The Official Football Thread

[Shinndou]

Yeah, it's highly unlikely that we'll beat Spain tonight. If anything I just hope it won't be another tennis-like score like in the Euro final.

Usually Italy is a team that steps its game up against amazing opponents, but not this time. There are too many factors that are negatively influencing this team to seriously think that we might make it to the final.

[germanturkey]

the lack of Balotelli already puts you guys at a severe disadvantage. that guy could make something happen out of nothing.

[Shinndou]

I wish we didn't depend so much on one single player to make the difference though. I also wish Prandelli would realize that Gilardino is way past his prime and is not a valid substitute either.

The irony is that the U-21 team has a ridiculously better group of forwards than the senior team. If we had called atleast Gabbiadini, Insigne, Saponara or any other of these youngsters I'd be worrying less about our offensive potential now that Balo is out for injury.

[Blaat]

Spanish commentators are so loud.

Italy should have been ahead by now great at defending and going forward, Spain on the other hand are rather lifeless.

[KiraYamatoFan]

Meanwhile, for people catching the official English-speaking FIFA feed, it would have been much better if FIFA could splash the cash to get Martin Tyler or Clive Tyldesley instead of anyone else as THE official English voice for all to hear.

[Sakuratsuki]

Originally Posted by Blaat

Spanish commentators are so loud.

Italy should have been ahead by now great at defending and going forward, Spain on the other hand are rather lifeless.

I know what you mean.

Jesus Navas puede marcar, Jesus navassssss y goallllllllllllllllll goallllll de España, España en la finalllllllllllll. Well It is normal in Spain that kind of commentary. And I also have seen the match on a spanish channel (telecinco).

I hope Spain will do a better match against Brazil. Because they got Lucky at the penaltys. Italy played a good match. And Balotteli didn't play because of the Injury. Maybe Italy could have won the match if balotelli was there.

I know Balotelli is a weird (childish sometime) player ,but he does his job when it's important.

[germanturkey]

italy played well to try and beat the spanish system. i'm not sure brazil will do the same. brazil loves to play, and teams that try to play against spain will be outplayed.

[Blaat]

Originally Posted by mayid

I know what you mean.

The funny thing I was watching it in a different language but the Spanish commentators was so loud I could hear him on the background.

Anyway Italy did really well in fact they were the better team but you'll end losing if you don't take your chances.

[RapidPotential]

Isn't it odd that just when Italy needed Super Mario's ability from the spot, he wasn't available?

That guy might have turned a losing shoot-out into a win.

[Shinndou]

Originally Posted by RapidPotential

Isn't it odd that just when Italy needed Super Mario's ability from the spot, he wasn't available?

That guy might have turned a losing shoot-out into a win.

Wouldn't have made any difference, Spain still wasn't missing any shot so Bonucci would still have ended up taking the shot later.

That said, even if we lost at pens I think it would be fair to say we played unexpectedly well.

Sadly we didn't manage to convert any of our chances, and that's largely due to Prandelli's stubborness in using Gilardino rather than using El Sharaawy. And again, he used Aquilani in the midfield rather than Diamanti. It's pretty clear he has a group of players he favors no matter who else is available within the team, even when his favorite players are clearly not the right ones for the type of opponent we're facing.

The positive thing is that he realized that the we're more efficient when we have a 3 men defence, given that it's the same formation as Juventus' it's pretty clear that the defensive trio knows how to cover well. If only he realized that against Brazil we might have had a better chance in our group. Oh well.

At the end though, this is a good team. It's safe to say most of the players will be the same at the World Cup, with the hope we'll also have some of the amazing young players from U-21 side along (Verratti, Insigne, Florenzi) instead of the dead weight (Aquilani, Gilardino).

[solomon]

Random footy broadcasting question.

Here in US it's always fun to compare the largely British commentators for English feed to our Latin counterparts (so much more lively).

I see that Spain is similar to Latin America in it's very.....enthusiastic calls, same with portugal. Does Italy do the whole GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL kinda thing too? Cause I don't remember seeing French do that on TV.

[KiraYamatoFan]

The Italians and the French don't go that way based on what I experienced. The GOOOOOOOOLLL thing is more of a Spanish/Portuguese thing which is also transmitted to Latin America.

In my case, I grew up with French and English commentary. So I'm not quite used to those outbursts following a goal, at least not for a regular basis.

[ChampDream]

the only bad thing about the GOOOOL thing is when the goal is disallowed, which some commentators just keep screaming like stupids until they realize

[Blaat]

Brazil v Spain final starts at midnight over here.

[DarkJak2050]

Well, I hope we all get to see something great in that game.

Like what happened in the San Jose Earthquakes Vs. Los Angeles Galaxy (6/29/2013) game in the MLS.

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by Blaat

Brazil v Spain final starts at midnight over here.

6 pm here in the east coast of US, but I most likely won't be able to watch the first half because I have to somewhere.

In other news, the group stage of U-20 World Cup is over. Nice showing by AFC team with 3 teams in the knockout stage. Iraq has done very well for themselves by topping their group. And rather satisfied with Korea's progress to round of 16, despite having many injuries. Asian teams are improving very well.

[Shinndou]

Originally Posted by solomon

Does Italy do the whole GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL kinda thing too?

Nope, our commentators don't do that (thankfully).

[germanturkey]

wow, impressive game from san jose and LA.

[Eragon]

Spain just got schooled The champions are back!!!

[Sakuratsuki]

Brazil gave a lesson to Spain

Definitely, the world champions are back. They have a great team. And Nemyar played a great match.

Looking back at the confederations cup of 2009. It was really a boring tournament at that time.

But this confederations cup of 2013 is really the best! I really enjoyed the matches. There was not so much high expectations about this tournament because the confederations cup in South Africa was very boring. But the one of this year was really amazing.
Japan - Italy a wonderful match, also the other group matches. The semi finales were also very great and the final.

Can't wait for the upcoming world cup 2014