Comments on: How Italian Should the National Team Be?

By: Rinaldo

Rinaldo — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:28:34 +0000

Balotelli was born in Italy. He was raised in Italy. He was adopted by Italians. He grew up in the Italian culture, and has publicly said that he “feels Italian” and wants to play for Italy.

In my opinion, he shouldn’t even be allowed to play for Ghana. He’s Italian, period.

By: Porchetta

Porchetta — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:29:28 +0000

i can answer for domeneco, poor guy got it all wrong, Brienza is 28 not 23 and also, he promised a lot but turned out to be just a decent player…steven, u r spot on in ur opinion

By: Vincent

Vincent — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:34:15 +0000

Can I play for the Azzurri, I have Italian blood and know the words to the “Fratelli d’Italia”? or Inno di Mammeli

By: julien

julien — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:59:24 +0000

“italy is no more ‘racist’ than any other country in europe.”
Yes many European countries have problems with racism, but many have said that it is a bigger problem in Italy, Spain, and Eastern Europe.

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:48:55 +0000

Domeneco, are you really that retarded? Franco Brienza, a promising winger of 23?

By: Michel-Olivier

Michel-Olivier — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:54:45 +0000

@ julien
i agree with lamagica, “italy is no more ‘racist’ than any other country in europe.”
-the problem italians see with balotelli is blood not skin. italians don’t have a problem if santacroce, liverani, tissone, ferrari… play for italy even if they have dark skin.
-the second problem, italian nationality law is base on blood just like many countries like israel, japan, greece and many old world countries.

in august i wouldn’t be surprise if lippi called balotelli, the kid is an awesome footballer and italians should be proud to have mario.

By: lamagica

lamagica — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:25:27 +0000

julien – what is the point of a generalised and completely unfounded statement like that? italy is no more ‘racist’ than any other country in europe. i’m not sure how you’d come to that conclusion without surveying the 60 million people that live there. if you want to look at something tangible to measure how ‘racist’ a country is then you should familiarise yourself with the immigration policies of european countries. once you do, you’d realise that italy is probably the least stringent.

are you at all familiar with france’s current immigration policies? how about the frequent racial conflicts (arabs, jews) in its metropolitan cities? what do you think this social unrest can be attributed to?

By: julien

julien — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:58:36 +0000

Interesting post, but I have a feeling that the comments are going to get pretty ugly. Michel-Olivier, surely Balotelli’s skin color is a huge factor for many Italians. Italy is very racist and intolerant. It isn’t as accepting or multicultural as France or England. By the way, it is nice to see another person named Julian even though your spelling is different. I am French so it is spelled with an ‘e.’

By: Nina

Nina — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:22:29 +0000

With the upcoming Olympic Games, I’m sure Milan will keep a close eye on Abate’s performance,so he might after all get enough playing time. If not, there is interest from Palermo and Lecce,so either way he will play, and in no time make it to Lippi’s squad. Little Gio will make it to the Azzurri,that one is for sure.

By: Nina

Nina — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:13:15 +0000

Bobo,I second that,Abate is no doubt a natural winger with the pace of a professional runner.