlo and I always spoke highly of him but that does it for me. since euro 2012, media created some people who think that they discovered the america, oof, I mean pirlo. he was always out there for more than friggin 15 years doing his job as wonderfully as it gets.

I just don't get the hype on that free-kick either. seriously, people never kicked a ball in their lives? okay, pirlo can do it anytime he wants but an amateur can do it at least once in his life.

man, pirlo was my favorite player in that star-studded milan side. I even remember his assist to a fantastic goal of baggio in brescia. now, f*ck you media.

this is not directed at anyone here in this forum.
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Italians should be proud of their NT. I know they generally are and I appreciate a bit of healthy nationalism and national pride. Italy is the only EU team I root for this WC. I didn't particularly enjoy Italy's football in the past, but they've slowly won me over and particularly since Prandelli took over they have become a very positive ambassador for football. They've managed to retain the typical Italian solidity, determination and teamwork but adding something new and very positive and enjoyable to watch. Italy is quite simply charming, which isn't what neutrals usually would describe Italy back in the days.

I wish you all the best in this WC and I will cross fingers and toes for you as long as you don't play against Argentina.

Buona fortuna a voi!
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Kanouté said:
oh god, I'm starting to dislike anyone getting overhyped by the stupid media. mind you, I "love" Pirlo and I always spoke highly of him but that does it for me. since euro 2012, media created some people who think that they discovered the america, oof, I mean pirlo. he was always out there for more than friggin 15 years doing his job as wonderfully as it gets.

I just don't get the hype on that free-kick either. seriously, people never kicked a ball in their lives? okay, pirlo can do it anytime he wants but an amateur can do it at least once in his life.

man, pirlo was my favorite player in that star-studded milan side. I even remember his assist to a fantastic goal of baggio in brescia. now, f*ck you media.

this is not directed at anyone here in this forum.
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Tell me about it :P To be honest, I think people outside of Italy haven't even heard of most of Italy's players. Daily Mail was taking the piss out of Sirigu, without knowing he was voted GK of the year in France. Many media don't realise Dortmund paid £20m for Immobile. Insigne, Candreva, Darmian are relatively unknowns.

Let's keep it this way, as it gives us the underdog status :D
 
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Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Kanouté said:
oh god, I'm starting to dislike anyone getting overhyped by the stupid media. mind you, I "love" Pirlo and I always spoke highly of him but that does it for me. since euro 2012, media created some people who think that they discovered the america, oof, I mean pirlo. he was always out there for more than friggin 15 years doing his job as wonderfully as it gets.

I just don't get the hype on that free-kick either. seriously, people never kicked a ball in their lives? okay, pirlo can do it anytime he wants but an amateur can do it at least once in his life.

man, pirlo was my favorite player in that star-studded milan side. I even remember his assist to a fantastic goal of baggio in brescia. now, f*ck you media.

this is not directed at anyone here in this forum.
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Lol, I sort of agree. Even when he was at Milan, Pirlo (along with Kaka) were two of my favourite players. I remember looking everywhere for a Pirlo Italy kit after Euro 2008.

That free-kick yesterday was something else though, the effect on it was unreal.
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Andrea Pirlo has been known worldwide since before 2006 WC and there are no "unknown" players in the Italian squad as far as I know. If they are unknown to anyone it's because those anyone doesn't have a clue which is their loss.
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Well I suppose Darmian was a gem for almost everyone who doesn't fanatically follow Serie A. He had a great season at Torino, but I honestly didn't expect him to do so well yesterday.

I hope De Sciglio is fit for the second game so Chiellini can move back to the center, a Darmian-Barzagli-Chiellini-De Sciglio defense would be very good.
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

ZeroTheHero said:
there are no "unknown" players in the Italian squad as far as I know. If they are unknown to anyone it's because those anyone doesn't have a clue.
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yep, but u're describing most football fans right there. :P
truth is, serie a isn't as followed as it used to be, so i'd be surprised if the average foreign fan knew players like darmian or parolo or even candreva.
 
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Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Milanista said:
Tell me about it :P To be honest, I think people outside of Italy haven't even heard of most of Italy's players. Daily Mail was taking the piss out of Sirigu, without knowing he was voted GK of the year in France. Many media don't realise Dortmund paid £20m for Immobile. Insigne, Candreva, Darmian are relatively unknowns.

Let's keep it this way, as it gives us the underdog status :D
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Arsenal put a request for him (17m) and the president said 65m ! :CONFUSE:

Im a Alessio Cerci fan :WORSHIP: but most kids on my block tell me they like him for his hair style :P SerieA is still watched especially in the Italian -Deli`s
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Interesting stat:

"Italy recorded an astonishing 93.2 per cent passing accuracy during their 2-1 win against England on Saturday night which is the highest ever recorded in a single World Cup game since 1966."
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Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Damjan said:
Well I suppose Darmian was a gem for almost everyone who doesn't fanatically follow Serie A. He had a great season at Torino, but I honestly didn't expect him to do so well yesterday.

I hope De Sciglio is fit for the second game so Chiellini can move back to the center, a Darmian-Barzagli-Chiellini-De Sciglio defense would be very good.
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yep, that looks like the ideal italy back 4 atm for me too.
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

tumblr_n77kx0Qj7Z1qmocq2o1_500.jpg
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

That is so close to perfection.
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

I was really surprised with Darmian. Have read great things of him, but he played like Zambrotta on this match. Hope Inter would go for him next summer. He deserves a big move.

Think Prandelli maybe regarding not bringing Criscito. Chiellini can no longer play that position. Even defensively he was a liability. De Siglio was injured or was a tactical decision?
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

De Sciglio was injured a few days before the game, so Paletta played. I think normally we'd play:

De Sciglio-Chiellini-Barzagli-Darmian/Abate

Also, I don't think Darmian would make a move to Inter (I hope)... he's a Milan youth product :D
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

That makes sense. But still you should've bring a replacement, IMO.

Milan have Abate and De Siglio and no money lol. That's why I said Inter (and since Juve already has Forrest Gump play the right wingback :)).
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Kanouté said:
oh god, I'm starting to dislike anyone getting overhyped by the stupid media. mind you, I "love" Pirlo and I always spoke highly of him but that does it for me. since euro 2012, media created some people who think that they discovered the america, oof, I mean pirlo. he was always out there for more than friggin 15 years doing his job as wonderfully as it gets.

I just don't get the hype on that free-kick either. seriously, people never kicked a ball in their lives? okay, pirlo can do it anytime he wants but an amateur can do it at least once in his life.

man, pirlo was my favorite player in that star-studded milan side. I even remember his assist to a fantastic goal of baggio in brescia. now, f*ck you media.

this is not directed at anyone here in this forum.
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I'd kind of agree with that but it would just make me sound like a bitter hipster. :P
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

I'm a bitter hipster and I'm proud of it. :BLEH:
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

the chief of the azzurri medical staff said the players lost 2 kilos suring the game....... 2 friggin kilos!! :SHOCK:

if that's what manaus did to us, i can't even imagine how knackered the english (who ran much more than us) must be right now!
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

The Englishmen probably lost 2 years of their lifetime then :P
 
Re: The Italy Thread - Forza Azzurri! - "Il sogno è appena cominciato"

Daniel__Juve said:
The Englishmen probably lost 2 years of their lifetime then :P
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:D i don't know mate. the result wasn't good for them, but if i were english, i'd be extremely happy with england's performance.
if we manage to beat costarica, i think they would have every reason to hope for the 2nd spot.

our game vs costarica will be played in recife at 1 pm local time, and the meteo forecast says 30 celsius degrees and 80% humidity :((

and since de sciglio will still be out, i really hope bonucci will reclaim his spot as chiellini's backup, coz the thought of paletta facing campbell doesn't fill me with confidence.
 
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