Italia: La Nazionale II

Worst game I've ever seen.

I've never seen such sad sacks of - strutting around on a park as Italia in that game.

I understand what Prandelli was trying to do. Uruguay needed a goal, so he just waited until they attacked and planned to hit Uruguay on the counter. In other words, he played for the draw. So... waiting... waiting... waiting... Enter: vampire ref. Red card, game over, Italy lose. But Italy have nobody to blame but themselves. Prandelli took Balo off for Marco Parolo. MARCO. PAROLO.

I can't understand why - with a better team at your disposal - that you would play for the draw instead of going for the win and at least getting just 1 goal before sitting back to make it impossible for Uruguay to win.

I feel sorry for Buffon, who saved the team once, twice and then the inevitable third went in to end everything.

Goodbye Italia, hopefully by 2018 you are coached by someone who's got balls.

zarola wrote:ahhh I really wanna talk about the whole issues now... I think it will make me feel better.
you know, i didn't realize how shit we're about to become, and we couldn't even come out the groups now.

a semi-final finish before this decline woulda done wonders to my ego... but now what? where are we?

Look at teams like USA, Costa Rica, Chile, etc.,now you can't tell me on paper that these squads are better than us, but they perform better because their players WANT to be there, they're fighting for their life. And for some reason I just felt like we don't see this with this Italia.

I know the talent is gone, but what happened to the passion? What happened to the , no matter how my club form is, this is the Azzurri, and I'm going to give my life for it , attitude. You see this with a lot of the classics, and now they are leaving. Buffon, ffs, buffon, what alegend, I don't even have words. Gigi Buffon. Pirlo. ffs. so much passion. so much pride. AND also, such good players.

I never want to see Balotelli in an Italia jersey again, and I'd rather see Gilardino ahead of him if it came to that.

Who's the future? Who do we have? What the hell is going to happen guys. For crying out loud.

Our future can hardly field an 11, let alone 23.

The future is scary. Where do we go from here? Who is our next Chiellini? Our next Barzagli? Our next DDR? The talent in the mid and defense is lacking at best.

The next coach and FIGC president must be brave and tackle the problems in calcio. No more ignoring the infrastructure issue. It's time that the laws were changed to allow teams to construct new stadiums that they can own. We need to reshape the image of italian football that is old, poor, and past it. We need to be a symbol of youth, not an aging system. This is a pivotal moment in italian calcio.

Well, if you are lucky this will become just a watershed moment as Euro 2000 was for Germany and which let to a complete overhaul of the structures.

Juveman17 wrote:
The future is scary. Where do we go from here? Who is our next Chiellini? Our next Barzagli? Our next DDR? The talent in the mid and defense is lacking at best.

The next coach and FIGC president must be brave and tackle the problems in calcio. No more ignoring the infrastructure issue. It's time that the laws were changed to allow teams to construct new stadiums that they can own. We need to reshape the image of italian football that is old, poor, and past it. We need to be a symbol of youth, not an aging system. This is a pivotal moment in italian calcio.  

4 years is a long time, in football it's almost an age.

Italy needs to start a new project from scratch with a new coach and head of the FIGC. We need an entirely new directive.

One good thing has come out of this tournament; we know Ballotelli is not the player to build this team around, moving forward it should be Verratti if anyone.

The talent is there but it's time for the younger generation to really stand up and be counted, for club and country, talent isn't enough on it's own.

rwo power wrote:Well, if you are lucky this will become just a watershed moment as Euro 2000 was for Germany and which let to a complete overhaul of the structures.

Exactly. Fingers crossed.

:{Mr.Mustachio! wrote:

rwo power wrote:Well, if you are lucky this will become just a watershed moment as Euro 2000 was for Germany and which let to a complete overhaul of the structures.

Exactly. Fingers crossed.

Forgive me if I'm wrong (as I have VERY LITTLE insight about Italian football) but I simply don't see this happening. They will try to refurbish a structure that's crumbling rather than taking it down and starting afresh. I simply don't see that vision, courage, hunger & patience.

iftikhar wrote:

:{Mr.Mustachio! wrote:
Exactly. Fingers crossed.

Forgive me if I'm wrong (as I have VERY LITTLE insight about Italian football) but I simply don't see this happening. They will try to refurbish a structure that's crumbling rather than taking it down and starting afresh. I simply don't see that vision, courage, hunger & patience.

To be honest you are right, Italy is not Germany and a massive change from the ground up is unlikely. Hence the crossed fingers.

But I honestly believe that patch job or not for us the end result will be good enough. even if I have the utmost respect for the way the Germans have planned and quite deliberately organised their football revolution.

Theres still plenty of young enough talent in this team for the next euro and world cup. Remember in 2006, Cannavaro our best player was on the wrong side of 30 already, and players like Gattuso, Totti, Del Piero, Nesta, Zambrotta, etc were not that young either. Perin, Chiellini, Bonucci, Ogbonna, Paletta, Ranocchia, Darmian, Abate, De Sciglio, Verratti, Giaccherini, Marchisio, De Rossi, Parolo, Insigne, Immobile, Balotelli, El Shaarawy, Rossi, Giovinco, and others will still be young enough to be big parts if the team in 2016 and alot of them 2018 too. We still dont know which players are gonna break out in that timespan as well. I could see us looking like this in 2016 and maybe even 2018, just based off of players we already know of:


So as you can see we still have an extremely strong foundation, add some fresh blood to that and the future looks bright to me.

Balotelli on instagram.I try to translate. Very hard against all.

http://instagram.com/p/pquOpHLj6X/


I am Mario Balotelli I'm 23 years old and I did not choose to be Italian. I  wanted it really because I was born in ITALY and I have always lived in ITALY. I care much about this WC and I am sad angry and disappointment with myselff. Yes probably I could score against Costa Rica you are right but then what?  Maybe what do you want to say all is this ? I don't blame myself  because Mario Balotelli gave everything for the national team and he did nothing wrong  (about behaviour ) so try another excuse because Mario Balotelli has a clear conscience and he is ready to go on  stronger than before and with his head held high. I am proud to have given everything for your country. Or maybe, as you say, I'm not Italian. Africans never would leave their "brother. NEVER. In this we Negroes, as you call us ,  we are light years ahead. WHAT A SHAME . who can not miss a goal or running less or more.  THESE THINGS ARE EMBARASSING .. Real Italians !! True?

Balotelli can say whatever the hell he wants, actions speak louder than words, and we all saw what he was doing out on the field. Thinking about himself first before the team, letting nothing get to him, being stupid.

Juventus101, those teams seems "meh" for 2014, imagine in 2016,2018. The team there, couldn't even make it out of the group stages now.

Seriously now wtf happened to the "next maldini" Santon? He was thrown into the national team at such a young age and now he's disappeared.

By 2018 there is going to have been huge changes and many younger players coming in.

Keep calm and Forza Italia  

Blame lies solely on Prandelli and no one else. It's ridiculous to blame Balo for the teams failures.

Leaving Rossi at home, abandoning 352, benching Verratti for Motta against Costa Rica, his shit squad selection in general etc

Not surprised Marchisio is receiving zero blame for getting sent off and Balo is. Imagine if Balotelli was the one that committed the same exact challenge. Would anyone be sympathizing with him and making excuses?

Balotelli needs as many players as close to him as possible yet he was completely isolated in all 3 games. How did Immobile do yesterday brehs?

immobile did just as good as his name implies   

Balotelli scored the winner against England, then he had an extremely poor game against Costa Rica and a very poor first half against Uruguay. But what about that second half against Uruguay? Parolo comes on and Italy is playing just as badly. Immobile was completely out of sorts and the only person making any attempt to do anything even mildly interesting to prevent me from falling asleep was Verratti. Point being, whilst Balo must take some blame, he cannot be made the scapegoat for Italy's failure at this World Cup or for the results against Uruguay or Costa Rica.

~~~

I can't predict how Italy's line-up will look in 2 or 4 years time, but Italy will always have talented players. Personnel is not the issue. Nobody could say that Uruguay had a better XI on paper in that game. The most pressing problem is this ridiculous tactical set up which consists of short passing at the back, short passing in the midfield, and absolutely no cutting edge in the final third. It's as if Prandelli was trying to emulate Allegri's Milan of this past season. Italy needs to return to what Italy does best - hard, fast, counter-attacking football. Brick wall defence, precision set pieces, lightning counter down the centre.

The 3-5-2 revival is doomed to failure as well. Why have so many players behind the ball when you are struggling to create chances? Uruguay and Costa Rica both conceded territory. They just gave it up from the 1st whistle! They literally walked back into their own halves, almost as if to say, "have the ball, take the ball, do what you want with it over there." And Italy willingly and predictably did exactly what the opposition wanted, which was to kick the ball around aimlessly, making tame attempts to score every now and then.

The problem with playing possession football is that unless you are creating numerous goal scoring chances, you are always at risk of the counter or the odd goal from a set piece. Playing possession football is great IF you know how to do it right and Italy showed in those 2 games exactly how it shouldn't be done. There was no pressing in the final third, there was no intensity in the midfield, and there was no pace to move the ball around quickly so as to put defenders out of position. These are the essentials for effective possession football. What I saw in those last 2 games was some kind of hybrid style which I think could be most appropriately described as flat, sterile, and toothless.

Gil wrote:Blame lies solely on Prandelli and no one else. It's ridiculous to blame Balo for the teams failures.

Leaving Rossi at home, abandoning 352, benching Verratti for Motta against Costa Rica.

Not surprised Marchisio is receiving zero blame for getting sent off and Balo is. Imagine if Balotelli was the one that committed the same exact challenge. Would anyone be sympathizing with him and making excuses?

Balotelli needs as many players as close to him as possible yet he was completely isolated in all 3 games. How did Immobile do yesterday brehs?

Balotelli was the poster boy of Prandelli's Italy and right now he's going down with it; rightly or wrongly. (IMO wrongly, no way he should be vilified by the media)

There's a huge catalogue of errors on not only Prandelli's part but also the Italian Federation's in the build up to this competition. Almost too many to list. As such all the players and everyone attached to the NT are taking flak right now. Many in the past have taken it too and it's times like these that they need to stay united more than ever.

Immobile ran a lot and got caught offside a lot, he was equally as poor in this game as Balotelli, and most importantly for a striker when he got the minutes he failed to score or look threatening; but here we have to come back to Prandelli.

Immobile doesn't even have 5 caps. He did't become capocannoniere by scoring 20 odd goals on the last day of the season, so why did Osvaldo, Gilardino et all continued to get called up in his place? 2 years Prandelli had to integrate these players and create a unified group and he failed unequivocally in this regard, we arrived with him trying to work out his best XI in the group stages and trying to forge a strong strike duo in the final game.

Balotelli and his struggles in this tournament (as opposed to 2012) are largely as a result of Prandelli's struggles; Not the cause of them.

As for Mario he needs to shrug it off get his head down and just play, cut out the BS, because his behaviour off the pitch after the England game and his vanishing act after the Uruguay game are absolutely unsupportable .

Forza wrote:Balotelli scored the winner against England, then he had an extremely poor game against Costa Rica and a very poor first half against Uruguay. But what about that second half against Uruguay? Parolo comes on and Italy is playing just as badly.

He left Prandelli little choice, he'd picked up that yellow card and the Uruguayans even in the first half were trying their best to get Italy players sent off.

Forza wrote:Italy needs to return to what Italy does best - hard, fast, counter-attacking football. Brick wall defence, precision set pieces, lightning counter down the centre.

+1

I agree that the blame shouldnt lie on Balo's shoulders alone. But to me he is kinda using racism as an excuse or a way to defend himself. While there will always be some stupid racists who attack him for his color, its obvious that many people are disappointed in his performance regardless of his skin color.

I'm not hating on Balotelli's performance... I know he has talent, and I know you can't blame the PERFORMANCE of ONE person on a team's failure, I'm not doing that.
I have been following Balotelli and defending Balotelli for 5+ years now, and now that has ended. I never want to see him on Italy again.

Coach after coach has defended his attitude, player after player, fan after fan, and he just lets everyone down with his stupidity. Diving every 5 seconds, going into stupid tackles when he already had the yellow, he was a red waiting to happen.

The move bringing on Parolo was a positive one. Balotelli was doing nothing but getting himself into trouble. He put himself before the national team.

Players like Buffon and De Rossi equally frustrated with him, although they didn't use his name directly, and yet people are saying this is just the media, no, this is all of Italy.

Plays with no heart, plays like a brat, screw him.

zarola wrote:I'm not hating on Balotelli's performance... I know he has talent, and I know you can't blame the PERFORMANCE of ONE person on a team's failure, I'm not doing that.
I have been following Balotelli and defending Balotelli for 5+ years now, and now that has ended. I never want to see him on Italy again.

Coach after coach has defended his attitude, player after player, fan after fan, and he just lets everyone down with his stupidity. Diving every 5 seconds, going into stupid tackles when he already had the yellow, he was a red waiting to happen.

The move bringing on Parolo was a positive one. Balotelli was doing nothing but getting himself into trouble. He put himself before the national team.

Players like Buffon and De Rossi equally frustrated with him, although they didn't use his name directly, and yet people are saying this is just the media, no, this is all of Italy.

Plays with no heart, plays like a brat, screw him.

Finally someone else have seen the light I was preaching all along. I hope and pray that sh*t, scrub, idiot, lazy ass never gets to wear our shirt again.

these fickle, and frankly boorish, "fans" and players blaming Balotelli in any way shape or form are a ****ing disgrace ...

these two quotes say everything I would want to say about the bullsh!t scapegoating using Mario, and the bullsh!t neglecting of how everyone else played like crap:

Forza wrote:Balotelli scored the winner against England, then he had an extremely poor game against Costa Rica and a very poor first half against Uruguay. But what about that second half against Uruguay? Parolo comes on and Italy is playing just as badly. Immobile was completely out of sorts and the only person making any attempt to do anything even mildly interesting to prevent me from falling asleep was Verratti. Point being, whilst Balo must take some blame, he cannot be made the scapegoat for Italy's failure at this World Cup or for the results against Uruguay or Costa Rica.

Forza wrote:The problem with playing possession football is that unless you are creating numerous goal scoring chances, you are always at risk of the counter or the odd goal from a set piece. Playing possession football is great IF you know how to do it right and Italy showed in those 2 games exactly how it shouldn't be done. There was no pressing in the final third, there was no intensity in the midfield, and there was no pace to move the ball around quickly so as to put defenders out of position. These are the essentials for effective possession football.

what everyone seems to have forgotten is that 0-0 was good enough ... Balotelli didn't score? fine! it'd be better if he did, but goals aren't what were needed! keeping a clean sheet was what was needed! that's it! qualification would be secure! why the **** is that not being talked about?!

Balo is all around shit.End of story.

The only thing he's good for is scoring goals and he's never had a 20 goal season.
Must get rid of

:{Mr.Mustachio! wrote:By 2018 there is going to have been huge changes and many younger players coming in.

Keep calm and Forza Italia  

Glad to see you're still around

Balo is obviously not the only reason Italy failed. But he's too lazy and reckless and he's a complete joke who should be dropped until he proves himself at club level. Watching him sulk around the pitch doing fk all then using none of his strength and falling over is ridiculous.

Andrew_p wrote:

:{Mr.Mustachio! wrote:By 2018 there is going to have been huge changes and many younger players coming in.

Keep calm and Forza Italia  

Glad to see you're still around

Glad to see that both of you are still around

Tomwin Lannister wrote:Balo is obviously not the only reason Italy failed. But he's too lazy and reckless and he's a complete joke who should be dropped until he proves himself at club level. Watching him sulk around the pitch doing fk all then using none of his strength and falling over is ridiculous.

sure, drop him and play someone else for the rest of the world cup ... oh, what's that? failed to make it? why? didn't Italy only need 0-0? couldn't keep a clean sheet? that's Balotelli's fault too? I see ...

Juveman17 wrote:

Andrew_p wrote:

:{Mr.Mustachio! wrote:By 2018 there is going to have been huge changes and many younger players coming in.

Keep calm and Forza Italia  

Glad to see you're still around

Glad to see that both of you are still around

Glad to see the two veteran are still around, and Juveman is back after they short hiatus   

Xifio wrote:these fickle, and frankly boorish, "fans" and players blaming Balotelli in any way shape or form are a ****ing disgrace ...

these two quotes say everything I would want to say about the bullsh!t scapegoating using Mario, and the bullsh!t neglecting of how everyone else played like crap:

Forza wrote:Balotelli scored the winner against England, then he had an extremely poor game against Costa Rica and a very poor first half against Uruguay. But what about that second half against Uruguay? Parolo comes on and Italy is playing just as badly. Immobile was completely out of sorts and the only person making any attempt to do anything even mildly interesting to prevent me from falling asleep was Verratti. Point being, whilst Balo must take some blame, he cannot be made the scapegoat for Italy's failure at this World Cup or for the results against Uruguay or Costa Rica.

Forza wrote:The problem with playing possession football is that unless you are creating numerous goal scoring chances, you are always at risk of the counter or the odd goal from a set piece. Playing possession football is great IF you know how to do it right and Italy showed in those 2 games exactly how it shouldn't be done. There was no pressing in the final third, there was no intensity in the midfield, and there was no pace to move the ball around quickly so as to put defenders out of position. These are the essentials for effective possession football.

what everyone seems to have forgotten is that 0-0 was good enough ... Balotelli didn't score? fine! it'd be better if he did, but goals aren't what were needed! keeping a clean sheet was what was needed! that's it! qualification would be secure! why the **** is that not being talked about?!

So in your opinion, Buffon and De Rossi are fickle, boorish and disgrace? Well said, Comrade