International Matches | November 9th - 16th

[deano ou812]

Don’t mind Italy it will be a slightly poorer World Cup without them regardless what we think about their style of play,having said that it’s karma for me having broken my heart in 82 when they knocked the boys from Brazil out,and that cnut Rossi playing the games of his life then never to be repeated at club level ..

 

[Barcon]

Saying a world cup will be pointless without Italy, Holland and Chile is like saying the premier league would be pointless without the scum, arsenal and the dippers.

 

[Pell]

They failed tonight because they must have played the same move 900 times. Think it was Einstein that defined that as insanity.

It was like watching us in Pellegrini's last 2 seasons.

 

[PinkFinal]

How did Italy end up in same group as Spain, that's what's killed them.

 

[KS55]

How did Italy end up in same group as Spain, that's what's killed them.

FIFA ranking system where friendlies can put you in pot 2, if you pick the wrong opponents. Talk of changing it.

 

[Thekinkygoat]

It's not pointless, for those who've qualified and if the players for those teams were so bloody good, then they wouldn't have
been in the play-offs in the first place.

Yep. Like Holland.

 

[himalayan_blues]

End or era for Italy. Pirlo, Buffon, chilleni, rossi are retiring. Now new players should take over. They have been for for a while now. The best attacker they have produced is balottelli. It must change.

 

[himalayan_blues]

More defending, but less hitting ;-)

I believe international football is most of the time very cautious, so less risk less attacking and more defending. International games are boring much much boring than premier league. Few teams play well. Brazil, Germany, arzentina, Spain and in the past holland. These are the only good football playing teams. May be I have missed a few but the number is v v few.

 

[bellsouth]

I believe international football is most of the time very cautious, so less risk less attacking and more defending. International games are boring much much boring than premier league. Few teams play well. Brazil, Germany, arzentina, Spain and in the past holland. These are the only good football playing teams. May be I have missed a few but the number is v v few.

Indeed, backed up by the six 0-0 draws in a row in World Cup play off matches over the last few days. Boring

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Like many, I suspect, sorry for Buffon, not sorry for Italy. Positively hated the way they won the WC in 2006 (but then, I was unashamedly biased in favour of France).
More generally, what strikes – and has struck – me for decades, is how generally closed-in and autarchic Italian football is. They've never had a foreign manager for their national team. Ok, fair enough, England are probably the exception in having had one. So, nothing unusual about that. But how many foreign managers have been successful in Serie A? Mourinho, and then I'm struggling to think of anyone else. How many top-level Italian players have played abroad, in any league, in recent times? How many top-level players from other countries in their own league? They're mad about football, it really is a religion over there, but they don't seem to have developed along with the other major leagues in Europe.

By the way, perhaps I should add that I've been to Italy on a number of occasions, speak serviceable Italian, and am very fond of the country. So it's not about that.