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What did Luca Toni think of his Euro performance? It was under-rated

August 3rd, 2008 | By: Julian | 23 Comments »

Yeah, I can’t believe it either.

Luca Toni actually argues that he was too criticized for his Euro performance and wishes that Donadoni stayed coach.

Let’s look at some exact quotes and try to make sense of them:

“The European Championship was the biggest disappointment of my entire career”
Well at least he’s starting somewhere. He admitted that he was disappointing, which is a good first sentence. Now the next sentence should be “I had cement in my cleats which is why I missed so many easy goals.” But no, instead, he said:

“I had always experienced success with the Nazionale, with the World Cup and the positive qualifying campaign. I wasn’t used to this.”
This is also true. I’m pretty sure Toni joined the Azzurri in 2004 after that disastrous Euro, so the only thing he experienced before this was WC 2006. And I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that that was a pretty good tourney for Italy.

So apparently, the criticism after Euro led Toni to “[discover] who really cares about me. I am convinced I wasn’t as bad in Euro 2008 as the Italian media made out.

“Not only the German Press, but also the players told me they were amazed at so much criticism. If I have become so useless, then the new Coach probably won’t even call me up!”
If only Toni. If only.

I’m curious to think what he did well. Was it being the best striker on the team who missed the most chances? He practically made Milan Gila look like van Nistlerooy in terms of finishing. Now, the entire Euro failure can’t be blamed on any one player, obviously, but Toni gets a pretty big slice of “It’s partially your damn fault that we lost the Euros” pie. (I know you can blame other people too, Donadoni especially. But trying to figure out the inner workings of Donadoni’s brain is like trying to convince 14 year old girls that the Jonas Brothers really aren’t good singers. It’s impossible to do.) And again, I appreciate what he did. He holds up the ball excellently, but c’mon. This guy was our top striker going into the tourney. If any other striker had half the chances he had, they would’ve been golden boot at the Euros and set the record for most goals in the history of soccer in a tournament. Missing that much is just unacceptable.

In case you can’t tell, I’m pretty pissed at Toni’s Euro “performance”.

Thankfully, though, we can put this behind us and look forward to the Olympics, where hopefully Rossi, Acquafresca and co. will remember how to score. I wouldn’t've even posted this, but there’s such a dearth of Azzurri news out there that I figured hey, at least I can post something.

Tags: Euro 2008 No shows, Italy, Luca Toni, Olympics, World Cup 2006

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Comments

By Michel-Olivier | August 3rd, 2008 at 10:14 am

“I want the national team of my own country. It’s always been a dream since I was a child. My idol is Romario and I have grown up with Sao Paolo in my heart. It would be an honour to play in the gold and green. Dunga was a great player and it’s now up to him to decide.”(Amauri)

Posted from United States

By Stefano | August 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 am

So Amauri will have to wait for Brazil. Italy is not an SECOND opition.

By Julian | August 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 am

I was gonna post that but I didn’t even feel it was worthy of discussion. He’s made it pretty clear in the past that he prefers Brazil, and I agree 100% that Italy is not a fallback for ANY player.

By Michel-Olivier | August 3rd, 2008 at 10:39 am

i think lippi should drop toni after confederation cup and give acquafresca or osvaldo a chance.

Posted from United States

By Julian | August 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 am

I agree Michel-Oliver. We have some young guys like Quags but we need an out and out striker. The two you mentioned are solid choices but I’d call up Rossi first, just cause he has experience on big name teams. And after this year he’ll probably have some CL experience too, if Villareal play him during that

By Antonio | August 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 am

I salavate just thinking of Acquafresca in that black and blue kit next year……

WOw.

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | August 3rd, 2008 at 11:41 am

@ Julian
for me rossi is not an out and out striker. his not that tall and his not a fox in the box type of player, rossi is more like a deeper lying supporting striker like cassano, del piero and di natali. i would rather see acquafresca rather than rossi.

Posted from United States

By Marc Stucazzo | August 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm

Check out this article about the Amauri situation :

http://italy.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/striking-problem-is-amauri-the-solution.html

By il divin codino | August 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 pm

Balotelli is an out and out striker a he´ll certainly feature for the Azurri in the near buy future. About Rossi he´s a second striker like the ones of Del Piero, Cassano, Russotto.

Posted from Brazil

By Julian | August 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm

Michel-Oliver: that is true and I’d love to see a front three of Giovinco-Rossi-Acqua. But look at teams like Roma and even Man U- they don’t have an out and out striker either and they still manage to score goals easily

By kari | August 3rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm

Toni was awful in Euro.If he had been benched, Azzurri would probably have gone further than the quarter-final.

Posted from Viet Nam

By Bashar | August 3rd, 2008 at 2:22 pm

Anyone know anything about this new legislation that was passed in Italy that limits the number of foreign players in the starting lineup?

Posted from United States

By Bashar | August 3rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Hmm.. different sources are saying different things.. It’s either limiting foreigners in the starting lineup or limiting overall squad size.. So I’m confused.. Any information about the new rules would be appreciated.

Posted from United States

By Bobo | August 3rd, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Rossi is reminiscent of Del Piero in particular in that he’s creative enough to be a fantasista but his striker’s instincts take precedence. Rossi deserves to be called up ahead of an “out and out” striker (by which I assume you mean a center forward) in recognition of his brilliant club play and overall maturity as a player… a vote of confidence if you will. Acquafresca still has to prove that he’s not just a flash in the pan. To tell you the truth, I feel a bit sorry for him because I doubt he can beat out Balotelli for the role.

Besides, we’re not particularly deep at second striker anyways — Lippi doesn’t rate Di Natale and I doubt Del Piero will be getting called up on a consistent basis (if at all). So we are left with Cassano, who Lippi doesn’t like but probably will use, and Quagliarella (but I doubt he’ll beat out Rossi for the role if Rossi translates his game to the international level successfully). So essentially, we have Cassano and Rossi who will be vying with each other for playing time.

All of you are kidding yourselves if you think that Luca Toni won’t be getting called up by Lippi (especially now that Amauri seems to have done an about face). He’s still a great striker, one of the very best in the world for his clubs, which will see him always getting the benefit of doubt even though he will inevitably disappoint at major tournametns. I don’t like it much, but that’s how the routine goes.

Posted from United States

By yoman | August 3rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm

Lippi Interview @ Gazzetta …ref 2008/2009 season.

—>
“Solo Abramovich poteva resistere a Moratti. Peccato. Lampard è uno dei quattro più forti centrocampisti del mondo, con Pirlo, De Rossi e Iniesta”.

È arrivato anche Robby Keane, sarà una pedina fondamentale, ha le “palle da Liverpool”. E attenti anche al nostro Dossena: può rappresentare un’alternativa importante in azzurra”.

Cosa si aspetta da Cannavaro?
“Collaborazione per i prossimi due-tre anni. Parlo di Nazionale azzurra”.

La Spagna propone il Villarreal di Rossi.
“Non lo perderò di vista neppure per un secondo. Ha i colpi del campione

E Toni e gol sono la stessa parola. E poi c’è Klinsmann, che ai mondiali, come tecnico della Germania, è stato bravissimo.

Nedved, Del Piero e Camoranesi hanno l’occhio vispo.
La Juve è bella tosta. Amauri è una bomba.

“Francesco è un fenomeno. Nessuno al mondo riesce a guarire velocemente come lui.
http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Primo_Piano/2008/08/02/lippi.shtml

By mike de robbio | August 3rd, 2008 at 6:46 pm

come on Julian, the azzurrini are playing in a couple of days, how about a bit of a run down of the team for us.

Posted from Australia

By Kamran | August 3rd, 2008 at 8:31 pm

I seriously do think he’s getting a lot more blame than he actually deserves. He scored a goal, ruled for offside. He had an insane first touch against France. He missed closely against Spain (his pseud-bicycle was pretty close).

He was below-par, but so was Italy’s attacking in general. He wasn’t getting enough/quality service either.

Posted from Saudi Arabia

By Julian | August 3rd, 2008 at 9:37 pm

mike de robbio, what did you have in mind? Like a predicted starting 11 or just a general overview of each player?

By Bobo | August 4th, 2008 at 12:11 am

Kamran, if there’s anything you shouldn’t be applauding, it’s his pseudo-bicycle kick. That move was incredibly selfish on his part. He should have passed the ball to Grosso who was in a position that he was almost certain to score from.

And Julian, a general overview of each player would be extremely cool while we wait for the Olympics to begin. I can’t wait for the Rossi vs Giovinco debate to flare up…

Posted from United States

By mike de robbio | August 4th, 2008 at 12:21 am

an overview would be cool julian. love to know a bit more about the likes of motta, Bocchetti, De Ceglie and the like…we all know about giovinco, rossi and co.
you guys able to watch the games ok?

Posted from Australia

By Kamran | August 4th, 2008 at 10:51 am

(Not intending to kick-off another argument. Just posting a relevant video on a relevant blog. Totti’s performance at WC 2006.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT7Eb4uLfaY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBbcDAxlG0k

Posted from Saudi Arabia

By Antonio | August 4th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

I do believe it says LUCA TONI’s performnace.

But maybe I can’t read correctly….

Posted from United States

By Kamran | August 4th, 2008 at 8:25 pm

I know the post itself is about Toni’s performance. I posted the video because this *blog* is about the NT and this was the latest post.

Posted from Saudi Arabia