Underestimate Italy at Your Peril

2008-09-10T06:59:43-04:00

2008-06-17T17:32:31-04:00

2008-09-10T06:38:34-04:00

2008-06-22T11:09:52-04:00

Romain51

No City 444230

Zizou'll never come back and I hope he won't, we need to rebuilt everything without crazy Domenech! Nevertheless, I hope Titi Henry will stay, he's definitely the best French forward, for some more years and the association with Benzema will kill defenses! I'm quite happy France was eliminated, it'll permit to change some incredible things and to stop the crazy Domenech's coaching... He shocked the entire country and entire Europe with those substitutions! I think Italy will win the competition, they have the power since '06. Go France for '10!! 2038490

2008-06-19T05:34:27-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/439/601/thumb/NL11.jpg 21 TN

Millen

Church Hill 440041

well, what can l say? Italy's been very lucky again, like always l'd presume... :/ the dutch did their duty by beating romania, and france was unlucky to loose ribery and a pk against, which was a pk indeed though, but the free kick was oh so lucky again... Italy haven't been playing soccer yet this tourney, that's why l hope spain will beat them in the quarters, especially with pirlo and gattuso suspended, ltaly is weak and spain got good chances to win! Go spain! nice soccer they showed us so far and go Holland, what a nice semi final that will be... 2012885

2008-06-18T18:34:04-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/441/613/thumb/gianluigi-buffon.jpg 23 IT

Peppe il portiere

Caserta 442053

About Van Der Sar I agree with turdus. Within the two games against Italy and France, I can remember just one great save, when he dived on his own left to stop a shot by Ribery. The rest was ordinary work for any national squad keeper. 2010902

2008-06-18T18:12:41-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/142/335/thumb/raul.puyol.jpg 263 MD

Burgundy

Baltimore 142635

The Swedes fall? Shocking. Oye! Calderon! That players who helped the suplentes beat Greece is Ruben de la Red by the way. He's currently on your roster so why not give the kid a chance this time you doofus. Ole! Ole ole ole! 2010763

2008-06-18T17:13:11-04:00

turdus

No City 442231

I??ve watched most of the games, and I am not talking about the quality of the players Cech is far better tha Van der Sar, he had a mistake right, but he is probably the second best Goalkeeper anyday. Really if u make me pick between those two its an easy one. Van der Sar hasnt done any special, if u say Buffon ok, but Van der Sar.... Really I think Netherlands big problem is slow D and Van der Sar. Have u watched Var der Sar this year in Manchester? HE suck big many games. 2010355

2008-06-18T16:39:56-04:00

sid1920

No City 442579

By turdus | 06/18/08, 07:35 AM "and remember that Casillas is probably a top 3 goalkeaper in this cup, only Buffon and Cech are better." Haha, really? :) Did you even watch this tournament? I'ld place Van der Sar in that top 3 and kick Cech far away from it. His blunder against Turkey? And Van der Sar saved Holland in a lot of tight spots and retained their momentum. 2010135

2008-06-18T16:39:35-04:00

sid1920

No City 442579

2008-06-18T14:26:17-04:00

Peppo1178

Summit 441852

Great comments.. Ohh so true about the way italy has scored their goals too. Hopefully they can get past that, or else you'll be right "Billy Gun Boats" Italy might be packing their bags early. But the Italians have been known to start real slow....reaaaalllly slow. I guess we are going to have to see if they pump their game into overdrive. And Toni is going to have to find someway to relax out there. He has the skills to score alot of goals. He just ahs to stop pressing so much 2008446

2008-06-18T12:47:25-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/142/335/thumb/raul.puyol.jpg 263 MD

Burgundy

Baltimore 142635

Of all the Azzurri to be feared; it is the De Rossi Aquilani tandem that should be feared the most. "...Goal Gorillas like Villa and Torres..." - very nice. 2007275

2008-06-18T12:42:18-04:00

Azzurri11

Dallas 442442

It's certainly not a good thing to be without Pirlo and Gatusso. However, De Rossi, Perrotta and Aquilani performed exceptionally well as a unit for AS Roma and I believe will do so on Sunday. Furthermore, as well as Pirlo played yesterday, he and Gatusso have not been the players they were in the '06 WC. Forza Azzurri! 2007195

Well, that was a buzz-kill for all the neutrals watching. Two thoughts after Italy joined the Netherlands in the quarterfinals with the Azzurri’s 2-0 win over France (while the Dutch beat Romania 2-0): • Man of the Match: Italy’s Andrea Pirlo. Italy’s deep-lying playmaker had been nowhere near as good in Euro 2008 as he was in World Cup ’06—until today. Pirlo probed the French defense with several dangerous passes, but none was better than the perfectly weighted ball he sent from behind the halfway line over the top to Luca Toni in the 24th minute. In a marvelous piece of skill, Toni trapped Pirlo’s pass with the tip of his fully extended right foot and drew the game-changing red-card penalty on France’s Eric Abidal. As if on cue, Pirlo took his penalty with the supreme confidence of a man who knew he’d make it. The only wrong step Pirlo took was a big one: his first-half yellow card means he’ll miss Italy’s quarterfinal match against Spain. That’s a big, big loss for the Azzurri. • Crazy Ray Domenech outdid himself. I’m trying to figure out how the astrology-loving French coach already has a contract in hand through World Cup 2010. You just knew Domenech would do something dumb to hurt his team in this game, and he came through yet again. The red-carded Abidal hadn’t started in central-defense all tournament, and while the benched Lilian Thuram has lost a step, his lack of speed wouldn’t have been an issue covering big Luca Toni. Nor can I understand why Domenech would keep four defenders and two defensive midfielders on the field for the entire 90 minutes when his team needed at least two goals to survive (and got none). Then again, the French could have had Sir Alex Ferguson managing them, and that wouldn’t have changed the fact that Franck Ribéry’s seventh-minute injury (and substitution) was a killer for Les Bleus—which is still trying to find its identity post-Zinédine Zidane. Through-balls: I’ve been saying all along that I think Italy could still do some damage in this tournament, and while Spain will be tough, an Italian “upset” wouldn’t surprise me at all ... Terrible luck for Thierry Henry to redirect Daniele De Rossi’s free kick into his own net for the second Italian goal. (It must have been horrific for Henry to watch the ball curl in from distance.) Do you think the 30-year-old Henry is done for France, or does he return for World Cup 2010? My guess is he hangs around for at least two more years ... Thumbs up to the irrepressible Dutch, whose reserves took down Romania. If I were a player and had so many people questioning my honor (i.e., assuming that I’d tank a game), I’d have a big problem with that ... I really hope Ribéry isn’t seriously injured. It’s a shame that such a big-time talent would go down early in this game, and it would be even more so if he’s out for a long period ... Time for the French to truly ring in the youth movement. Old guys like Thuram, Claude Makélélé and Patrick Vieira have had great international careers, but the FFF has a vaunted youth development program for a reason ... All that said, I’d make an exception for Zidane in a heartbeat if he wanted to come back. With Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso out for the Spain quarterfinal on yellow-card suspensions, who do you think Italy should put in their spots? How badly do you think their absence (especially Pirlo’s) will hurt against the Spanish? And can anybody stop the Dutch? Please post your comments below and check back tomorrow for the next Euro Blog post ... 1325 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/194/315/thumb/wahl_grant.jpg 11 MD

Grant Wahl

Baltimore 194615