Euro 2008 coming closer

LionHearted said:
Yup, thats correct. I think the pressure seems to get to the Spanish. The Dutch just seem to end up fighting between themselves and implode. The talent available to both teams is frightening, it's just the mentality that seems to be lacking unlike the Germans.
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And the Italians.
As for the Dutch, they're not gonna win anything with this coach. He can't stop fighting with his best players, first Van Bommel then Seedorf. IMO, these 2 are the pillars of the Dutch team along with Van Nistelroy.
As for Spain, they clearly has no problem with talented players in all departements so the problems clearly lies with chemistry in the team which is the responsibility of the coach.
Italy and Germany may not have as much talented players but they've got discipline and tactical commitment which the most important factor of a great team.
France has got a little of this and a little of that and it's a strong contender.
France, Germany and Italy are the favorites and the black horse should be between Croatia, Romania and Russia, IMO.
 
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Uhm polygon I thin you must be mistaken. Italy not having talented players? Italy has some real talented players, all with their own specialty: Gatuso, Cannavaro, Buffon, Toni( a legend to be), Del Piero (although I can't stand him on the field because he is not a team player) and so on
I watched the training match between belgium (where I livbve) and Italy( where my roots are) and if Italy keeps playing like that, they are going to be in the finals.
Belgium in the EK? that is a good joke :p can't remember when they were last time qualified for an EK or WK and really got further than selection :p
 
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Cannavaro is injured tho. Not that Italy has a shortage of defenders, but whoever steps in will not be of Cannavaro calibre...
 
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titus said:
Uhm polygon I thin you must be mistaken. Italy not having talented players? Italy has some real talented players, all with their own specialty: Gatuso, Cannavaro, Buffon, Toni( a legend to be), Del Piero (although I can't stand him on the field because he is not a team player) and so on
I watched the training match between belgium (where I livbve) and Italy( where my roots are) and if Italy keeps playing like that, they are going to be in the finals.
Belgium in the EK? that is a good joke :p can't remember when they were last time qualified for an EK or WK and really got further than selection :p
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I don't think Italy doesn't have talented players, just not as much as Portugal, Spain and Holland. They are better with their tactics.
BTW Del Piero is my favorite player and he's the most team player there is on the planet. He has more assists than goals, I think that says something. If you watched the game against Belguim you must have seen his assist.

Too bad Cannavaro is out, this could be a KO to Italy's chances. They can afford losing any man except Cannavaro, Buffon and Toni. They are indispensible. Maybe Nesta now will step up 'fingers crossed'
 
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Zaleukos said:
Cannavaro is injured tho. Not that Italy has a shortage of defenders, but whoever steps in will not be of Cannavaro calibre...
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As a matter of fact they do.
they only have four available options not. Cheillini, Barzagli, Materazzi and the one who will replace canna(most likely Gamberini).

Barzagli and Chiellini are not experienced, so they need someone who has experience next to them. Unfortunately, Materrazi is in a very poor form this year.

Unless Nesta is called, Italy is in deep trouble.
 
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Gamberini will be his replacement in the squad according to Swedish media. Materazzi is among the Italian defenders whose abilities I have the least respect for, but he is certainly the likely replacement in the starting 11.

Seems like we get France in the quarter final then (if we finish 2nd in our group we get to play the winner of group C).
 
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Didn't know he was injured. And Nesta not being here is also a great loss.
Del piero gave great assist, but there was also one moment in the game that he tried to show of and get past the defence on its own while he should have passed (then it would have been an other goal probably) and that is also typical for him when he plays in the Squadra and that is why I don't like him.
I have to admit that I fear the fact that hey will have to play france already.
Canavaro is great but they even will survive without him I think. The qatanacho (don't now how you write it) is still there. If Canavaro is out, Gattuso will be captain and he is great too.
This might lower Italian chances big time but I still believe in them.
I have to admit from what I have seen from Toni, wich isn't that much only when he played in the Squadre, he might be the new baggio.
 
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yes that is what I mean, lost my knowledge of italian by going to school. The teacher said I had to speak Dutch when I was a child and so I did, I was a stubborn one, my mom couldn't convince me otherwhise, wich I now regret
 
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IMHO the attitude that goes with Catenaccio is Italy's biggest weakness. The mindset seems to be fixed at scoring one goal and then defending skillfully, and even if the Italian team tends to be good at that it leaves such a low margin of error that they often stumble because of it, even against much weaker teams. Just making sure to score two goals before switching to defensive play would do wonders for Italian consistency.

Italy-Sweden in the Portugal EC is a good example. Total Italian domination on the pitch and an early Italian goal, after which Italy more or less stops playing. Ibrahimovic scores a late equaliser in the second half and it is too late for the Italians to pick up their steam again (not to mention that it mentally is rather tricky to switch back to an attacking attitude). The game ends 1-1 and later Italy fails to pass the group stage, but rather than blaming their own stupidity in a game they should have won EASILY they accuse Denmark and Sweden of conspiracy due to the "perfect" 2-2 result in the last group match:p

So Italy could benefit a lot from using their offensive firepower a bit less sparingly...
 
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Yep but if you look at Lippi's Italy you'll clearly see they didn't play catenaccio. And Donadoni's Italy still has Lippi's mentality. Catenaccio is over, unless of course Trapattoni is back:D.
As for the captain it's either Buffon or Del Piero, and given that DP isn't a regular starter it will probably go to Buffon which is not a problem for me as long as the captain is Juventino:p
About Del Piero, most people just don't understand this player. He's always trying to prove his critics wrong. Every year the media says he's finished and yet he proves them wrong like this year. At the start of the season some people said he should retire, yet at the end he's the Copacannionere which is the best way to silence his critics.
Now, some people are questioning weather he can fit in Donadoni's tactical system. So, he's trying to prove that he can and he will like always.
 
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POLYGON said:
Yep but if you look at Lippi's Italy you'll clearly see they didn't play catenaccio. And Donadoni's Italy still has Lippi's mentality. Catenaccio is over, unless of course Trapattoni is back:D.
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True, but the attitude problem is still grounded in a strong defensive tradition, and I got the feeling titus was referring to a state of mind rather than the tactic:)

I'm not sure I've ever seen true Catenaccio football. My main exposure of Italian football consists of serie A and champions league games in the 90s (which did give me a healthy respect for del Piero), and neither Juve, Milan, or Parma that were the most commonly showed teams played particularly defensive football.
 
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true it is not used anymore as a tactics but you still see that if italy has to defend it is still a wall almost, but they play a lot mora attacking considering a few years back.
 
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Impressions from the first games in groups A and B: Portugal looked better than I expected, and so did Poland who might snatch second place in the group from Croatia.
 
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titus said:
Uhm polygon I thin you must be mistaken. Italy not having talented players? Italy has some real talented players, all with their own specialty: Gatuso, Cannavaro, Buffon, Toni( a legend to be), Del Piero (although I can't stand him on the field because he is not a team player) and so on
I watched the training match between belgium (where I livbve) and Italy( where my roots are) and if Italy keeps playing like that, they are going to be in the finals.
Belgium in the EK? that is a good joke :p can't remember when they were last time qualified for an EK or WK and really got further than selection :p
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WK 2002 and they got send home by the unfair ref -> Brasil was our oponent and in the first half a goal from Belgium (Wilmots) was decided to be a fault one. That fuckup of a ref shouldn't have been allowed at the WC.

EK -> Well, you'll have to go back in time a long way to find one we actually quallified for.
 
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Today is the first big game for me: Italy vs The Netherlands, and both teams are missing great players: Robben and Canavaro
 
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titus said:
Today is the first big game for me: Italy vs The Netherlands, and both teams are missing great players: Robben and Canavaro
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And it ended in Italy humiliation. Not to say they deserved it, but at least they deserved to lose.
The defence needs a whole revamping. Materazzi is just not good anymore, Barzagli is soooo overrated and he's not the new Nesta, Pannuci is old.
In midfield, using the midfield of the team that took the 5th place in Serie A is not good especially while leaving the midfield of the 2nd. Ambrosini, what the hell is he doing in Switzerland, he should be home with Montolivo instead. Gattuso is obviously not the same player of the world cup, he's tired. Pirlo is Pirlo but also a little tired.
In attack, Di Natale is not big stage material and Del Piero MUST start.
It's also fair to say that the loss of Cannavaro is a huge blow.
IMO, the formation should look something like this:
Buffon
Zambrotta Panucci Chiellini Grosso
Camoranesi De Rossi Pirlo Perotta
Toni Del Piero

As for Holland they are a great team that deserved to win today but they should train more on the offside trap.
 
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The netherlands were better, I don't argue that. gattuso is calmer then in the WK Pirlo is good. Leave Di natale out? no he is to good.
I didn't think that the loss of canavaro would do so much but maybe it does. It is a shame there is also no Nesta anymore.
Del piero? I still don't know about the guy he is good yes, but saw the same thign as against belgian, instead of a good pass he shoot himself, while the pass would probably led to an goal.
And then their is the offside !!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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