Your Worst Azzurri Moment

Ohhhh which one is the worst…
The penalty shoot out in 1994, the penalty shoot out in 1998 against France (because of all the shit talk I received from all my french friends), the 45 seconds left in the 2000 european championship final again against France (a lot more of shit talking, stalking, and harrasment) or the bought out match agaisnt Korea… Which one is the worst. Maybe the 1994 and 2000 event because of the victory opportunity. Hopefully no dissapointment this year. Hopefully…

It has to be the 1994 final. We were just soooooo close. Baggio was the hero all tournament long, so you just expected him to bury it. When he missed it was just crushing. I still don’t think I’ve fully recovered.

The loss to France in Euro 2000 was also pretty bad. Just watching that Wiltord shot barely skip pass Toldo in the final seconds was gut wrenching.

And I would say Korea 2002 when Vieri kept missing screamers, but I’m so used to that now, I just expected him to miss.

I am tempted to say The match against South Korea in 2002, but that was not the worst Azzurri moment as much as it was the worst soccer moment. My love for the game crumbled. It was so evident that corruption had taken over the sport that I didn’t even see any other world cup match after that. I heard that Brazil won, but I know they were lifting the cup, without having shown us they were the best. They might have been, but they were never put to the test. I think the last four teams were chosen by politicians and FIFA leaders well before the tournament started.

As for worst Azzurri moment I think the whole time Trapattoni was the coach. I saw many horrible games, and the fact that he did not have the freedom to chose the best Italian players but rather keep the same old faces that screwed up all the time. That’s right Vieri, I’m talking about you, you are a screw up.

it’s got to be the euro 2000 final. Especially because my favourite player was responsible for missing two golden scoring chances (no pts for guessing who).

Wow, this really hits home. Blast you, Jay for bringing this up!! LOL!

Seriously, I think France 98 is what crushed me most because it followed the hugely disappointing 94 final. 98 France took the all-time low to a new low. For anyone who watched the quarterfinal vs. France, the officiating was incredibly biased (more so than the 2002 Korea match; in fact, after witnessing the host-treatment at the expense of our beloved azzurri, I came to expect the Korean hosts to get the calls too. And boy did they ever… but no surprises there). Anyway, in France, our boys overcame the blatant one-sided refereeing obstacle and made it all the way to the shootout (and after Baggio put the demon to rest, we were assured of victory, right?)
Thinking about the WC 98 loss produces in my mind the quivalent of Vietnam flashbacks. I’m definitely still suffering from post traumatic stress disorder….

Euro 2000 was very disappointing but it was only the Euros, and we were lucky to even make it to the final (Thank you, Netherlands).

Hey Rinaldo, give the points to Del Piero, he’ll need them for the finals this year….

the worst game was the game between England and the korea when beckham missed the pelanty shooot !!!

for me, the worst azzurri moment was euro 2000: the second major loss in a row to france!!! how awful.

i always wondered if euro 2000 was fixed.

and it’s agreed, the “trap” era was dismal, but not just because of the team’s pedestrian personell. il trap wouldn’t let them attack. too defensive. it was the worst version of that style ever. watching those teams was painful.

i’m glad marcello is willing to design an attack plan in some games. he’s a much better tactician than trap, much more versatile, and this azzurri team is hard for opponents to figure as a result. he’s also managed to keep legs fresh by changing the lineup quite a bit. one advantage against germany will be that they played extra time against argentina. the germans will feel it at the end.

andiamo azzurri!!!!