Its Pirlo v Xavi tonight!!

Agreed totally.. Like I said... always, always, dont count the out the Italians and the Germans...

For those who never watch italian or german players play before, dont think for one moment that players like Downing, or Scott Parker are better than Marchisio or Di Natalie...

you dont watch them play does not mean they are lousier players. I am not at all surprised at Italy's display against Spain... Italy has always been quailty... Just that they also always have the tendency to self-distruct... like in 2010...not the players fault. But the manager Lippi... with his old men selection

Yeap.. When the going gets tough Italy gets going.

Tough (eg. 2006 the whole world wrote them off as cheats and lousy players. Laughed at them) = got going

Not so tough (going into 2010 as World Champions... Relax mentality. The job of proving a point and winning the WC had been done in 2006) = flopped

You dont win (Italy) 4 WCs based on pure luck.. and you dont flop (England) for 60 years purely on bad luck too.. BPL fanboys get this straight

Yeah.. tonight will be crucial for our chances.. If we cant beat croatia, then we will have to hope Ireland do a Chelsea on Spain haha

So far the Italy Juve is doing quite well.. but suffers from the same problem as Juve.. strike force...

Juve will be like Italy in the CL if we dont solve our Striker problem...

Hey.... lets keep our feet firmly on the ground. Germany is afterall together with us two of the best football nations from europe. I have been impressed with the Germans since euro 2008. They got a wealth of talent at their disposal and they are playing like they are club mates. Matts Hummels is their rock at the back, my player of the tournament for Germany so far

So I dont think Germany is overrated. We aint no england fanboys. Lets not downgrade ourselves to their level by being arrogant and misinformed.

The Juve Italy connection was there for all to see yesterday. I feel that Bazagli and Bonucci did well against seasoned CL pro like Rooney as well as against players that play in the best league in the World. Marchisio also did well

After yesterday's performance, I am quite optimistic about how Juve will fare in next season's CL

But come to Italy as a whole, I feel that Italy is having the same problem as Juve. Poor in scoring. I wouldnt want to blame Cassano as he just came back from a life threatening heart problem. Balotelli has so far been disappointing. He did show great movement to get into goalscoring positions, but his finishing was very poor.

If Germany has the edge over us, it is because of our weakness in finishing off opponents. Having only Balo and Di Natalie as our only two striking options really sums our our lack of options. Compared to the past, we had Totti, Del Piero, Inzaghi, Vieri all world class attacking options. We do have two rising stars in Borini and Destro, but I doubt they can developed into anything near Inzaghi or Vieri though. Maybe time will tell..

This post has been edited by Jusstatic: Jun 25 2012, 10:35 AM

Yeah I agree. At the rate he is going, and if he manages to help Italy win Euro he might even stand an outside chance of the World player Ballon D'Or prize.

1. Messi
2. Ronaldo
3. Pirlo

What you are implying is that it is not that Pirlo is good, but that Hart is young and still new, that was why Pirlo was able to score that goal?

I am sure they all did do research about each other penalty taking styles. But how will everyone possibly know how and when will a player use a particular trick at a certain time? Nothing to do with Hart being new and young or still learning the ropes. Yes Pirlo did the chip before, but no one anticipated that he had the balls and audacity to do it at that moment.

Take nothing away from Pirlo. Give credit when it is due.

This post has been edited by Jusstatic: Jun 28 2012, 03:25 PM

Alright no worries man. Maybe I got your intentions wrong. We cool here

no more italian league to watch at astro. so where to for us italian league fans...

Superb performance from my beloved Italy

I hope this is not another false dawn as we beat England in the WC first match but ended up getting eliminated after poor second and third games

it will be another leceister city story if we manage to win this euro

this is the lousiest italian side in more than a decade. many had predicted italy to be lambs to the slaughter prior to the tournament but look where we are now.. beaten the highest ranked european team.. and eliminated the double european champ / former world champ

even if we fall against germany i think this tournament can be considered a success already.. but we are italy.. we must play to win at all times

This post has been edited by Jusstatic: Jun 28 2016, 01:55 PM

and on top of that.. we still have alot of top / young managers that has yet to manage italy:


- Montella
- Allegri
- Ancelotti
- Ranieri

changing the manager and FIGC chief will be useless if the new guys do not implement reforms. germany, spain, france and lately england have done it from senior to youth to grassroot recruitment, leagues etc.. will italy follow suit? will the new men be open to changes and improvements? we shall see. else italian football is toast..