Hyped Italy, Pirlo, much of the Juve team - heading home at the group stage again

[Deleted member 22389]

The thing about the Italians cheating their way through games and to the latter stages of tournaments is that they are decent footballers to begin with. England haven't got any decent footballers to begin with, so adding craftyness isn't really a goer. What we need to concentrate on are things like ball retention and passing...

That's true. We think England are bad, Italy go out in the first round, like the last world cup is a bad deal for them, but somehow they still managed to get to the final of the European Championships where they got stuffed 4-0 by Spain. So even if Italy are going through a bad patch, it isn't that bad compared to England.

Wouldn't be surprised if the Italians get rotten tomatoes thrown at them when they get off that plane. England do need to rise to the same level as Italy in the future, because it's just the same old, same old every single tournament.

 

[maltaseagull]

The fact that there are Maltese Italian supporters is the most surprising feature of your post. I always thought they weren't very well disposed towards Italy.

Its about 45% V 45% with the rest being Brazil or whoever wins

 

[edna krabappel]

I'm really glad they've gone out. The biggest cheats in the game, who won the 2006 World Cup by unfair means, and had the brazen audacity to gloat about it. The tournament, and football in general, is richer without their further participation...

Though if you go back to 2002, they came up against South Korea, where they were on the receiving end of some very questionable decisions from the referee. That game has been flagged up as highly suspicious in a match fixing context (which FIFA obviously deny).

The ref from that game has since served time for trying to smuggle several kilos of heroin through JFK airport in New York. He had it stuffed in his underwear. Sounds like a supremely principled & honest chap.

 

[Gary Leeds]

The ref from that game has since served time for trying to smuggle several kilos of heroin through JFK airport in New York. He had it stuffed in his underwear. Sounds like a supremely principled & honest chap.

Edna, I'm surprised you missed the golden chance for the old 4 pounds of crack in the underwear joke

 

[edna krabappel]

Edna, I'm surprised you missed the golden chance for the old 4 pounds of crack in the underwear joke

My standards are slipping, I'm sorry