Post by URRZZZ!!! on Jun 22, 2008 21:07:23 GMT -1
Firstly, well done Italy, you qualified, England didn't. Now that I'm not a hypocrite with what I say (it's almost a disclaimer), I'd like to say to everyone how unbelievably happy I am that Italy are out of Euro 2008.
I swear their tactic is to bore opposing teams to death and that's about as far as it goes. Why do they insist on being so defensive and dull? Spain played to win, Italy played for penalties. Spain going through was entirely fair. Even in 2006 I could count 1 good Italian performance - against Germany in the semis. You may it's good tactics winning at the expense of entertaining, but I'm a neutral and I have every right to support the teams who try and play the better football, meaning I support absolutely every team over this Italian generation.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Italy is that I thought their attacking football against France when the HAD to win wasn't that bad, it certainly won them the game effectively. Yet when they have a choice they refer back to their mind numbing clean sheet policy and tonight they never looked like they even wanted to score, it wasn't a case of lack of quality as with a country like Italy at international level that should never be an issue, it's just that they didn't really care about scoring. You can point to Torres, Silva and Villa as a reason to play defensive, but with the defenders they have you can afford to attack with more than 3 or 4 players forward.
I shouldn't be surprised though, they have done this for as long as I can remember. If they surprise us all and fail to qualify for 2010 I personally will be delighted and will not miss them. Good riddance from the semi-finals anyhow, Russia v Spain should be a good game.
I swear their tactic is to bore opposing teams to death and that's about as far as it goes. Why do they insist on being so defensive and dull? Spain played to win, Italy played for penalties. Spain going through was entirely fair. Even in 2006 I could count 1 good Italian performance - against Germany in the semis. You may it's good tactics winning at the expense of entertaining, but I'm a neutral and I have every right to support the teams who try and play the better football, meaning I support absolutely every team over this Italian generation.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Italy is that I thought their attacking football against France when the HAD to win wasn't that bad, it certainly won them the game effectively. Yet when they have a choice they refer back to their mind numbing clean sheet policy and tonight they never looked like they even wanted to score, it wasn't a case of lack of quality as with a country like Italy at international level that should never be an issue, it's just that they didn't really care about scoring. You can point to Torres, Silva and Villa as a reason to play defensive, but with the defenders they have you can afford to attack with more than 3 or 4 players forward.
I shouldn't be surprised though, they have done this for as long as I can remember. If they surprise us all and fail to qualify for 2010 I personally will be delighted and will not miss them. Good riddance from the semi-finals anyhow, Russia v Spain should be a good game.
