Lou_Cyber wrote on 06/23/08 at 15:04:27:
HgMan wrote on 06/23/08 at 11:50:25:
Smyslov_Fan wrote on 06/23/08 at 08:05:23:
The problem with Italy is they have the talent to win and refuse to use it. They have the passion of a great football nation and yet drain the game itself of passion. They could be the Ferrari of football, and instead are some clunker non-descript euro car painted pretty.
In fairness, they were the only Ferrari in the field two years ago and played very positively then (same with 1990). Like France, though, they're in a bit of a limbo between two generations at the moment. Many of the heroes of 2006 were absent (Totti, Nesta, Cannavaro), and there was nobody to replace them. I really think they should be satisfied with the quarterfinals and that they played almost as well as they could with the personnel available this time out.
I support Smyslov_Fan 100 % on this one.
WC2006 was by no means an italian Ferrari. Have you forgotten Italy vs. Australia? What was worthwile remembering from the Final vs. France apart from Zidanes foul? They rated perhaps "Alfa Romeo", which was good enough to win as most other teams were driving a Fiat 500. Looking back the quality of the 2006 games was rather poor and uninspiring. It is much more fun to watch the games of Euro2008.
They still had enough talented and gifted players to play a courageous attacking game at Euro08. AT LEAST THEY SHOULD HAVE TRIED!!!
Instead they maintained the pathetic destroying tactics throughout 120 minutes of the match. I still remember the sound of the croud at half/full time. Two thirds were cheering for Spain/Italy, the neutral austrian third was booing and whistling. One might even think the austrians finally start to understand the game.
Rubbish. I'm not sure there's much point rehashing 2006, but Italy beat Australia with ten men on the park for the lion's share of the game and still won. They were a bit disappointing in the final, but they absolutely broke a very decent German side in the semis. And all this while facing chaos on the home front; they played a very attractive game and were very solid at the back.
Fast forward to 2008: they were weak at the back and missing important pieces. I really don't think they had the talent to win. Luca Toni is nice and tall and gets his chances, but he's not going to scare too many teams single-handedly. And there was no one to unlock opposition defenses. No Totti, little del Piero (who must be 127 by now), and little life. Buffon's penalty save against Romania is the only reason they even qualified for the knockout stage.
Against Spain, they couldn't field their top choices in midfield (Gattuso and Pirlo) or at the back (Cannavaro). Without those three, Buffon and Zambrotta are about the only two players who are really world-class (and Zambrotta had a pretty miserable tournament by his high standards). Spain had better personnel at just about every position. If I was Italy, I would have clung to the ropes, too. As John said, multiple ways to skin a cat. Italy defended very well and almost won out (read: THEY DID TRY VERY HARD!!). You don't have to like the Petroff to accept that it's a very solid opening against 1.e4. Nimzovitsch would have been proud of Italy's prophylaxis, but the football gods prevailed...
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European Football (soccer) Championship (Read 37149 times)
