Saturday, November 24, 2007

Azzurri Debate: STILL have their Doubters !!!

The ANNOTICO Report

It seems that many Euros take the greatest delight in belittling Italy. The Azzurri were only begrudgingly accepted as World Cup Champs.

Then they were quick to dismiss Italy after their slow start in the Euro 2008 Championships. NOW despite Italy having "topped" the Group of Death (B), is NOT Seeded among the top four teams, and are relegated to the second pot !!!!!

But let's for the moment revisit the Euro 2008 Qualifiers:  Following the Azzurri's disastrous start to the Euro Championship campaign, which included a 1-1 draw at home to Lithuania and a 3-1 defeat in Paris to France, the foreign media had their knives sharpened.  

The English media looked at Italy's poor start and virtually branded them as a laughing stock. "How could a team like this win the World Cup?" was a common cry.

Of course England were setting the world alight at this time ”they had just thrashed the "mighty" Andorra 5-0, and earned an "heroic" 1-0 win in Macedonia."  

Did anyone notice that NOT one of the 5 teams in the the UK made the Euro 2008 Championships? Not England, Scotland, Ireland, North Ireland, or Wales.

Vedran Corluka of Croatia was an integral part of the team that picked up that famous 3-2 win over England, and the defender spoke about how England refused to take Croatia seriously. "England just got what they deserved because they were unbelievably arrogant" "It's a real pleasure to kick them out of the European Championships," "We came to Wembley as the first team in the group and were not treated correctly."

Adding insult was Croatia captain Niko Kovac, who has done the equivalent of kicking an English donkey while it is down by claiming that winning in Wembley was "very easy".

Fourteen months later who is laughing now?  

The Finalists are Group A; Poland 28, Portugal 27 Group B; Italy 29, France 26, Group C; Greece 31, Turkey 24, Group D; Czech Republic 29, Germany 27; Group E; Croatia 29, Russia, 24, Group F; Spain 28, Sweden 26 Group G; Romania 29, Netherlands 26

Regarding the just announced Rankings/Seedings, despite topping the "Group of Death" ahead of France, and their 2006 World Cup, the Azzurri are NOT among the Top Four Seeds, But are in the second pot for the Dec. 2 draw. Co- hosts Austria and Switzerland, Euro 2004 winners Greece and the Netherlands are the four top seeds.

"It's useless to make a fuss about it," Italian coach Donadoni said. "We will see the draw and then make assessments."

Azzurri Debate: Not The World Champions For Nothing

Italy completed their qualification campaign with a comfortable 3-1 win over the Faroe Islands in Modena last night.                                           

Did Azzurri prove all their doubters wrong?

Goal.com

Carlo Garganese

November 22, 2007

It sounds like a bit of an old clichi but during this Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, Italy well and truly proved that they are not the World Champions for nothing.  

Following the Azzurri?s disastrous start to the campaign, which included a 1-1 draw at home to Lithuania and a 3-1 defeat in Paris to France, the Italian and foreign media had their knives sharpened.  

As someone who lives in England, and who also has a passion for the English game, I can give you a first-hand account of what the so-called experts were saying over here.  

The English media looked at Italy?s poor start and virtually branded them as a laughing stock. ?How could a team like this win the World Cup?? was a common cry.

Of course England were setting the world alight at this time ? they had just thrashed the ?mighty? Andorra 5-0, and earned an ?heroic? 1-0 win in Macedonia.  

Fourteen months or so down the line who is laughing now?  

Italy have just gone on a magnificent run of nine wins and a draw from ten games to finish top of a group that included World Cup finalists France, World Cup quarter-finalists Ukraine, and one of Europe?s rising forces Scotland.  

Meanwhile England displayed their innate lack of technical, tactical and managerial qualities to finish joint-third with Israel in probably the weakest of all the qualifying groups.  

Indeed when the veteran BBC commentator John Motson is saying with five minutes to go of England-Croatia that ?we need Andorra to do us a favour against the Russians? you realise how desperately pathetic things have become.  

If there is one thing that we have learnt from this qualifying campaign, it is that you should never write off the Italians. Indeed by doing so, as was the case in last summer?s World Cup and during the 1982 triumph, you only succeed in getting the best out of them.  

Roberto Donadoni, like the now ex-England boss Steve McClaren, was subject to some vicious abuse from supporters and the media. While the criticism for "Macky Mouse" was deserved, this most certainly was not the case for Donadoni.  

As I wrote in an article a few days ago, the ex-Livorno boss has done a magnificent job, especially when you consider the huge number of handicaps he has had to deal with - the Totti/Nesta saga, taking over from a legend like Marcello Lippi, the difficulty of the qualifying group e.t.c.  

Italy proved that their World Cup triumph in Germany was no fluke - it was fully deserved. The Azzurri were the best team in the world then, and it is still difficult to find a better international team around now.  

Believe you me it will take one hell of an effort for a team to beat Italy in Austria and Switzerland.  

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=489514

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