wah lau... scots dont deserved tat!
damn kesian

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Euro 2008 qualifier - November 17, 2007

Scotland 1 - 2 Italy

Toni 2 (I), Ferguson 65 (S), Panucci 91 (I)
Hampden Park

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Luca Toni and Christian Panucci earned Italy's dramatic first ever victory in Scotland to qualify for Euro 2008!

This was Italy's fourth visit to Scottish soil and they had never won, managing just two draws and a defeat. The first encounter was a 1-0 result on November 9, 1965, followed by a 0-0 in November 1992 and a 1-1 on September 3, 2005.

Group B hung in the balance in Glasgow, as a win would automatically qualify Scotland, while defeat would see Italy and France through to Euro 2008. A draw would put the Azzurri in the driving seat ahead of their final game against the Faroe Islands on Wednesday, while Scotland would have to hope Ukraine beat France.

Donadoni picked a 4-3-3 system with Mauro Camoranesi and Antonio Di Natale flanking Luca Toni, while Christian Panucci was chosen ahead of Massimo Oddo at right-back. The Scots opted for a solid midfield and just James McFadden upfront.

There was driving rain over Glasgow as Italy debuted their new white away strip. The team wore black armbands in honour of Gabriele Sandri, the Lazio fan accidentally shot dead by police last week.

The Azzurri could not have asked for a better start! After 69 seconds Antonio Di Natale carried on a Gianluca Zambrotta throw-in for Luca Toni to fire into the near top corner from six yards with the outside of his right foot. Toni netted both goals in the 2-0 home win earlier in Group B and marked his card again.

Moments later it should've been 2-0, as Toni held up the ball and crossed back for the unmarked Mauro Camoranesi to blast over the bar. It was a shock opening for the Scots, who had a 100 per cent record on home turf.

Fabio Cannavaro celebrated his 112th cap, matching the record set by Dino Zoff. Toni pounced on a misplaced Stephen McManus clearance and his angled drive thumped the side-netting thanks to a Craig Gordon fingertip save.

Scotland's first chance came after 15 minutes, as expected, from a set-piece. A free header was charged down and the follow-up from Lee McCulloch deflected wide off Zambrotta's arm, but it was held tight to his torso and the referee waved away penalty appeals.

Gigi Buffon punched out another corner and Barry Ferguson drilled over from the edge of the area. Italy were struggling from set plays and another corner found Alan Hutton unmarked for a free header that skimmed the upright.

A free kick was cleared poorly and Gigi Buffon got down well to smother a weak Barry Ferguson finish.

Italy hit the back of the net for a second time, but it was disallowed for an incorrect offside position. Toni, Camoranesi and Di Natale combined as a series of ricochets finally saw Di Natale blast in from six yards, but the linesman disallowed the goal for offside. Replays show the Udinese star was kept in play by the Scottish defence when Gordon parried Massimo Ambrosini's effort into his path.

Andrea Pirlo's free kick came out to Zambrotta whose shot was accidentally charged down by one of his teammates in white, while Camoranesi mistimed a counter-attack pass for Gennaro Gattuso and there was a brief scuffle between Toni and David Weir.

Di Natale's clearance almost turned into an assist for McFadden, but Andrea Barzagli perfectly timed a sliding tackle to cut him off when clear on goal.

Scotland were about to equalise in the final seconds of the first half. Another Ferguson corner kick found Hutton for a free header that looped over Buffon, but Pirlo got a goalline clearance at the far post to send Italy into the break 1-0 up.

The Azzurri threatened after the restart, as Gattuso got away down the right twice in the opening minutes, but Di Natale's volley was charged down by a defensive body.

Pirlo's timid free kick was easily gathered, but there was danger when Panucci floated a ball over the top and Zambrotta's cross turned into a looping finish palmed away by Gordon.

It had stopped raining, but the pitch was still extremely slippery and players from both sides had trouble keeping their footing. A Scots counter from Hutton earned a free kick from Zambrotta on the edge of the box. McFadden's effort took a double deflection and although Buffon managed to parry the first shot from McCulloch, he could do nothing on the follow-up. However, replays suggest Ferguson was offside and the incorrect decision was made by the same linesman who ruled out Italy's goal in the first half.

Donadoni threw on Vincenzo Iaquinta for Di Natale. Buffon rushed out to close down McFadden, getting his hat knocked off but avoiding a potentially dangerous collision. Kenny Miller replaced Scott Brown.

Pirlo's long-range free kick bounced just in front of Gordon, but went wide, while McFadden drilled wide at the end of a good Scottish team move. Gattuso was left with a bloody nose and went off for treatment. During this spell Scotland nearly scored on the counter, as McFadden incredibly fired wide of an open goal from seven yards as he came sliding in at the back post.

Giorgio Chiellini replaced the tired Camoranesi as the Scots poured forward in the final minutes of their qualifying campaign. Daniele De Rossi came on for Gattuso and immediately won back an important ball in midfield to spark Toni's run. The Bayern Munich star earned a free kick and from Pirlo's set-piece Panucci's diving header at the back post was inches wide of the target, as the Roma defender clattered into the upright.

Chiellini's first touch let him down in front of goal, but he earned a free kick near the corner flag. Pirlo chipped up the ball for Panucci's splendid looping header across the face of goal to beat Gordon in the final minute!

It was almost 3-1, as Iaquinta cut back for Chiellini's strike that Gordon palmed out from under the crossbar.


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Scotland: Gordon; Hutton, Weir, McManus, Naysmith; Hartley; Brown (Miller 74), Ferguson, Fletcher, McCulloch (Boyd 92); McFadden
Italy: Buffon; Panucci, Cannavaro, Barzagli, Zambrotta; Pirlo, Gattuso (De Rossi 86), Ambrosini; Camoranesi (Chiellini 83), Toni, Di Natale (Iaquinta 67)
Ref: Mejuto Gonzalez (Spa)

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_ita...ly/sco-ita.html

Lippi: Italy can take Euro title Sunday 18 November, 2007
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World Cup winning Coach Marcello Lippi believes the Azzurri can go on to lift the European Championship next summer.

"The Italy squad is made up of a group of fantastic people who have not lost their hunger for victory," said Lippi.


They qualified for Euro 2008 with a hard-fought 2-1 win away to Scotland on Saturday and will top Group B if they beat the Faroe Islands on Wednesday.


"It is only right that they are in the European Championships. In fact, they could quite possibly win it."


Merely getting to Austria and Switzerland is already an achievement, as when Italy won the 1982 World Cup they then failed to even qualify for the following European event.


Francesco Totti was part of Lippi's World Cup side, but has not played for the Azzurri since the Final in Berlin.


"I compliment the entire squad and I am very happy for them," said the Roma captain, who has hinted he could be tempted out of international retirement.


"I also want to praise my teammate Christian Panucci for scoring the crucial goal."

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/nov18b.html

Good to win. Now we already qualified to next round.

no lar.....the referee already rob italy draw.its clear that scot's goal is off side...watch the slow replay.

if 1-1 also azzuri will go lar in to euro because the next game against faroe island......even miccoli or di vaio or legrotagglie level also can call up to play and score for the win.

w00t we made it !

well i understand that the Scots must b damn furious for the Panucci's goal. to be honest i was surprise that we were given that FK too.

still i would say the fault is at the referee n the linesmen. what the heck they denied us a goal from Di Natale, n Scotland's goal was offside.

i do feel sorry for the Scots, but thats football i guess.

Forza Azzurri !

p/s : the away kit looks nicer than i initially thought.

Not only that..even Di Natale's goal in the first half is legitimate..but were ruled offside..

Buffon: Dedicated to Donadoni
Sunday 18 November, 2007
Gianluigi Buffon has dedicated Italy's Euro 2008 qualification to Roberto Donadoni. "Anyone else would've given up after the start we had."

The Azzurri had a disastrous beginning to their Donadoni era back in 2006, when the inexperienced tactician was chosen to replace World Cup winner Marcello Lippi.

He lost two of his first three games, including a 3-1 qualifier in France, and stuttered to a 1-1 draw with Lithuania in Naples.

"Any other national team would've given up after the terrible September we had after the World Cup," commented Buffon.

"We didn't do that and some of the credit must go to Donadoni. The winner here was his consistency, his hunger for hard work and his sheer pig-headedness."

The tactician's job was on the line several times during this qualification campaign and he would have been sacked had Italy not reached the European Championships.

"There was no particular spark that made us have faith in him, we simply offered him our respect. Over time that rapport grew."

Azzurri captain Fabio Cannavaro also had a special dedication for the Coach, who was lambasted in the media for his lack of experience.

"We were always sure of Donadoni. Of course we were aware he was a young Coach, but he had great ideas and can really motivate his men," said the defender.

"This is a qualification we had to suffer for and he earned it."

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/nov18f.html

Watch it last night quite a fair game for both side. For the freekick it was ref decission we can't do nothing about that but it was good when we scored. Anyway, still miss totti in the team.

the 2006/07 Oscar del Calcio lists is out :

1. Best Italian Player: Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Francesco Totti (Roma)

2. Best Foreign Player: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter), Kaka (Milan), Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina)

3. Best Goalkeeper: Sebastien Frey (Fiorentina), Julio Cesar (Inter), Angelo Peruzzi (Lazio)

4. Best Youngster: Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Giampaolo Pazzini (Fiorentina), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal)

5. Best Defender: Marco Materazzi (Inter), Philippe Mexes (Roma), Alessandro Nesta (Milan)


My prediction :

1. Totti
2. Ibra
3. Peruzzi
4. Rossi
5. Matrix

My prediction

1. Pirlo
2. Mutu
3. Cesar
4. Pazzini
5. Materazzi

last get more prediction

1. totti
2. ibra but obviously i prefer mutu
3. frey
4. montolivo
5. matrix

Azzurri 3 - 1 Faroe Islands

thats end our Euro qualifying campaign. we're top of the group after all.

That was very nice. Anyway we are the world champion

My Prediction

1. Andrea Pirlo

2. Kaka

3. Julio Cesar

4. Giampaolo Pazzini

5. Alessandro Nesta

Serie A round 13 results :

Cagliari 1-2 Milan
Empoli 0-0 Torino
Genoa 0-1 Roma
Inter 2-1 Atalanta
Juventus 5-0 Palermo
Lazio 1-0 Parma
Livorno 3-1 Sampdoria
Napoli 2-0 Catania
Reggina 0-0 Fiorentina
Udinese 2-0 Siena


n talking abt the WC2010 qualifiers, we're draw into a fairly easy group.

Group 8 : Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro

Totti: I was joking!



Thursday 29 November, 2007

Francesco Totti has laughed off speculation that he may be lured back into the Azzurri fold as he claims his comments were taken out of context.

The Roma captain retired from international football after the World Cup triumph in Germany and has always insisted that his time in the Azzurri shirt is over.

However, in a recent interview with GQ magazine, Totti hinted that in the event of an injury crisis he would be willing to step in for Euro 2008, but he has distanced himself from his statement.

"The question about my return to international football seemed absurd, so I gave an absurd answer," the 31-year-old claimed.

"I want to make that clear because I don't want to show any lack of respect for the players who achieved qualification for the European Championships.

"What I said was that if the night before the tournament all our strikers got injured I could go to Euro 2008 - it was a joke.

"I haven't changed my mind over my future in the national side and my decision remains that it is a closed chapter."

this is gonna be a great week for calcio actions :

Viola vs Inter
AC vs Juve
Roma vs Udinese

i'm expecting some exciting n cracking matches (n goals).