BlueDiva:

Well, even though Italy won the 2006 WC i really didn't feel they deserved it.
Honestly, the Italian team of recent times haven't really impressed me.

I think we did you know
There was no stand out team in that tournament tbh but the Azzuris were solid.
Had the Best Goalkeeper, Best Defence(an achievement considering Nesta got injured after the third match),One of the best Midfields and an average strike force.
Yh the 2008 and most especially 2010 were a shambles. Prandelli has really impressed me so far though.

BlueDiva:
Italy deserved that Euro 2000, i was so impressed with that team.

Definitely!!!
Sandro,Canna and Maldini in Defence, Fiore on fire and Totti's best tournament in an Azzuri shirt. Definitely did.

nateevs:


With the way Italy were played off the park in the Semi's they could have gone 4 down easily.
That game, till date, is one of the most one sided football games I have ever seen.
Kluivert, Cocu, Bergkamp running riots on the Azzuris like no tomorrow.

one of the best defensive performances of the era! the dutch threw EVERYTHING at d Italians.dont forget d missed penalties in regulation time and extra time.de boer,kluivert e.t.c byd way dt was d last dutch side to play in d classical ajax/netherlands fashion

coogar:

without carrick, wilshere, cleverley and scholes....england are doomed!
there's no creative bone in the squad....the play would be so disjointed
it would be like watching iwanyanwu nationale against barcelona.

What do you mean? They've got Super Frankie Lampard.
Watching the England game yesterday against the supposed vastly inferior Norwegian side was like something I never witnessed.

The Norwegians made England look like a bunch of school boys.
They could hardly string together more than 5 passes.

nateevs:


With the way Italy were played off the park in the Semi's they could have gone 4 down easily.
That game, till date, is one of the most one sided football games I have ever seen.
Kluivert, Cocu, Bergkamp running riots on the Azzuris like no tomorrow.

The Azzuri's had 10 men on the field na.

afrodoc:

one of the best defensive performances of the era! the dutch threw EVERYTHING at d Italians.dont forget d missed penalties in regulation time and extra time.de boer,kluivert e.t.c byd way dt was d last dutch side to play in d classical ajax/netherlands fashion

Yeah. Kluivert lost two pens in the game.
He set fear into the team that allowed Jaap Stam sky rocket his first pen.

The performance was off the chain. Cocu hit the bar early on.
The Kluovert, then Bergkamp. R De Boer has two brilliant chances.
It was unbelievable, I still cannot believe till date how they lost.

BlueDiva:

The Azzuri's had 10 men on the field na.

It was forced on the them.
Marc Overmars was in no joking mood. He rounded the Italian RB twice and he had to go.

I cannot remember off the tp of my head who was sent off ?

nateevs:
With the way Italy were played off the park in the Semi's they could have gone 4 down easily.
That game, till date, is one of the most one sided football games I have ever seen.
Kluivert, Cocu, Bergkamp running riots on the Azzuris like no tomorrow.

Tbh there wasn't that much of a gulf til we had a man sent off around the half hour mark I think and from then on it was backs to the wall.
The kind of situations we thrive on. Resolute defending. Great stuff to applauded considering the attacking talent the oranje had at their disposal.
I bet if it was the other way round we woulda won that match in Regulation time.

afrodoc:

one of the best defensive performances of the era! the dutch threw EVERYTHING at d Italians.dont forget d missed penalties in regulation time and extra time.de boer,kluivert e.t.c byd way dt was d last dutch side to play in d classical ajax/netherlands fashion

Thank You. Could not have said it any better.
Only Italians and the germans coulda taken that amount of pounding and still come out tops.

chic2pimp:
I think we did you know
There was no stand out team in that tournament tbh but the Azzuris were solid.
Had the Best Goalkeeper, Best Defence(an achievement considering Nesta got injured after the third match),One of the best Midfields and an average strike force.
Yh the 2008 and most especially 2010 were a shambles. Prandelli has really impressed me so far though.


Definitely!!!
Sandro,Canna and Maldini in Defence, Fiore on fire and Totti's best tournament in an Azzuri shirt. Definitely did.

I agree, Cannavaro was a beast, Matarazzi was a monster.
Still, even after the win, i just had this feeling that we were lucky.

BlueDiva:

The Azzuri's had 10 men on the field na.

Exactly!!!...And it's not like we were playing Greece or England. This was the Netherland's best team since Euro88.

nateevs:

It was forced on the them.
Marc Overmars was in no joking mood. He rounded the Italian RB twice and he had to go.

I cannot remember off the tp of my head who was sent off ?

Luca Zambrotta!!!

nateevs:

It was forced on the them.
Marc Overmars was in no joking mood. He rounded the Italian RB twice and he had to go.

I cannot remember off the tp of my head who was sent off ?

It was Zambrotta just early in the game. Maybe 20 something mins or so.
What do you expect playing 10 men against a good Dutch side.

However,as usual their bad luck came through for the Italians.

BlueDiva:

I agree, Cannavaro was a beast, Matarazzi was a monster.
Still, even after the win, i just had this feeling that we were lucky.

Of course you were lucky.

chic2pimp:
Tbh there wasn't that much of a gulf til we had a man sent off around the half hour mark I think and from then on it was backs to the wall.

Seriously? Whenever you find the game, please endeavour watch it.
We were all over them like a rash from the blast of the whistle.
It was non stop attack till the end.

But like always, never let a Dutch team reach pens.

i remember then in Uni we started calling those italian defenders SPIRITS! dt team was so good defensively cos dt was probably the only time that d italians had Cannavaro,Nesta and Maldini all fit n on form together.plus albertini n di biagio cleaning up in front of them

The Italian defence those days was legendary.
Italy isn't what it used to be anymore.

Looking forward to their performance at this Euros.

@Chic2pimp,
Is the squad list out?

BlueDiva:

I agree, Cannavaro was a beast, Matarazzi was a monster.
Still, even after the win, i just had this feeling that we were lucky.

Yh the Matrix was Great in the Tourney too thanks to the calming Influence of Canna
Apart from possibly the finals were France were the better team, I don't think we were that lucky.

nateevs:
Seriously? Whenever you find the game, please endeavour watch it.
We were all over them like a rash from the blast of the whistle.
It was non stop attack till the end.

But like always, never let a Dutch team reach pens.

It's on youtube I'll watch it again.
Infact there are several from that Tourney I need to watch again. Probably the best Tournament in 20-25 years.

BlueDiva:
What do you expect playing 10 men against a good Dutch side.

Not just Good, Great.
They were the best Team in that Tournament If I am being Honest.

a tournament with 4 or 5 very good sides.italy,france,portugal,netherlands and (to a lesser extent) spain.
P.S @ bluediva i dont tink materazzi was in dt squad

afrodoc: i remember then in Uni we started calling those italian defenders SPIRITS! dt team was so good defensively cos dt was probably the only time that d italians had Cannavaro,Nesta and Maldini all fit n on form together.plus albertini n di biagio cleaning up in front of them

Forget On form it was the only time we had all three of them Fit.
Gigi Buffon should have been in goal too if not for Injury. Plus Fiore in front of Albertini and Totti's best Tournament.

BlueDiva: The Italian defence those days was legendary.
Italy isn't what it used to be anymore.

Looking forward to their performance at this Euros.

@Chic2pimp,
Is the squad list out?

The Italian defence most especially isn't what it used to be.
From the 1960's-1990's we churned out roll after roll of World class defenders alone. It has all but dryed up now. Sad really.

As for as I now it has not yet been finalised. Although the 32 Man provisional squad has been chosen.
Btw in Defence watch out for a dude called Andrea Barzagli(would prob partner Chiellini). He has been different a class in Serie A this season

Apart from possibly the finals were France were the better team, I don't think we were that lucky.

I wasn't impressed with that dying min penalty against Australia.
I felt it was undeserved.

I also felt Zidane was unfortunate to have been sent off.
I think if Zidane had played throughout we wouldn't have won.

Anyway don't mind me.
I was elated when we won sha. Luck or not.

As for as I now it has not yet been finalised. Although the 32 Man provisional squad has been chosen.
Btw in Defence watch out for a dude called Andrea Barzagli(would prob partner Chiellini). He has been different a class in Serie A this season

Ok, i would. What team does he play for?
I try hard to watch a few games in Seria A but i find it too boring.

he plays for juve,though he has been around for awhile and he is 31yrs old already.i believe the future of italian defending is in Bonucci and Ranochia

afrodoc: a tournament with 4 or 5 very good sides.italy,france,portugal,netherlands and (to a lesser extent) spain.

Not only were they good teams but they also played to their potential too. Nowadays teams are great on paper but not on the pitch.
However most importantly each of these countries Star Player had very good Tournaments too. How many times have we had the chanc to say that since Euro 2000?

BlueDiva:

I wasn't impressed with that dying min penalty against Australia.
I felt it was undeserved.

I also felt Zidane was unfortunate to have been sent off.
I think if Zidane had played throughout we wouldn't have won.

Anyway don't mind me.
I was elated when we won sha. Luck or not.

Watch that game again you'll see we were the better team vs Australia(created more chances) plus remember we also had to play over an hour with Ten men.
Yh possibly if Zizou was on the field. Our chances greatly increase after he got sent off.

You could not have been more elated than I was...
Watched the Finals in an Italian bar/pub and trust me it was pure madness.....

afrodoc: a tournament with 4 or 5 very good sides.italy,france,portugal,netherlands and (to a lesser extent) spain.

Not only were they good teams but they also played to their potential too. Nowadays teams are great on paper but not on the pitch.
However most importantly each of these countries Star Player had very good Tournaments too. How many times have we had the chanc to say that since Euro 2000?

BlueDiva:

I wasn't impressed with that dying min penalty against Australia.
I felt it was undeserved.

I also felt Zidane was unfortunate to have been sent off.
I think if Zidane had played throughout we wouldn't have won.

Anyway don't mind me.
I was elated when we won sha. Luck or not.

Watch that game again you'll see we were the better team vs Australia(created more chances) plus remember we also had to play over an hour with Ten men.
Yh possibly if Zizou was on the field. Our chances greatly increase after he got sent off.

You could not have been more elated than I was...
Watched the Finals in an Italian bar/pub and trust me it was pure madness.....

afrodoc:
P.S @ bluediva i dont tink materazzi was in dt squad

He wasn't.
I remember that was the first time i saw Inzaghi. He was so young and i just loved him.

I tot dis is chelsea thread , so y ar ppl talkn abt euro 2012

hazard in cobham.. louis saha just tweeted it

^^^
All transfer stories are BS till pen is put on paper.

lol bluediva confess,u r so excited abt d hazard signing u dont want to jinx it! dts y u r trying to sound sooo laidback abt it

BlueDiva: ^^^
All transfer stories are BS till pen is put on paper.

but chelsea need this dude more than united/city.

the front four of

------torres-----
-hazard-mata-hulk

is extremely frightening.
i am sure nateevs would be jizzing his pants if roman can
make that happen.

coogar:

but chelsea need this dude more than united/city.

the front four of

------torres-----
-hazard-mata-hulk

is extremely frightening.
i am sure nateevs would be jizzing his pants if roman can
make that happen.

Hazard deal is as good as sealed if we can believe some tweets.
Hulk is aight but definitely not for 40mil pounds IMO.

afrodoc: lol bluediva confess,u r so excited abt d hazard signing u dont want to jinx it! dts y u r trying to sound sooo laidback abt it

LOL. . .

I read that he sent out a tweet saying 'see you guys soon'.
Who exactly he is seeing soon is still a mystery.

BlueDiva:

Hazard deal is as good as sealed if we can believe some tweets.
Hulk is aight but definitely not for 40mil pounds IMO.

he's better than any winger chelsea have had since the start of the roman revolution.

Wondering out loud.

Do we need Benayoun back in the squad?
Nobody even mentions him on this thread.

I'd say, sell him off to dem gaynners.