Where's Forza?

[PeteCalvin]

Is he heavily intoxicated?

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Is he heavily intoxicated?

At my daughter's lax tourney all day.

DVR'd game and just watched it.

Survive and get the points.

England had one weapon: Sturridge.

Need De Sciglio back. Chiellini gave them nothing down the left flank and could not recover. Prandelli should have had him play further back from the start. He stayed back in the second half and needed to because Sturridge was a menace.

Amazing how easily they were able to break England down considering they could only attack down the right flank.

Did not like Verratti and Pirlo together.

Huge for England that Uruguay lost.

 

[ImperialOrange]

England is a classic case of the whole equaling well less than the sum of their parts. Sturridge played well and I thought Sterling did as well considering he's 19 and in his first world cup. Not sure what the phenomenon was with England's inability to cross from the right side but it was both comedy and sad. Rooney hit that cross for Sturro's goal but he was a collection of missed chances aside from that. Joe Hart is also not a good keeper.

I like this Italian group which is unlike some recent iterations and not full of big name prima donnas. They play well as a team and compliment one other well. For his part their keeper played excellent. I thought Sterlings early side netting strike was in the back of the net but he did well to save Henderson's 25 yarder that he didn't see until it was maybe 15 yards out.

It was a good match to watch as a neutral fan and I thought perhaps this would be the first draw of the tourney at kick off.

 

[CanadianSU]

At my daughter's lax tourney all day.

DVR'd game and just watched it.

Survive and get the points.

England had one weapon: Sturridge.

Need De Sciglio back. Chiellini gave them nothing down the left flank and could not recover. Prandelli should have had him play further back from the start. He stayed back in the second half and needed to because Sturridge was a menace.

Amazing how easily they were able to break England down considering they could only attack down the right flank.

Did not like Verratti and Pirlo together.

Huge for England that Uruguay lost.

Congrats. I thought Sterling played very well, like Sturridge. Rooney sucked

 

[CanadianSU]

...also England needs some bigger players, height wise. They lost a lot of balls in the air it seemed.

This Japan team plays exciting btw!

 

[PeteCalvin]

...also England needs some bigger players, height wise. They lost a lot of balls in the air it seemed.

This Japan team plays exciting btw!

Japan is small in stature across the board, but they are fast and precise and always tough. My son bet me that Ivory Coast would score first. I took that bet and told him Japan is more dangerous than they look. About 5 minutes later Honda delivers a left-footed bullet to the twine. Dad wins!!!

 

[PeteCalvin]

Japan is small in stature across the board, but they are fast and precise and always tough. My son bet me that Ivory Coast would score first. I took that bet and told him Japan is more dangerous than they look. About 5 minutes later Honda delivers a left-footed bullet to the twine. Dad wins!!!

And The Coast pulls even!!! Great header!

 

[PeteCalvin]

And another!!

 

[longislandcuse]

Coincidence that Ivory Coast takes over once Drogba comes in?

 

[PeteCalvin]

Coincidence that Ivory Coast takes over once Drogba comes in?

Maybe, but it was only a matter if time. CIV is the superior team in term of athleticism. This was a bad match-up for Japan. They usually give Euro teams fits. They can't hang with the African teams in a 90-minute game.

 

[Noexcuse]

At my daughter's lax tourney all day.

DVR'd game and just watched it.

Survive and get the points.

England had one weapon: Sturridge.

Need De Sciglio back. Chiellini gave them nothing down the left flank and could not recover. Prandelli should have had him play further back from the start. He stayed back in the second half and needed to because Sturridge was a menace.

Amazing how easily they were able to break England down considering they could only attack down the right flank.

Did not like Verratti and Pirlo together.

Huge for England that Uruguay lost.

Agree on De Sciglio. Hopefully he can make it back and Chellini can move Paletta out of the middle. I think they have finally found Zambrotta's replacement in Darmian. I thought he had a great game and linked up well with Candreva who also had a great game. I liked the Pirlo Verratti tandem. It gave Pirlo an opportunity to play farther forward than he normally does and not have to work as hard on defense. Italy controlled the midfield for most of the game and looked fresher at the end. Rooney missed a great chance for the equalizer midway through the 2nd half. Feel bad for him, but there's still time for him to make his mark. Sterling is exciting and thought he had that goal at the beginning. England has a bounty of young forwards. Unfortunately you can't play them all at the same time.

 

[Bortukal]

England looks just a mess. Can't understand how year after year their back line and keepers are so bad.

Watching the Colombia game on DVR now and ... yikes! I want no part of them. As if their skill level and savvy weren't daunting enough, the entire country crammed into the stands. Brazil v. Colombia in this tournament would be unreal. It may also spark a continental war.

 

[PeteCalvin]

England looks just a mess. Can't understand how year after year their back line and keepers are so bad.

Watching the Colombia game on DVR now and ... yikes! I want no part of them. As if their skill level and savvy weren't daunting enough, the entire country crammed into the stands. Brazil v. Colombia in this tournament would be unreal. It may also spark a continental war.

C'mon...Carlos Valderamma isn't walking through that tunnel.

If he and Troy Palamalu (sp?) we're in the same room together, would the universe collapse in on itself?

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Agree on De Sciglio. Hopefully he can make it back and Chellini can move Paletta out of the middle. I think they have finally found Zambrotta's replacement in Darmian. I thought he had a great game and linked up well with Candreva who also had a great game. I liked the Pirlo Verratti tandem. It gave Pirlo an opportunity to play farther forward than he normally does and not have to work as hard on defense. Italy controlled the midfield for most of the game and looked fresher at the end. Rooney missed a great chance for the equalizer midway through the 2nd half. Feel bad for him, but there's still time for him to make his mark. Sterling is exciting and thought he had that goal at the beginning. England has a bounty of young forwards. Unfortunately you can't play them all at the same time.

Yup. Chiellini back to the middle and Paletta back to the bench.

The thing I don't like about Pirlo-Verratti is that neither plays a lick of defense. And since Barzagli and Chiellini will never make me forget Cannavaro and Nesta, I think you need more bite defensively. De Rossi is also getting older and does not have the mobility he once did.

And De Rossi is not Beckerman. If they are man-marking Pirlo, De Rossi is more than capable of initiating the offense from his d-mid spot.

Now, to go in the other direction, if Prandelli thinks he can live with the defensive deficiencies, I'd prefer Cassano over Veratti.

But, they did win so it is tough to argue against his choices.

Love Prandelli. Loved him at Fiorentina (my team) and think he is a really good coach.

Completely agree about Darmian. Zambrotta's marauding runs were so key in 2006, as were Grosso's on the other side.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Did the Italians name Wayne Rooney MOTM for the first game?

 

[Noexcuse]

Did the Italians name Wayne Rooney MOTM for the first game?

Yup. Chiellini back to the middle and Paletta back to the bench.

The thing I don't like about Pirlo-Verratti is that neither plays a lick of defense. And since Barzagli and Chiellini will never make me forget Cannavaro and Nesta, I think you need more bite defensively. De Rossi is also getting older and does not have the mobility he once did.

And De Rossi is not Beckerman. If they are man-marking Pirlo, De Rossi is more than capable of initiating the offense from his d-mid spot.

Now, to go in the other direction, if Prandelli thinks he can live with the defensive deficiencies, I'd prefer Cassano over Veratti.

But, they did win so it is tough to argue against his choices.

Love Prandelli. Loved him at Fiorentina (my team) and think he is a really good coach.

Completely agree about Darmian. Zambrotta's marauding runs were so key in 2006, as were Grosso's on the other side.

Good points. I was a little disappointed in De Rossi to be honest, but age is a factor and like you say he's being called on to play more of a sweeper type of role. I think Prandelli mixes it up a little in the next game, probably partnering up Balo with Cassano and sitting Veratti allowing Pirlo to play a deeper role and De Rossi to move farther up the pitch. One thing about the Italians, they play a tactical game and try to match the formation to their opponents strengths and weaknesses.

Really looking forward to U.S. Ghana today. I think the U.S. makes a statement. Also, it will be interesting to see how fit Ronaldo is in the game against Germany. He says he's 100% but he was whining all week in the lead up, so I have my doubts.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Really looking forward to U.S. Ghana today. I think the U.S. makes a statement. Also, it will be interesting to see how fit Ronaldo is in the game against Germany. He says he's 100% but he was whining all week in the lead up, so I have my doubts.

I think he's fine but realizes they aren't going to do much thus he's giving himself an out for when they lose.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Good points. I was a little disappointed in De Rossi to be honest, but age is a factor and like you say he's being called on to play more of a sweeper type of role. I think Prandelli mixes it up a little in the next game, probably partnering up Balo with Cassano and sitting Veratti allowing Pirlo to play a deeper role and De Rossi to move farther up the pitch. One thing about the Italians, they play a tactical game and try to match the formation to their opponents strengths and weaknesses.

Really looking forward to U.S. Ghana today. I think the U.S. makes a statement. Also, it will be interesting to see how fit Ronaldo is in the game against Germany. He says he's 100% but he was whining all week in the lead up, so I have my doubts.

Yup. I will be very interested to see what Prandelli will do.

One thing that has happened with Prandelli is that Italy has finally come into the 21st century. The World Cup is as much a war of attrition as anything else.

Anyone who has watched the Italians compete in major tournament has seen them run out of gas in almost all of them:

2002 to the South Koreans
2006. I know we won but they were hanging on by their fingernails at the end. Even with only 10 men, the French were dominating.
2012 - Hammered by Spain in the final

He acknowledged during the training camp that his selection of the 23 was going to be based as much on fitness and recovery ability as it was on technical ability. This is new territory for the Italians.

There is no way Pirlo can go 90 minutes for 7 straight games. Prandelli is going to have to use the deep bench he has to rotate guys and keep them fresh while still producing results.

A win over Costa Rica and a tie between England and Uruguay would be very helpful in that respect.

I agree on Ghana. I think the US team can now compete with anyone other than the top few teams. W can definitely beat them and should not have to rely on bunker and counter to do so. Doesn't mean we will as I think the two teams are evenly matched but it means that we can. Looking forward to it...

 

[CanadianSU]

good luck tonight guys! ill be at my friends house (from ghana) so I can't cheer for you.

 

[rrlbees]

good luck tonight guys! ill be at my friends house (from ghana) so I can't cheer for you.

What time does Canada play?