Italy

Marvanelli said:
Joking?

They were average.

They were dominated by Spain in the semi's and even Austria outplayed them.

They had a large slice of luck on more than one occasion.

The history books will always say - Italy Euro 2020 winners and fair play to them. There's more than 1 way to skin a cat.

But they were miles from being the 'most impressive side' in the 2020 Euros.
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They were the most impressive in terms of defensive solidity and work rate, but not in terms of creativity and progressive football.

They were ultra competitive, but dull to watch, (like a Pulis team) and that is what got them over the line. What has caught up with them is that they fail to create and score enough. They were unbeaten in their qualifying group and along with Switzerland had THE BEST defence with just 2 goals conceded...they still drew 4 times and have now failed in play offs. They scored 13 goals in qualifying, but 7 were against Lithuania. So 6 goals in 6 games vs N Ireland, Switzerland, and Bulgaria is pretty poor.
 
BoroMart said:
They were the most impressive in terms of defensive solidity and work rate, but not in terms of creativity and progressive football.

They were ultra competitive, but dull to watch, (like a Pulis team) and that is what got them over the line. What has caught up with them is that they fail to create and score enough. They were unbeaten in their qualifying group and along with Switzerland had THE BEST defence with just 2 goals conceded...they still drew 4 times and have now failed in play offs. They scored 13 goals in qualifying, but 7 were against Lithuania. So 6 goals in 6 games vs N Ireland, Switzerland, and Bulgaria is pretty poor.
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Am I misremembering the Euros? I can’t believe what I’m reading here, Italy played some fantastic football, I remember saying at the time that it doesn’t feel like a typical Italian side to me because all of my life they had been defensive minded.
 
Marvanelli said:
Can't disagree with this.

I seem to remember reading a lot online when they won it, about how Italy just did what they needed to do.

They were impressive in their group, especially given the fact their group was one of the more difficult ones to get out of.

However, in the KO stages, they were far from convincing.

They struggled against Austria and needed ET.

Against Belgium they probably deserved their win but it wasn't a masterclass.

In the Semi's against Spain they were outclassed, outplayed, but Spain just simply didn't have a goal scorer who could put the game to bed. Spain did everything but score enough. Italy were fortunate for that game to go to penalties.

Then against us in the final, the first half they were poor and we should've put them out of sight. We didn't, they came back stronger in the second half, and managed to beat us on penalties.

Most impressive side at the Euros were Spain IMO. A lot of youth and they were coming into this tournament with a lot of ill feeling - with dropping Ramos etc. And they impressed me very much. Their youth were brilliant and on another day, they'd have breezed past Italy in the semi's and walked their way to that final.
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Agreed.

If that Spain side had a Torres, Villa, Morientes or Raul they would have won the Euros without breaking a sweat.

Morata is garbage.
 
It’s crazy, consecutive World Cups without Italy. Hard to understand how footballing superpowers like Italy, Holland, Argentina sometimes can make such a meal of qualifying.

I’m sure there’s a real example but imagine a young player making his Italy debut in 2014 after the WC aged 20. He wouldn’t play in a World Cup until he was 32, in 2026.

That’s a whole generation without a World Cup - they’ve got some brilliant players too.
 
jonny_greenings_sock said:
It’s crazy, consecutive World Cups without Italy. Hard to understand how footballing superpowers like Italy, Holland, Argentina sometimes can make such a meal of qualifying.

I’m sure there’s a real example but imagine a young player making his Italy debut in 2014 after the WC aged 20. He wouldn’t play in a World Cup until he was 32, in 2026.

That’s a whole generation without a World Cup - they’ve got some brilliant players too.
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That's exactly the reasoning FIFA are pushing to try and hammer through a 2 year World Cup.

The real reason is obviously money though.
 
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