FOOTBALL XLIV - Mansours, Khelaifis, and Rybolovlevs,... oh my!

[polishgenius]

Italy were missing Pirlo, de Rossi, and a couple of other players, though. That said, the way they got disemboweled in the Euros doesn't really bode well for them vs. Spain.

Yeah, I'd fancy a full-strength Italy to do a lot better than that but even so, they've not looked great all tournament, especially defensively.

Plus the fact that they're so dependent on a man who will be 35 when the WC rolls around isn't hugely promising for them.

Uruguay v Brazil will be interesting, because although Uruguay appear to have no midfield whatsoever, they've got attackers who can obviously get things done. Though Cavani will be wanting to play better than he did against Nigeria.

[Calibandar]

Uruguay vs Brazil should be an interesting game. Should be.

Cavani, Suarez, Forlan, that should give trouble. Still, Brazil have looked pretty good this tournament, they come by goals quite easily.

Italy started out way too defensively, by design. They really shouldn't have, it looked like they could take this Brazil side, with a bit more guts, but they seemed to be going for a draw, regardless of whether Pirlo was playing or not.

My hope for them is that Prandelli will allow his talent to play on the pitch next year, two strikers etc. I wonder what happened to Di Natale, he's still a fine player who scores all the time. Giovinco would have been another option today.

[Winterfell is Burning]

Uruguay's defense is far from solid, so I'd put Brazil as favorites against them.

[polishgenius]

My hope for them is that Prandelli will allow his talent to play on the pitch next year, two strikers etc.

I don't think they need to play two strikers, especially if El Shaarawi's fit. Have him and another player from the other side helping Balotelli with fullbacks providing the real width is fine. I think that to be at their best, they really need Pirlo, De Rossi and Montolivo all playing, I don't think any of them could really handle being in a two-man midfield nowadays.

[Calibandar]

Well I was considering El Shaarawi as one of the two strikers. He plays forward with Balotelli at Milan so if he plays forward enough in the national side, along with another player from the flank, then that could work as well; it would all be more offensive than what they did today to start with.

[polishgenius]

He plays forward with Balotelli at Milan

I'd say he's a forward, but not a striker. Rather like C.Ronaldo, Bale, and I'd say Neymar too really. He plays from the left and comes inside. I gather he can play behind a main striker too (and will almost certainly be doing so next season for Milan if he stays, coz the manager's reportedly been told he must switch back to a 4-3-1-2 formation with the arrival of Saponara) but his main position's on the left of a three.

It's gonna be a big season for him coz the second half of last was woeful in terms of goals, one scored after Balotelli arrived. There's various reasons for that one of which was simple fatigue (he'd been carrying them till then), but he'll need to learn to mesh with Balotelli whatever formation they play for Italy to do well at the WC.

Unless he leaves. Despite him just signing a massive new deal and been declared unsellable just a few months ago, the board seem to be almost inviting bids for him at the moment. Weirdly they seem particularly insistent that City are interested, despite there being no indication of that from City's end or anything. They may be angling for a player+cash swap with Dzeko.

[Inigima]

/!\ DC United have scored a goal /!\

[Winterfell is Burning]

/!\ DC United have scored a goal /!\

By your reaction, this seems unusual.

[Alex.]

That Brazil Italy game was proper grown up football. That's how it should be. Style, skillz, controlled aggression. That match showed why football is the best game in the world.

[Mr. X]

By your reaction, this seems unusual.

:lol:

This season, it is.

[Inigima]

/!\ DC United have won a game of association football /!\

[kairparavel]

There you are. I was wondering if maybe you were out tipping over cop cars and setting fires in trash bins.

[Real Heir of Bear Island]

Yeah, I'd fancy a full-strength Italy to do a lot better than that but even so, they've not looked great all tournament, especially defensively.

Plus the fact that they're so dependent on a man who will be 35 when the WC rolls around isn't hugely promising for them.

Uruguay v Brazil will be interesting, because although Uruguay appear to have no midfield whatsoever, they've got attackers who can obviously get things done. Though Cavani will be wanting to play better than he did against Nigeria.

Firstly, I need to get this off my chest. I am not one to complain after a loss but in my opinion Italy were robbed today. I am seriosuly angry at not only the officiating, but at the lack of the ESPN commentators to admit or even mention that Brasil's 1st and 4th goals were offside. Italy hit a post and had an obvious pnealty waived off. They could have easily one this game if not for hime team favoring.

With all that being said, I think we can and will beat Spain. Sure they beat us 4-0 in teh final, but we were depleted. Chiellini should nto have started as he was hurt, which is the only reason the first goal were scored. The other two were scored after we were down to ten men. It had nothing to do with Spain being superior as we almost beat them in teh group stages.

As far as Italy relying on Pirlo. They proved today that they don't need him. They went toe to toe with Brasil and were unlucky not to have gotten a draw. I must also point out that we have another year to develop Marco Veratti. We will take him to the WC, he will undertsudy Pirlo and will be able to tak his place as the team's top midfielder in time. Italy's good showing in the Undr 21's proves that we will have what it takes for a long time to come. If DeSciglio and ElShwarry played on the squad they would have probably won the tourney.

I really believe that Italy will beat Spain and get another shot at Brasil ,who will probably have to use more home team favor to beat Uraguay.

[Inigima]

There you are. I was wondering if maybe you were out tipping over cop cars and setting fires in trash bins.

If only. I had to miss the second half for family reasons.

[Mr. X]

If only. I had to miss the second half for family reasons.

I initially read this as meaning that due to familial obligations, you tipped over some cop cars but had to forgo starting trash bin fires.

[Inigima]

:lol: I like your interpretation better.

Holy shit, Dallas.

[baxus]

That was some awful refereeing, especially if he really blew. He must have been giving the penalty, surely?

he did give a penalty and the whistle was heard loud and clear.

on the replay, from one angle it is clear that the ref blew the whistle and was signaling for a penalty.

next second, the ball went in and the ref takes his penalty decision back.

awful game for the ref, from some 20-30 minutes i've seen.

[Bearbert Dondarrion]

Brazil may have some good players (like Oscar, Dante, etc), but they will be destroyed at the World Cup by better taams.... I predict the,m playing like Argentina in 2010, flying against the opposition until they met a serious opponents where they were demolished. Neymar is overrated as hell, Dani Alves may be good for attacking, but doesn't defend for the life of him. They certainly aren't favorites( really mind boggling how they are rated beforemGermany or Spain)... I even rate Belgium higher. Argentina will flip as usual. Like in the former two cups, the top three will be from Europe

[Calibandar]

Firstly, I need to get this off my chest. I am not one to complain after a loss but in my opinion Italy were robbed today. I am seriosuly angry at not only the officiating, but at the lack of the ESPN commentators to admit or even mention that Brasil's 1st and 4th goals were offside. Italy hit a post and had an obvious pnealty waived off. They could have easily one this game if not for hime team favoring.

Italy could have won, that is true, but it was not the refs that made them lose, but rather their defensive mind-set.

As far as Italy relying on Pirlo. They proved today that they don't need him. They went toe to toe with Brasil and were unlucky not to have gotten a draw. I must also point out that we have another year to develop Marco Veratti. We will take him to the WC, he will undertsudy Pirlo and will be able to tak his place as the team's top midfielder in time. Italy's good showing in the Undr 21's proves that we will have what it takes for a long time to come. If DeSciglio and ElShwarry played on the squad they would have probably won the tourney.

I don't think Italy proved that they can do without Pirlo. Fortunately for them, they won't need to as Pirlo intends to stick around for a while and shows no serious signs of slowing down.

Totally disagree with your assessment of the under 21 European championship. I saw Italy play Holland's under 21 in the semi final, and that was a very disappointing game from us, but were still better than Italy, several chances not converted, whereas Italy was in front of goal once and scored immediately ( Borini). That is a class of it's own kind, and something Italy are known for. But Spain's under 21 was by far the best team on that tournament and the addition of those two players would not have made Italy a "probable champion". Italy got hammered in the final just as everyone expected they would. What's scary is how the Spain national side can already fill two teams that could reach a quarter final at next year's World Cup, and how their youth team is the best in the world as well. On another note, I have yet to be convinced of Verrati's supposedly great talents.

[polishgenius]

Yeah, while Italy would have had a much better chance at the u21 Euros with all their elligible players (so those two and Balotelli, I wouldn't say they would 'probably have won'. Especially if in the interests of fairness you assume that Germany can also take all the elligible players from their first team. Which would be Draxler, Schurrle, Goetze, Gundogan, Kroos and Holtby.

And yeah, I don't think a scrappy toe-to-toe with Brazil really proves that Italy 'don't need Pirlo' either. The thing to remember is that Brazil are also not that good. A full strength Italy could probably have beaten them, but there are several teams I'd put ahead of both sides as far as ranking goes.

They are improving though, Italy. And Brazil, tbf.