I didnt really think that pirlo was the best.I thought Cassano,Balo,De Rossi and Bonucci were better than him.

BhritanniaBhlue wrote:Ozil is going to run riot with whatever assortment of wingers/strikers he is paired with

Ozil-Khedira-Schweinsteiger will expose Pirlo's defensive liability just like they did with the Netherlands

I've reversed jinxed Italy all the way to the final Oh God what have I done

So far I have gotten England, France, Portugal and Germany knocked out almost consecutively

This leaves me with only one solution

GO SPAIN!!!! ANTI-FOOTBALL MUST TRIUMPH

Actually the problem with the defence Babun was that the fullbacks gave Hummels and Badstuber no support, when Cassano or Ballo goes wide it should be the fullbacks helping out, but both Hummels and Badstuber were left with very little support from the DM's and FB's.

mtfootball wrote:

:{Mr.Mustachio! wrote:

:{Mr.Mustachio! wrote:The real reason why Italy come into this somewhat undervalued, 'without anygood individuals' and a Pirlo who no one expected to play at this level is because people just haven't watched Juventus this season frankly.

Say hello to what is, bar two players, the Juventus defence, Goalkeeper and midfield.

Balotelli, Cassano, Montolivo, De Rossi and Balzaretti.

The 'attack' being Balotelli, Montolivo, Cassano.

Cassano and Ballo were awesome. The 'bar two players' being Balzaretti and De Rossi, who also played fantastically, De Rossi in particular, a player who frankly I have dreamt of in a Juve shirt since 06, but thats something I will certainly never see.

Think my point still stands though, In steps Vidal and Lichtsteiner to complete both departments. Not bad by any stretch. De Rossi beats out Vidal, tough as it is to admit as I love Arturo, but Licht I think is comfortably better than Balzaretti honestly...

It's in attack we lack the game changers, the rest our our squad is very solid.

Like I said in my OP a few days back, our players are just undervalued, seems generally people are surprised how well they are playing; I'm not, but I am surprised that Marchisio hasn't bloody scored at all yet. Could have had 4 or 5 by now

Almost doesnt matter if Italy win the whole thing or not to, we have shown we can cope with anyone and play good football at the same time. We already won many peoples hearts which makes me happy!

Again we have less resting time before a huge game. Dont think I can be any more impressed with what I have seen of the Azzurri. Even Balzaretti had to play out of position, and no Godbate!

FORZA ITALIA!

I just want to say how unlucky were Croatia to have been in Group C with finalists Spain and Italy.

CBarca wrote:
Also why did Pirlo get the award tonight? He wasn't the best player out there...I mean, he was great, but not the best.

Without taking away an iota from any of the other players I will say that by convention a player scoring two tap ins usually gets man of the match. So considering that denying Balotelli the award today is cruel. The fellow smiles so rarely. He seems very troubled internally. This was his moment to receive this award in such an important match and hold it proudly thus saying to the world that he has finally arrived.

Its just such a crime that a disgusting club like City can have him....

How the hell was Pirlo Italy's best player Arq? He came alive in the 2nd half once Germany started pushing men forward and finished the game off but Balotelli & Cassano ran the show in the first half.

Either one of those two were Italy's best players.

Special mentions to Balzaretti & Bonucci as well.

Substitution of the game had to be Motta for Montolivo. Italy started getting a hold of the match again once he came on.

Congrats to the Italians on here btw. Best team of the tournament so far IMO.

like in chat, i will say the same thing, before i blame any player in german lineup, i blame low foremost, because first and foremost coach needs to get things with preparation and tactics absolutely right.

frankly with the great talents they have on disposal, i dont think germans didnt even play with their best lineup.

first of all on lineup, i was not happy with pololski started with gomez, and the most obvious mistake was to play toni kroos, when just a match ago reus had absolutely stunning match. i know low trusted his old guards like poldi and all but, with italians were 2 matches not as fresh as germans, with de rossi hardly full match fit, chellini just coming back to fitness, with abate injured, and balzaretti as RB, i mean , low is supposed to be eating italians for dessert. u cant ask for better moment like that.

ok granted, reus gotze are young and too much responsibilities shouldnt be put on them, but i mean low didnt do anything that would hurt italians the most, reus and gotze are the best players in the wings who can make defense splitting passes, dangerous runs, against strong italian defense. my biggest fear as if reus and gotze would have started italians would have huge problems. ok lineup wasnt best, but germans didnt stuck with their status quo they have been so dangerous so far, they got too much intimidated by italian lineup playing style and pirlo, they only focused on opponents too much instead of themselves.

and i knew that with struggling schweinsteiger with just managing to make in time and just asking khedira to do all the marshalling in middle would be unjust because italian combo of diamond formations with de rossi pirlo marchisio and montolivo occassionally rotating like they have been will unsettle schwweini and khedira so much.

then when low has Schmelzer as great LB, why bloody he always play boateng who is most of the time suspect in defense and neither great going forward. Schmelzer should have played LB with lahm as RB. i mean even during later stages when germans were down, with neuer bombing forward he defended crazy like outstanding sweeper.. lol he does better defending than boateng.

hummels badstuber individual mistake aside, i thought germans just lost to italians tactically and were outplayed. sure germans are outstanding in attack but i knew italian defending can withstand that, something germans didnt do, like italian does, work as a unit in defense and attack.

i am so glad, massively underrated and foreign media slaughtering italians that they would loose to spain, croatia, england and now germans has proved all wrong and has gone through.

germans are still the best, it took years for them to build this strong team but small obvious tactical mistake has let them done, and all hardwork undone. i mean, i like how one of the member post in goal.com comments that it took german years to rebuild this strong great squad with wealth of talent only for italians to better them within 2 years after that epic fail in world cup 2010, surely germans can do better! they only have to focus on small and obvious details... then germans will do better.

tactically and defensively germans need to do better job. thats their weakness.

Germany - Apart from LB (Lahm) the rest of their back four never really convinced me. Especially Boateng who is very average. I didn't expect Hummels to do so badly. He plays very well for Dortmund but every time he wears the Germany shirt he becomes so crap.

Italy - Well played. They have been the most adventurous and exciting team to watch despite always being the underdogs in this tournament. The only unfortunate thing is that their team is old and not one built for World Cup, unlike Germany. And they don't have a good bench either.

danyjr wrote:Germany - Apart from LB (Lahm) the rest of their back four never really convinced me. Especially Boateng who is very average. I didn't expect Hummels to do so badly. He plays very well for Dortmund but every time he wears the Germany shirt he becomes so crap.

Italy - Well played. They have been the most adventurous and exciting team to watch despite always being the underdogs in this tournament. The only unfortunate thing is that their team is old and not one built for World Cup, unlike Germany. And they don't have a good bench either.

italians have great squad overall, maybe not like outstanding players in all position but they have stunning balance.

Lahm lost Balotelli for the 2nd goal, the full blame all 100% of it , is on him for that goal.

Countlessly exposed in the 2nd half as well.

Le Samourai wrote:Lahm lost Balotelli for the 2nd goal, the full blame all 100% of it , is on him for that goal.

Countlessly exposed in the 2nd half as well.

I meant generally, not this match. I agree he was poor on Italy's second goal, misjudged the whole situation twice and lost sight of Super Mario.

Am I the only one who noticed how far off the pace Chiellini was today btw? Looked nowhere near fit. Could be an area Del Bosque could exploit in the final if he finally grows some balls.

he will be fit by then though

Gil wrote:Am I the only one who noticed how far off the pace Chiellini was today btw? Looked nowhere near fit. Could be an area Del Bosque could exploit in the final if he finally grows some balls.

Yeah, outside of the box he looked really suspect when being ran at
Definitely not 100%

Gil wrote:Am I the only one who noticed how far off the pace Chiellini was today btw? Looked nowhere near fit. Could be an area Del Bosque could exploit in the final if he finally grows some balls.

Yeah, he was absolutely slow and pressed very badly. I'd rather play Abate there.

Le Samourai wrote:Lahm lost Balotelli for the 2nd goal, the full blame all 100% of it , is on him for that goal.

Countlessly exposed in the 2nd half as well.

yeah but lets Cut him some slack... guy has been superconsisstent all tournment except for this, i understand u mate, that he played balotelli onside, but look at germans when that happened, germans played too high with everybody pushing forward italians like that because then they have plenty of spaces to exploit.

though ur right it was mistake nonetheless.

Chiellini couldve lied down and taken a nap today, such was the god mode De Rossi was in .

Eivindo wrote:Almost doesnt matter if Italy win the whole thing or not to, we have shown we can cope with anyone and play good football at the same time. We already won many peoples hearts which makes me happy!

Again we have less resting time before a huge game. Dont think I can be any more impressed with what I have seen of the Azzurri. Even Balzaretti had to play out of position, and no Godbate!

FORZA ITALIA!

yep. i agre eivindo.
with extra rest for germans with all the injuries , maggio suspension, abate injury de rossi injury, chellini match fitness, i was so worried germans will eat them for breakfast, instead italians made bolognese pasta out of germans....

Le Samourai wrote:Chiellini couldve lied down and taken a nap today, such was the god mode De Rossi was in .

with balotellli de rossi for me was MOTM... guy wasnt even fit and was playing with pain... amazing...

Luca wrote:

Gil wrote:Am I the only one who noticed how far off the pace Chiellini was today btw? Looked nowhere near fit. Could be an area Del Bosque could exploit in the final if he finally grows some balls.

Yeah, outside of the box he looked really suspect when being ran at
Definitely not 100%

yep i agree chellini wasnt 100% fit. with fulback emergency i m glad he played.

Cassano deserves to be up there too.

i feel so sorry for germans though, with young team it must be so hard for them to take this pain, for experience players they can get used to it but after low said they were crying, well low ur damn right they are upset..!!! T.T

Gil wrote:Am I the only one who noticed how far off the pace Chiellini was today btw? Looked nowhere near fit. Could be an area Del Bosque could exploit in the final if he finally grows some balls.

I think to be honest he wasn't fit, Juve said as much, they weren't overly keen on him playing.

But he basically had to, No Abate or Maggio meant Balzaretti had to go to RB. Other option was Ogbonna at LB, not ideal. No way Giorgio was going to miss this clash anyway, he would have wanted to play with one leg!

Also, I haven't seen it mentioned much but De Rossi throughout this tournament has been struggling with what they have said on Italian TV is a trapping of the sciatic nerve, he's in pain and it can cause numbness in the leg, lower back and arse

De Rossi