A Quick Look Back… Part Due

“We will bounce back with vengeance”….of course, you guys are always in the back…with donadoni we were finally seeing some more offense, but yes, back to defensive extremism.

White is right…innapropriate for a spaniard? produce your thought since it seems as you are approximating the race turf. There are one too many people using my name so i’ll change it, white is right refers to R Madrid, nothing else.

Even Greece won a Euro? i think ive heard that one a few times now…so that means the other teams simply didnt try hard enough right? it wasnt a big boy tournament why bother…..of course then italy shows its true talent when iaquinta trips over an australian who had nothing to do in a play and the ref called it a penalty in the 90th minute nice WC qualifier!…..same story and its getting old.

Whoa, guys, chill. I just named dropped the 3 youngest guys who actually played at Euro- GC, DDR, and Aqui. By no means is that the definitive list of the best young players on the Azzurri or anything like that. Aqui had a full game under his belt, compared to the 8 minutes that Quags had, so to me it was more fair to mention him in the Euro wrap up. You know, considering he actually played. Did he do anything? No. But he has a full game under his belt in a major tournament, giving him the experience that say, Montolivo still lacks. I personally think Montolivo is going to be the successor the Pirlo but this post was just a quick summary (and to be honest, I’d drop both Aqui and Mont for Giovinco)

Don’t worry- I promise that future posts will focus on young Italian guys from all clubs that should join the national team.

Yeah, I can see that there was too much of a rush to drizzle us all with the “praise” of the Roma players to actually mention Cassano.

Although I seem to recall the topic of the paragraph as being: “we have the young guns to successfully transition”, not: “I wanted to ignore the bench warmers in Euro”. In which case young talent (that is, including Cassano, Boriello and Quags) should be mentioned. I am pretty sure that there already are two Roma boards, if you want to include the Serie A league page. Feel free to leave for one of those.

Considering this supposedly about the National Team, Quags scored more than Aquilani on the National Team and I think that he played more too. Or have you forgotten that there are things called “qualifying matches”? Oh wait, I forgot, there were too few Roma players involved in those for them to “officially” count on these pages.

BTW, love the dig at Inter and Materazzi in the big write up. Nothing declares impartiality and fairness like a random attack of a club in the big write up. Especially when it’s the team that just blanked Roma for the Scudetto for the second year in a row. Yeah, no petty bitterness there, right?

No hypocrisy in attacking Matrix’s bad form- in which he was injured all year and called up anyway/put in the first team regardless, by the coach- and yet Aquilani, WHO HAD NOTHING WRONG WITH HIM, STILL PLAYED BADLY, YET CALLED “HAS POTENTIAL”.

Hey, do you have trouble hanging pictures, being so slanted?

I’m not sure where you guys are pulling all this praise from. DDR I praised and he deserved it. After the free kick that scored the goal and his defensive covering, he was one of the best players for Italy. All I said about Aqui was that he had potential

And this was a look back at the tournament. Not at qualifying. I just wanted to do a quick 2 day wrap up about how the finals went. Sorry if that’s not what you were looking for MAD but that’s how I did it

The Inter jab? It was a joke. Sorry for any Inter fans and anyone else lacking a sense of humor. I’d try to write like a robot next time, but I don’t really want to, so sorry

I’ve already started the new posts about the future of the Azzurri, so please refer to those on my opinions on that.

Julien, great article and posts, but my opinion regarding Aquilani is that he will not be a key part of Azzurri..I see Cigarini, Dessena,Montolivo, Giovinco being more talented and effective than Aquilani in the same position.Aquilani is a decent player, but nothing special..

Posted from  Spain

…..of course then italy shows its true talent when iaquinta trips over an australian who had nothing to do in a play and the ref called it a penalty in the 90th minute nice WC qualifier!…

white is right, u goddamned arab descended fellow, more lies and lies from u!Iaquinta did not even play in that match agaisnt the cheating physical rugby playing aussies .aussies were embarrasingly dominated by italia in the first half and it was a matter of time before we could have fouynd the back of net..also matterrazzi was falsely red carded by ur fellow arab mejtuso gonzalez and still aussies did not do anything to win..also lucas neil clearly tripped grosso and it would have been a clear chance if Grosso had gone through!
jealous idiot!!we have 4 stars..spain cant even win in normal time against us and u require lottery of penalties!!!1

Posted from  Spain

cause we attack unlike you coward defenders but no doubt grande yeah grande…enjoyed the celebrations here?

Posted from  Spain

you cannot deny the penalty was purly invented, all the media pointed it out, but you are used to it, nothing new

Posted from  Spain

Uhh.. just another Italy writer who will praise Roma and kill Inter at any chance. With you guys, it never really even matters what happens on the national team, does it?

Sorry man, but you’re just like all the others. Aqui is NOTHING. He s**ts his pants in big games. It’s obvious.

But whatever, this entire site has become an biased place. That’s why it’s going down the sh***er.

Posted from  United States

This comment is the definitive one as far as I’m concerned. I hope this clears up any confusion

These two posts I did were to wrap up the Euros. The last major thing that I wanted to say was that we have the young guys to take over the team. Then I named about 3 players. Those in no way were the only 3 players that should be in the national team obviously. Cassano, yes, probably shouldve been mentioned. But Quags? Boriello? The former played like 10 minutes and the latter not at all. In a wrap up about the Euros I didn’t think it was necessary to mention them. They didn’t play. Should they be staples of the national team in the future? With strikers like Rossi and Osvaldo, I’m not sure to be honest. Boriello has to prove himself for at least another season and Quags is awesome but inconsistent

Roma is my favorite club and I love watching them. I won’t deny that. But Italy is my heritage and when I talk about the national team, I put clubs aside. It’s going to be pretty tough for anyone to argue that Inter has Italian players, considering the one they have that was in the Euros (Materazzi) sucked in the one game he was in and never played again. The difference between him and Aqui? About 12 years. Imo it’s forgiveable for a young guy to not have a great game the first major one he plays, than a guy who helped us win the World Cup to not show up at all.

I just wrote an entry about Giovinco. He scored in the 89th minute against Roma this year, costing the team valuable points. And now he’s on Juve. And I still called him the one guy who NEEDS to become a regular in the team. Yeah, over Aqui. Was that my Roma bias talking?

No, and if you read ALL my comments clearly, I congratulated for doing so.

I said, “With Chris, we would never get a post like that, because to him, DDR is ITaly’s number ten. No matter how many pk’s he misses.”

But you took a different path, and I liked that.

Posted from  United States

In that case then, thanks. Like I said, I love Roma but the national team is an entirely different beast to me than club teams. I think clubs have to be put aside when talking about the national team. Then again, some people might disagree with that, which is cool too

what insight you have there, mad. quagliarella scored more than aquilani.

let’s see, quagliarella is a striker and played about 9 games. he scored two goals against lithuania.

aquilani played as a wide midfielder in a defensive formation and GROSSLY out of position (he’s a deep lying central midfielder naturally) for ONE game against the euro champions…..and then you say julian is biased.

anti-roma rhetoric again. cant wait until serie a starts again to hear more of your drivel. get a little perspective in what you say.

Posted from  Canada

i see, antonio. how many games have you actually seen aquilani play? he is “nothing” and “shits his pants” based on ONE game he played at the int’l level? who exactly lit it up against spain?

jeeezus fucking christ.

Posted from  Canada

so if aquilani has no potential based on ONE game, i assume we might as well get giovinco, g rossi, aquafresca, montolivo, dessena, cigarini, lanzafame, et al. to just pack it in since they havent played even one game yet at the senior level yet. clearly by the position and logic displayed by some here, that’s the conclusion one would reach.

Posted from  Canada

I have to admit guys, I’m gay and i like to get my ass cheeks ramed by my arab brother David Villa, Oh and btw Italia is the greatest football Nation in the world Campione del Mondo 2006!!!!!!

nice one porchetta, you definitely need to find another hobby…or a life perhaps. remeber to place a napkin over your wifebeater…you dont want to stain it with meatballs.

Posted from  Spain

• Lamagica. Hi to you man. Finally I have tracked you down.While on the EURO blog you had asked me about the Italian football scandal prior to WC06. I had told you that Italy’s participation in the WC06 stunk because while Greece was banned from participating for match fixing (in their league) Italy who was facing one of the worst match fixing scandals ever was not. I answered you since you had threatened to “tear me apart”. And after answering you – complete silence. Not even a whimper. How come man? Speechless in Seattle:) LOL

spain arent that good. pass the ball around to much and make me sleep. spain will never win a world cup and i predict another quarter fianl exit in 2010

Posted from  Canada

a different era my friend, now they move the ball around and possess world class definers as torres, villa. Plus, except for the penalties, they pocketed the remaining matches, there was no dubious or unfair victories. No need to feel upset, italy did a good job and will always be there but we all know its about momentum and new youth. Look at Brazil, the world’s best talent and pioneers of the sport are biting the dust nowadays. Fear Argentina, messi, tevez and aguero…a pure nightmare!

Well, i can see that there are two posters posting as ¨white is right¨, one a Canadian and one from Mexico. Also to the 9 Champions league titles, the ball moving, world class definers Torres and Villa were anything but world class in that match against a woeful, depleted Italy( i will be the first one to a dmit that we were not good that day) and the so called world class definers were diving in all glory to milk out free kicks and a non existant penalty, but it was just a matter of time before Villa got booked for over doing the dives..the best attempts from the world class , ball playing, ultra fast so called furia roja were 40 meter long rangers from Silva, Senna and so..very world class indeed

james – hi to you as well. not sure why you had to “track me down” since i’ve been posting regularly here and never saw your reply or an attempt to get me to respond to you. likely things got sidetracked from the flurry of racist garbage that seems to have polluted this blog.

so, if i remember correctly, i was enquiring about what exactly GREECE had done, not italy or what transpired in serie a.

first of all, i am not sure what a NATIONAL team has to do with a DOMESTIC LEAGUE given that they are governed by two seperate bodies for starters. secondly, national team players / coaches / administrators are not necessarily plying their trade in the domestic league (eg, luca toni, fabio grosso, fabio cannavaro play in ‘foreign’ leagues) so should hardly be made accountable for something that goes on in a league they are not part of. as an extreme example, imagine a case occuring in the brazilian domestic league yet no one on their national team actually plays in that league. club teams are responsible and club teams should be held accountable. as an example, refer to the hooligan dilema in britain during the 80’s where CLUB TEAMS were banned from cup compititions in europe BUT NOT THEIR NATIONAL TEAM from participating in world compititions.

anyway, the above is besides the point but only serving to set the context and illustrate that your premise is inherently flawed to begin with. now, let’s get back toy the real issue:

my query, both original and standing, is what exactly had greece done to be “banned” from participating in the world cup? i am pretty damn sure you have no clue what you are talking about so i think you should look into WHAT ACTUALLY TRANSPIRED regarding greece and/or their domestic league wrt the wc 06.

first and foremost, lets clarify that greece did not pariticapte in the wc 06 BECAUSE THEY FAILED TO QUALIFY and finished 4th in their group…not because of “MATCH FIXING”. secondly, the ONE WEEK SUSPENSION from fifa had NOTHING TO DO WITH MATCH FIXING but to do with self-imposed immunity from fifa (see link to educate yourself: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/5141866.stm).

i’m not sure how you managed to jumble all this up (or even what point you are trying to make) but try to do a little research on a topic before trying to use that as a crutch for your arguement. so to recap, greece was not ‘banned’; they didnt qualify. secondly, greece was not “banned” for match-fixing but TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED because the greek football federation were seeking sovereignty from fifa. basically, there is no comparison or legitimacy to your argument regarding greece or italy’s participation in the wc. thank me later for doing your homework for you.

yours,

thoughful in seattle.

Posted from  Canada

Hi lamagica. Very good analysis mate of the situation back in 06. Yes I too hate racist attacks (or any other attacks for that matter) just because a person does not agree with you. Well I do not think I was ever guilty of any such attacks and if i were I excuse myself. However you did call me a couple of not very nice name tags – but – it slipped off like water on a duck’s back. Thank you for being concerned about my education. I never refuse any opportunity of bettering myself. As you say Fifa’s banning of Greece from international matches did not result from match fixing but rather the other way round. It revolved round the Greek government involving itslef in football matters and the reason for its doing so was that it wanted to make football “cleaner”. However basing my arguments on yours – was it fair that the Greek National team was banned when the Greek government was involving itself in the domestic league? Was it fair that footballers were not allowed to play for the National team when they were not involved in anything their government had done. As to Italy I doubt whether Canna and Toni and other players you mentioned were then playing for a foreign club. I might be mistaken – you know better than i since you are an avid italian fan. However the Italian scandal was on a national scale – involving managaers, coaches, players and referees so much so that even Italy’s most famous referee i think was involved. I believe that taking this into consideration Italy should have been sanctioned in one way or another. Fifa should not use two weights and two measures when different parties are involved.

james – my apologies if in fact i may have been aggressive but it was an onslaught, anti-italy campaign that inundated this blog with many idiots looking to start a flame war. you may have been caught in the ‘crossfire’ so to speak.

anyway, i think i’ve stated my opinion on the matter. whether it was “fair” for what fifa did i dont know. all i know is that greece was never banned and were suspended from participating in any fifa-sanctioned competitions. i guess the fact that the greek football federation looked for sovereignty from fifa may have been a slap in the face to fifa and so they, in turn, thought they’d take away the ‘priveledge’ of competing in any fifa competitons. regardless, i think the two situations are far from relevant to each other. also, you should know that at the time of the wc, the calciopoli investigations had not been concluded so in reality, there was no definative proof at that time that anything transpired 0 thus fifa couldnt exert any authority. in fact, even to this day, juventus is fighting back and taking the ruling to higher courts in order to clear their name because there is suspicion that the evidence used to prosecute juve (and others involved) was potentially planted.

the examples i mentioned about italian players was just an example, just like my reference to brazil. most of them were in fact playing in italy at the time.

Posted from  Canada

Very interesting site, i have added it to my fovourites. Greetings