I didn’t get to see the game against the Netherlands, but I think it’s ultimately irrelevant. We tied 0-0, which is great on some level. Last time we played them we lost 3-0. So what changed? Did we get better? Absolutely- a Cannavaro-Chiellini pairing is miles ahead of Materazzi-Barzagli. But is that it? We still didn’t score (legitimately) so is our attack just as impotent? Did the Netherlands get worse? How much can we really read into this?

At best, a minimal amount. We can say for sure that our backline can hold out big teams in friendlies, but that’s about it. If this was a World Cup semifinal, the Netherlands would’ve been much more determined and focused, but then again, we would’ve been too. And it’s for reasons like that that I think we should just enjoy friendlies and probably not read too much into them.

Next up is a friendly against Sweden. They didn’t qualify for South Africa so they might actually be more dangerous than the Netherlands. Instead of playing it safe to avoid injury, they might as well just treat this like a competitive game and go for it. Lippi, though, isn’t taking it as seriously and sent home some of the bigger guns, meaning that we should see youth in this game. But again, no matter what happens, I would look more closely at the individual performances than the scoreline.

Yet that was over a year ago, and now we have another chance to prove ourselves- to prove that that one game was merely a fluke and nothing more. Unfortunately, we haven’t really proved that since. Although we improved in the Euros following that disaster, we haven’t really been at the top of our game since oh… a different summer two years before that one.

So we’re pretty familiar with the Dutch. Their squad looks like this:

1          GK      Maarten Stekelenburg             September 22, 1982 (1982-09-22) (age 27)    22        0             Netherlands Ajax

13        GK      Michel Vorm   October 20, 1983 (1983-10-20) (age 26)        3          0          Netherlands Utrecht

22        GK      Piet Velthuizen           November 3, 1986 (1986-11-03) (age 23)      1          0          Netherlands Vitesse

5          DF       Giovanni van Bronckhorst (captain)   February 5, 1975 (1975-02-05) (age 34)         94        5             Netherlands Feyenoord

2          DF       Gregory van der Wiel             February 3, 1988 (1988-02-03) (age 21)         5          0             Netherlands Ajax

3          DF       John Heitinga November 15, 1983 (1983-11-15) (age 25)    48        6          England Everton

6          DF       Edson Braafheid         April 8, 1983 (1983-04-08) (age 26)   4          0          Germany Bayern Munich

4          DF       Joris Mathijsen            April 5, 1980 (1980-04-05) (age 29)   50        3          Germany Hamburg

21        DF       Khalid Boulahrouz      December 28, 1981 (1981-12-28) (age 27)     28        0          Germany Stuttgart

8          MF      Orlando Engelaar        August 24, 1979 (1979-08-24) (age 30)         12        0          Netherlands PSV

19        MF      Ibrahim Afellay           April 2, 1986 (1986-04-02) (age 23)   17        0          Netherlands PSV

18        MF      Stijn Schaars   January 11, 1984 (1984-01-11) (age 25)         11        0          Netherlands AZ

16        MF      Wout Brama    August 21, 1986 (1986-08-21) (age 23)         0          0          Netherlands Twente

6          MF      Mark van Bommel      April 22, 1977 (1977-04-22) (age 32)             51        9          Germany Bayern Munich

17        MF      Nigel de Jong November 30, 1984 (1984-11-30) (age 24)    37        1          England Manchester City

10        MF      Wesley Sneijder          June 9, 1984 (1984-06-09) (age 25)    58        12        Italy Internazionale

23        MF      Rafael van der Vaart   February 11, 1983 (1983-02-11) (age 26)       72        15        Spain Real Madrid

7          FW      Dirk Kuyt        July 22, 1980 (1980-07-22) (age 29)   57        13        England Liverpool

15        FW      Ryan Babel     December 19, 1986 (1986-12-19) (age 22)     35        5          England Liverpool

9          FW      Robin van Persie         August 6, 1983 (1983-08-06) (age 26)           40        14        England Arsenal

11        FW      Arjen Robben January 23, 1984 (1984-01-23) (age 25)         45        11        Germany Bayern Munich

14        MF      Eljero Elia       February 13, 1987 (1987-02-13) (age 22)       3          1          Germany Hamburg

9          FW      Klaas-Jan Huntelaar    August 12, 1983 (1983-08-12) (age 26)         27        14        Italy Milan

That’s almost literally a metric ton of familiar faces, unlike most of the teams I had to preview during world cup qualifying. Huntelaar, Robben, Van Persie, Kuyt, Babel… they have some serious firepower up front. Sneijder is out with an injury but with such a packed offense I doubt he’ll be missed too much. Van der Vaart, van Bommel, van Brockhorst… anyone who’s a footy fan knows these guys like the back of thier hand. The Dutch have one impressive generation out right now and are playing all over the world at elite clubs. For those of you who don’t know them, what you need to know is the same thing that Lippi must focus on: they’re goddamn, ridiculously, blindingly fast. The Dutch version of Wheaties must be eaten with milk from Cheetahs because these guys have serious pace. To beat them, we absolutely need to contain them. As ever, Lippi seems to not care.

He’s already named our starting lineup, and it looks like this:

Buffon; Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Grosso; Camoranesi, Pirlo, Palombo; Candreva, Gilardino, Palladino

This confuses me, to be honest. Our back 5 are the usual but 2 out of our 3 attackers haven’t played in years (or in Candreva’s case, ever?). It seems like Lippi is caught between two minds- experimenting and playing youth versus trying to win and sticking with the old guns. I can’t see why Candreva is given a chance, but not any of the young defenders who can actually keep up with the Dutch. It seems to me that this really should be a chance for all our young guys to prove themselves, and that includes the defense. But Lippi as ever remains an enigma.

Course, this lineup could be a lie. Maybe that isn’t the actual lineup, but knowing Lippi it probably is. The most important thing is that Candreva and Palla gain some confidence. To be honest, I’m not expecting a win. That midfield won’t possess the ball and without keeping the ball away from the Dutch, we won’t be able to win. I’d be shocked if we got anything above a tie, but ultimately, I don’t really care. As long as the team gels a bit and we see some youngsters get some playing time, then this is well worth it.

Goal.com has an excellent write up about a man who was in many ways an anomaly. In a day and age where the focus is on young, petulant attackers, he was an older goalkeeper trying to make his place in the German national team. He was by all accounts a quiet, unassuming fellow who didn’t like media interviews and shied away from the spotlight.  He didn’t like to cause trouble and let his actions do the talking, instead of his ego. In other words, he was a model athlete.

He apparently suffered from depression, which he kept secret, and the loss of his 2 year old daughter in 2006 deeply affected him and his wife.

German football- nay, the football world in general- has been sent into a state of shock. It brings tears to my eyes to even write about this, about how such a good man who was trying to do his best felt he couldn’t go on. It’s a dark day for football and may he always be remembered.

RIP Robert Enke

1 GK Gianluigi Buffon
2 DF Christian Panucci
3 DF Paolo Maldini (c)
4 DF Francesco Coco
5 DF Fabio Cannavaro
6 MF Cristiano Zanetti
7 FW Alessandro Del Piero
8 MF Gennaro Gattuso
9 FW Filippo Inzaghi
10 FW Francesco Totti
11 MF Cristiano Doni
12 GK Christian Abbiati
13 DF Alessandro Nesta
14 MF Luigi Di Biagio
15 DF Mark Iuliano
16 MF Angelo Di Livio
17 MF Damiano Tommasi
18 FW Marco Delvecchio
19 MF Gianluca Zambrotta
20 FW Vincenzo Montella
21 FW Christian Vieri
22 GK Francesco Toldo
23 DF Marco Materazzi

Many argue this was our strongest squad this decade. Vieri was a prolific striker and Totti/Del Piero were stars in their prime years. Not to mention guys like Cannavaro, Nesta, and Zambrotta were still in their 20’s and led by veteran Paolo Maldini.

The Tournament

Italy started off with a 2-0 win over Ecuador with Vieri striking twice. The next match saw the start of the controversy, as Italy fell to Croatia 2-1. A Vieri goal was disallowed for “offside” and an Inzaghi strike at the end of the match was called back for some bullshit, aka shirt tugging. If that was shirt tugging, then what most players do in matches must be rape.
Inzaghi was yet again the victim as another goal was disallowed in the beginning of the Mexico match, this time for offside. Montella later finished with a beautiful looping volley, but once again this was called offside (call was marginal, not incorrect) A Del Piero strike in the 85th got Italy a draw and a spot in the knockouts.

South Korea

A match we all wish to forget. I woke up at 5am before school that day to watch, and I remember crying on the bus that morning. An early Vieri strike was, for the second time in as many tournaments (France Euro 2000), canceled out late in the match by the opposition. The 88th minute goal for Korea forced extra time. A match marred by erroneous calls on fouls was made worse by another bad call, as the Azzurri had another goal dissallowed, the 5th of the tournament. Tommasi’s strike would have put Italy through, but another offside call canceled the goal. To make matters worse, Francesco Totti was taken down in the box later and sent off for a phantom dive, without a doubt one of the worst and biggest game changing calls in Italian history. Korea scored a golden goal in the 117′, sending them through. They went on to defeat Spain in an even more controversial match before losing to Germany and Turkey.
Was the game/tournament fixed? We’ll never know, but here’s some video evidence to show the robbery in 2002:

Disallowed Goals
(Watch Trap punch the glass at 5:54)

Korea Scandal

There is no option to embed the video, but definately follow the link, it’s a great video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4iW8pDnft8&feature=related

Marcello Lippi seems to like them. We’re playing Holland and Sweden on the 14th and 18th respectively. Call ups were announced and it’s refreshing to see many new faces:

Goalkeepers: Buffon (Juventus), De Sanctis (Napoli), Marchetti (Cagliari)
Defenders: Bocchetti (Genoa), Cannavaro (Juventus), Cassani (Palermo), Chiellini (Juventus), Criscito (Genoa), Grosso (Juventus), Legrottaglie (Juventus), Maggio (Napoli), Zambrotta (Milan)
Midfielders: Biondini (Cagliari), Camoranesi (Juventus), Candreva (Livorno), De Rossi (Roma), Galloppa (Parma), Marchionni (Fiorentina), Palombo (Sampdoria), Pirlo (Milan)
Forwards: Di Natale (Udinese), Gilardino (Fiorentina), Palladino (Genoa), Pazzini (Sampdoria), Rossi (Villarreal)

None of the Bari defenders who have been doing so well this year, but Cassani, Maggio, Bocchetti and Criscito join the usual fold. In the midfield it’s a mixture of Lippi staples and new blood, like Biondini, Candreva, and Galloppa. And finally, that is one nice looking attack, with Pazzini and Palla finally being recalled.

So I’d expect everyone to get a run out in these two upcoming games, seeing as they’re merely friendlies and losing isn’t as important as seeing who can gel in the Azzurri.

In a write up on the Roma-Fulham game that took place midweek, the site commented on how Fulham deserved to win. And I was fine with that part. Arguably, Fulham played better when both teams had 11 men and the red was probably harsh. So far I had no problem with the article, even as a Roma fan.

But then we get to this gem:

“But Italian teams have a way of cheating forcing their way back into matches, and so it proved.”

This, quite frankly, is utter bullshit. I’m sick and tired of these accusations. Our reputation was tarnished in the wake of the Calciopoli scandal, and since then Italian clubs have been working hard to restore the peninsula’s status. It should be noted that Roma was one of the few big teams not involved with the scandal, and are probably amongst the poorest of the Italian clubs out there. So these accusations of cheating/paying off the refs? They’re absolutely groundless and show nothing more than an pro-English sentimentality or even worse, a biased view of Italian clubs.

The worst thing about the comment is that it was a merit-less stereotype. The game was only between Fulham and Roma, not all of Italy’s clubs. Furthermore, Roma have never once been implicated in a cheating scandal anytime in the last 50 years. How that site can get away with these slander and lies is absolute rubbish.

I’m not going to visit WhoAteAllthePies anymore. If this trash is what they throw up as fair and balanced write ups, then I want none of it. Until they can treat calcio the way they treat the Prem, or at least with decent respect, then I simply won’t read it.

Edit: Ollie from the Pies was kind enough to write a response:

Julian

I’m sorry you feel that way. If you read Pies regularly, you’ll know that I have no particular anti-Italian agenda. And the tone of the line you quoted was ironic, rather than sincere – it was more of a dig at the people who do still have that blinkered view of Italian teams, albeit veiled. I take the piss out of the English Premier League ALL the time, and my approach is usually light-hearted and balanced. I praise other clubs as much as I criticise my own (Spurs).

Anyway, apologies for any offence perceived – none intended.

So in some ways, I read too much into this and I apologize. I will be going back to Pies, and I definitely over-reacted. I’d like to offer Ollie a full apology then for calling him out when that clearly wasn’t the site’s intention.

But this post still stands because you can substitute “Pies” for a ton of other websites and see this vitriol. Accusations of cheating, whether tongue in cheek or dead serious, still perpetuate a dirty image of calcio. Now some of that is from the calciopoli scandal and obviously can never be removed. But when small clubs that have nothing to do with calciopoli- a club like Roma, with a budget so small they can barely pay thier players- it does show that this myth is still around and hurting calcio’s image.

I simply call that we all take a stand against it, no matter what club you do support, on an individual level: stop accusing Italian teams of cheating, no matter how mad you are, without any proof. Roma fans, don’t say Milan cheats if they win. Napoli fans, don’t say that about Inter. And the people who watch the Prem only and hate calcio?Fine, but at the very least don’t say that we cheat. I hope we’re past that by now.

First of all, I just want to knock on wood before I post this. I realize there are still 2 more games to go in the CL and no Italian team is qualified yet, but there’s still reason to celebrate.

Reason one: Fiorentina are just about to knock Liverpool out of the CL. Yes, you read that right. The Italian team which didn’t win a single game last year in this competition is on the verge of knocking out one of the competition’s biggest teams. One more win for the Viola and the Scousers will be enjoying the Europa Cup. Prandelli has been a masterclass this season and Jovetic in particular has stood out brightly- proving that Italy is not just the place for old stars.

Nope, that place is instead AC Milan. And that has been a pretty good thing for them so far. They beat Real Madrid away and tied them at home, results which surely have Perez already looking for a new manager. Say what you want about Milan’s age, but they’re again proving that the CL is their natural home.

Home for one half of Milan, maybe, but not quite yet for the other half. Inter top their group today but still have to play Barca away in a group that could well go to the death. Juve too look like a safe bet to progress but with a game against Bayern coming up, anything could happen.

But let’s not worry about that just yet. Let’s revel in the fact that for the first time a while, 4 Italian teams could progress to the knockout stages and only 3 English teams might. Our UEFA coefficient-and reputation- should be safe for a while longer.

First up, Euro 2000

Euro 2000 will be widely considered as our second best tournament showing in the decade. Here were the players that represented the Azzurri, some oldddd guys there. (Look at #2, he’s already a head coach in Serie A)

1 GK Christian Abbiati
2 DF Ciro Ferrara
3 DF Paolo Maldini (c)
4 MF Demetrio Albertini
5 DF Fabio Cannavaro
6 DF Paolo Negro
7 MF Angelo Di Livio
8 MF Antonio Conte
9 FW Filippo Inzaghi
10 FW Alessandro Del Piero
11 DF Gianluca Pessotto
12 GK Francesco Toldo
13 DF Alessandro Nesta
14 MF Luigi Di Biagio
15 DF Mark Iuliano
16 MF Massimo Ambrosini
17 MF Gianluca Zambrotta
18 MF Stefano Fiore
19 FW Vincenzo Montella
20 FW Francesco Totti
21 FW Marco Delvecchio
22 GK Francesco Antonioli

We “romped” through the group stages, taking all 9 points. (Damn, I wish we could still do that) Totti and Del Piero, both young stars of the tournament, each netted for us once in the groups. Totti struck again with another from Pippo Inzaghi to lead us past Romania in the Quarters.

The Semi-final versus Netherlands is definately in contention for one of the top games of the century. Regular time was scoreless, but filled with plenty of drama. Francesco Toldo stopped a penalty and the Netherlands missed another, keeping the game alive and forcing penalties.
This game marked the first time since 1988 where Italy wasn’t eliminated from a tournament on penalties or a decisive in-game penalty miss. Toldo saved 2 more penalties in the shootout and the Netherlands missed another, leading Italy to the final.

After 90 minutes, it appeared Italy were on their way to their second European Championship. But late game disappointment once again struck for the Azzurri. Marco Del Vecchio scored in the 55th, but his strike was canceled out in the last minute of injury time (90+4) by Wiltord. Not soon after, Trezeguet knocked in the golden goal to give France a World Cup-Euro double. This may go down as one of the most disappointing defeats in the decade…

Next up will be another disappointment, World Cup 2002.

I only ask cause I imagine that Juve’s backline is essential the Azzurri backline minus Zambrotta. But on the basis of yesterday’s displays, should Lippi change it up a bit? Maybe he should bring in Cristcito as a starter. Or is there not enough time and should we stick with this because we know that they know each other?

What do you think?

Personally, my front two would be Pazzini and Cassano. They’ve both been absolutely on fire this season. Pazzo scored a goal with a broken nose over the weekend, bringing his tally to 6 while Cassano has been in inspirational form. They know each other inside and out because they both play for Samp, so I’d throw them up top together and let them wreak delicious magical Sampdorian havok amongst unsuspecting defenses.

On the bench I’d definitely bring Iaquinta, Gila (sorry but he earned it the last 3 qualifiers), and Di Natale since he’s the leading goalscorer in Serie A so far. Rossi gets dropped because both him and Villareal have blown so far this year, and Toni can’t even play for Bayern.

So, as of today, I’d feel comfortable bringing those 5. Of course, in a year that might all change, but I feel like Cassano-Pazzini is as good a front two as any. What do you guys think?