Game day is finally upon us ! Italy face England in their first group game of the World Cup with Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli, Claudio Marchisio and Andrea Pirlo all expected to feature from the start.
Earlier reports from the Italia camp suggest Gianluigi Buffon may sit out the opening game against England due to an ankle sprain:
The Azzurri captain, a key member of the triumphant side of 2006, was absent from his scheduled appearance at the pre-match news conference at the Arena Amazonia.
Antonio Candreva instead sat alongside head coach Cesare Prandelli, who confirmed Buffon had picked up an ankle knock during training on the eve of the Group D clash.
“He twisted his ankle very lightly,” Prandelli said of the 36-year-old Juventus man. “It was a very, very light ankle twist. He is receiving therapy at the moment, but it is nothing serious.”
[ From ESPN ]
UPDATE: Buffon will miss the England game. Salvatore Sirigu will start.
It’s the latest in a series of injury blows for the Azzurri who are already missing Riccardo Montolivo (out of the World Cup) and fullback Mattia De Sciglio (out with a calf problem); Losing Buffon however, is a different prospect altogether.
England are without Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who has trained despite suffering medial knee ligament damage against Ecuador and the progress he has made has convinced Hodgson to keep him as part of the group.
Lineups:
If Buffon is out, Prandelli would likely turn to Salvatore Sirigu to take his place between the sticks. In defence, Chiellini will revert to his former role at left-back, while Barzagli and Paletta will be preferred in the centre and youngster Matteo Darmian starting at right back.
Danielle De Rossi will probably sit in front of the back four with Pirlo, Verratti, Marchisio and Candreva playing just in front while Mario Balotelli will be the sole striker.
England will likely play a 4-2-3-1 formation with Hart in goal and a back line of Johnson, Cahill, Jagiekla and Baines. Gerrard and Henderson will resume their Liverpool link-up in midfield.
Rooney will likely play just behind Sturridge with Lallana and Welbeck on the wings.
Injuries:
England: Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee)
Italy: De Sciglio (calf), Buffon (Possible ankle sprain)
Confirmed Formations:
Italy
[team1]
England
[team2]
First and Buffon is injured 🙁
Yeah hope it isn’t anything bad.. Prandelli didn’t seem so worried about it. Please get better Gigi 🙁
Its a sprained ankle, Siri has a bruised rib too.
Yup it’s official now that he wont play. Sirigu might play but like you say, he’s not fit either. If not, we’ll be seeing Perin in Italy. All 3 are great goalkeepers so i’m not that worried about it, but yeah obviously i wanna see Buffon. And how will it effect Juve? Last time he was out for like a year..
But didn’t he pinch a nerve in his back last time?
STRINGIAMCI A COORTE
SIAM PRONTI ALLA MORTE
SIAM PRONTI ALLA MORTE
L’ITALIA CHIAMO! SI!
from before our 2006 triumph!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADXdf-vZa5Y
Italy XI: Sirigu; Chiellini, Barzagli, Paletta, Darmian; De Rossi; Verratti, Pirlo, Marchisio; Candreva; Balotelli.
England XI Hart, Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines, Gerrard, Henderson, Welbeck, Sterling, Rooney, Sturridge.
WTF. Chiello LB, Barzagli LCB, Paletta starting?!!?
I see you like to live dangerously Prandelli.
Trust in Prandelli 😉
Well hes a crazy son of a bitch but he did it. I think I’d rather play Bonucci over Paletta but everything else looked good
So 4-1-3-1-1? Seems kinda odd.
Next suprise: Uruguay – Costa Rica 1-3. 5 more min to play. This is great for Italy. One contender possibly gone for the 2 top spots. Be cautious of Costa Rica though.
My friend, netherlands still have 2 games left too.
And?
DAI ITALIA!!!!!!!!
Im already loving Verratti
Ok, Paletta is making me nervous. I woukd take him off for Immobile, put De Rossi at Cb, play Marchisio behind the two brillinant passers and Candreva behind the strikers
I kind of agree, it’s great to have De Rossi in the defence, but i also like him a bit higher up the field.
PRIIIIIINNNCIIIPIIIINO!!!!!!!
CLAUDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Marchisio ♥
Too bad. Stupid dancer ffs
Paletta is fucking terrible
A voice in my head keeps saying: *Bonucci* *Bonucci* * Bonucci*. Hopefully Prandelli has that same voice..
That would be risky. Bonucci has trouble with pacey players and sterling is definitely pacey. De Rossi we be the best solution and Marchisio would do perfectly behind the beard and mini magician
De Rossi would be good too. Maybe i am looking too much from a Juve point of view. I really want Bonucci to get world cup experience. Would help Juve big time in the CL.
yeah … why the fuck did paletta start before bonucci?
No clue. As far as i know Bonucci always had a pretty decent performance with Italy, while Paletta isn’t even Italian and only just joined the team.
he fuckin sucked today … and sorry, chiellini was not good either. he’s a major liability out there.
You’re right. Chiellini was horrible. Lost alot of balls and was 5 meters behind Sturridge when he scored.
Balotelli’s shot was brilliant. That deserved a goal.
Anyone got a good stream?
You can try, but it will probably be region locked. Isn’t it on tv for you?
https://nos.nl/wk2014/wedstrijd/1658224_engeland-italie.html
Or this one, not region locked, in dutch though
https://stvstreams.com/
Thanks, its on univision but its like 2min late.
univision?
A damn mexican channel
Ah Mexicano. Well Mexico is participating too :p
beggars can’t be choosers, and since I have no cable either I can’t be a chooser. GO UNIVISION.
I dont have cable either… My neighbor allows me to steal his 🙂
oh…hahaha hadn’t seen this.
Oh didn’t see that you didn’t see this hahaha
Espn yo
I got no cable provider 🙁
Isn’t there like a national tv showing this? Damn America needs to show more football. Our national tv channel is showing every single game and for people with no tv it’s on that nos.nl site i gave for free.
its on espn, which is our national sports broadcaster.
Yeah but seems like not everyone can get espn? Don’t they show it on their site for free?
In Canada we get every game. plus they stream it for free here too.
dude, if you are here in the US than watch them on UNIVISION. The spanish channel. You don’t need cable. Just antenna and converter box if your tv is older. They will show all the games there.
That’s what I do, but it’s 2min late (yes I know I’m picky)
Streams tend to be that late too lol
Not really, I did I time check comparison between the 2 using a live update app and the stream was actually on point while univision was like i suspected 2min late.
Hm normal streams are like that. I like to watch on sopcast, which offers better quality but is always 1 or 2 minutes behind. I’d pick quality anytime though. It’s alot more fun watching when you can actually see whats going on at any time. Just don’t refresh this page during matches on univision.
Yeah, it sucks because I get notifications on my phone before I even see the goal lol
Don’t check your phone during the match lol…
Easier said than done dude 🙂
Addict! Put it in a closet, lock the closet, throw the key into the sea right before the match starts and dive into the sea after the match. Easy, right..
Im enjoying Veratti and Pirlo orchestrate, but we need someone to slot in the central part of the final third.
Verratti is playing really good. i’m liking this duo aswell. I also like how Verratti intercepted one pass that was headed to Pirlo. The young one taking balls from the maestro.
Veratti is awesome. Hes such a composed player and his passing is unworldly. Its almost impossible to win back the ball when hes on the ball
Don’t forget to mention he gives 200% for every ball. Even in this heat.
Verratti* 😉
Bonucci should come in for Paletta
MARIO
BALOTELLI!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SUPER
I feel foolish for praising Paletta so much
i thought he was awful.
He was…
He really needs to shave his head. That bald spot has gotten too obvious.
Told you..
If we were to sell Pogba, i want to get Balotelli. We can play MVP with Balotelli up front. He loves Marchisio and him and Pirlo work great together too.
Im sure we couls get him for 25 mill. It doesnt seem that Milans management is right in the head
That would be a fair price for todays time. Balotelli hasn’t been the greatest at Milan, so they won’t get the jackpot for him. And yeah they are nuts.
we should sell pogba and buy balotelli, verratti and darmian with the funds …. would you do it?
In a blink an eye i would do that
We would sell one of the biggest talents in the world and we would get another one of the biggest talents in Verratti, a player who is proving himself in this world cup in Darmian and in potential one of the best strikers in the world. This might almost equal the Zidane deal.
Man fuck Balotelli. He’s seriously the most overrated player… It really pisses me off that people think he’s Italy’s player of the tournament.
All game yesterday all he would do is stand in the attack and wait for the ball to come to him. That’s all he does. And the worst part is that commentators called him the hero of the night after scoring the winning goal. I’m starting to hate the amount of attention he’s getting for such small effort.
Immobile > Balotelli any day every day. Even when the whole team was defending at the last 20 minutes yesterday Immobile made some chances for himself and was running around pressuring Cahill and Jagielka.
If Immobile is 20m, Balotelli is 15m.
Balotelli scored, what did Immobile do? Am i that lame? yes i am that lame because it’s the truth.
Balotelli does what he’s meant to be doing and that’s scoring. It worked, didn’t it? Why would he run up and down the field if he needs his energy in attack? Especially in yesterdays heat, he would be too tired to do anything if he has to track back every time.
I don’t think anyone called him the player of the tournament yet, as the tournament is just 1 game in. So far he has won the 3 points for Italy. Like i said, Marchisio plays his best football with Balotelli in the team. Strange, but true. I haven’t seen him this good in a long time at Juve. And same goes for Balotelli himself. He pretty much always performs at Italy, while he flops at City and Milan.
https://www.goal.com/en/news/3790/world-cup-2014/2014/06/15/4881639/its-always-him-balotelli-proves-he-is-italys-main-man?ICID=HP_FT_4
Commentators, writers, and players call him “Italy’s main man”.
Balotelli scores the minimum he can. Just because he scored doesn’t mean that’s the most we can get from that position. He doesn’t do anything to pressure their defenders. He’s the minimum a good striker can be. I agree he’s one of the best, but he is not worth the hype given for him.
Balotelli also played 50 minutes more than Immobile, when Italy were still attacking. Immobile barely got any passes because we were holding the score.
Goal.com……………… Anyone who calls him Italy’s player of the tournament already is a moron. Goal.com is known to be morons so that sums it up.
About the 2nd part, maybe i misunderstand, but aren’t you kinda saying the opposite of what you already said? You said he’s the minimum of what a good striker can be and in the next sentence he’s on of the best??
Balotelli hasn’t proven himself the way people rate him as, that’s true, but he has proven he can be that good. He just needs to drop the childish attitude and become a real professional. He is more mature at Italy and that’s probably Prandelli’s work. Something Conte can do aswell. I do agree Balotelli does minimum effort for the team, but he’s not meant to make the play. There are other players to do that and Balotelli’s sole job is to score. If he does that, he does his job right and that makes him imo the player Juve needs. We have plenty of players who can make a good play and deliver balls to the striker, we just need someone who can be deadly in front of goal. Deadlier than Tevez.
I meant he’s the minimum a world class striker can be. That means that he’s right in between world class and just good.
That means he just need that little push to being world class. Conte can work magic. I just wanna see if Balotelli can make that final step and if Conte can get him to do that. If i was Juve i would pay money to see that. You gotta experiment to get something good.
I actually doubt you ever watch balotelli play.. He is an awesome striker and twice the player immobile is
I watch him with Milan and most of Italy’s games. He flopped miserably for Milan this season. The only reason he’s considered good for Italy is because of that Germany game. I don’t think you recall all the criticism he got back in Euro 2012 because of how many chances he was wasting. The germany game made people forget.
Since when has scoring 14 and getting 6 assists in 25 games been considered flopping miserably? Even if this has been considered a slow season for him then that surely just shows how amazing of a player he can be. He played well for the majority of the euros in 2012 and since then has been fantastic for us.
Pirlo showed his absolute class in the end. That free kick, giving his all…
PO PO PO PO PO PO!!!! AZZURRI!!!!
We should sell isla and sign darmian
I wouldnt mind that
I actually heard a while ago we were looking to sign him
So im guessing this will be the world cup discussion thread?
😀
Oh Japan…
Our whole midfield was perfect yesterday. Verratti served as the second playmaker, doing what Pirlo can’t. Marchisio was everywhere intercepting balls, giving beautiful passes, taking good shots. De Rossi was giving these crazy killer passes. He deserved a few assists if we had better finishing. And Pirlo, well Pirlo is always perfect. Our midfield is probably the best in the WC IMO.
Our defense is shaky and doesn’t look cooperative. I think Prandelli should either play the Juve defense together or don’t play Chiellini because he needs Bonucci and Barzagli together with him. Or Prandelli can play him in CB rather than LB.
Oh and I think Uruguay can kick England out of the groups 😀 I really hope they do. If they win against Uruguay and we win against Costa Rica then I’m sure Prandelli will rest our players and I wouldn’t mind losing against Uruguay just for England to get kicked out. This England team is so arrogant and it would finally shut the British media up.
Uruguay would have to get their shit together. England didn’t play so bad yesterday and gave Italy a run for their money for a while. Also don’t forget the heat in manaus which England is totally not used to, less than Italy is. Uruguay played TERRIBLE against Costa Rica and if they don’t start playing like they can, they will end up with 0 points.
I hope Italy and Costa Rica are the two who go through, would be awesome to see
I’m with you on that. I liked the way Costa Rica played yesterday.
Yeah haha I would love if Uruguay and England tie. Costa could make it
Also Italy played in the Confed Cup last year and had a glimpse of what this summer would be like. A major advantage of making it to Euro finals.
True.
This england team is not arrogant, you know nothing about the players. The english media and fans are pompous idiots though. Even after they are outplayed, out passed, out scored, and out classed, english fans have the audacity to say they should have won to me.
That said, England played very well. Sterling was explosive little shit. Sturridge was very good too. I think Uruguay will really have to want it to beat them. But i think that game ends 2-2 or 3-3
Costa rica will lose to Italy, then tie with england, and advance. Will be the first CONCACAF team to advance to knockouts.
Also Prandelli would never play to get another team knocked out. The priorities are Italy. He may bench a few starters to prevent injury and save energy, but it wouldnt be to let uruguay win or to get england out. He would want his subs to win that fucking game. Why wouldnt he? He needs to be able to depend on everyone on the squad. If he wouldnt play them to play to win he wouldnt have brought the player.
Rooney said England has surpassed Italy by far. But yeah thats Rooney. Sturridge annoyed the heck outta me with that stupid little dance of his though.
As Dutch said Rooney is arrogant.. Gerrard said England were better too.. Joe hart is arrogant head to toe however on the whole i wouldn’t say the England team are arrogant. You obviously know nothing about the fans though as they are just about as pessimistic as Italy fans. The media has been unusually pessimistic in the lead up to the World Cup too however as per they go all out ‘England are the best’ as soon as it starts but let’s face it.. Thats what sells the papers, nobody wants to read pessimism, they want a bit of (false) hope
Maybe to the english it will sell papers. But why would I care about selling english papers? They have their heads up their own asses. Winning is so far out of distant for them, that they forget what it takes. You dont hope to win. Hope leads to nothing. You have to fight and grit your ass to the ground and say I will do what it takes to win this game. When you hope to win you are not prepared. When you say to yourself, I have prepared and will do everything I know that it takes to win. And I will win if I do what I need to do. If not, I will learn what I need to do to win next time. That is a winning attitude.
I hoped Holland would beat Spain and they did
I wasnt talking from a fans perspective.
Yes but that’s what we were talking about when we mentioned hope, I doubt any player goes into a match with nothing but hope..
Hope leads to effort, effort leads to the will to win, will to win leads to power, power leads to the world cup title.
The way of the jedi, my friend.
Lol solid reference but no content to what you said.
What i mean to say is what Marc said. No player goes into a match without hope. And actually, hope leading to effort and will to win is true. Will to win doesn’t always lead to glory, but look at Atletico Madrid this year in the CL, they got very far with the effort they gave. Beating the tiki taka shit from Barcelona by force.
Hope does not lead to effort. There is a lot of dissonance between the two. You have to make an actual connection or it makes no sense.
Hope leads to belief, belief leads to actually bothering, actually bothering leads to increased effort.. And there is a simple connection that was easy to see
What he said.
This is hilarious. You should put this on a poster. Fuckin hilarious.
Serious question, do any of you guys support yourself? I would have believed when i was 13.
I should and probably will
Support yourself? Why not?
Should always support yourself to do well! lol
Obviously XD
By support yourself I meant live on your own and pay your own bills. Hope doesnt lead to any of this shit in the real world.
No i don’t. That’s due to me having trouble finding work, so yeah.
:/ world is a shitty place right now. Thats why you gotta be smart and figure it out. Hoping something will happen is lazy victim status. Figuring it out and doing what it takes is the act of a man. Be a man.
When did this discussion turn into you telling me to be a man? :/ It has to do with mental things i aint gonna explain here. Lets just say the places i did try didn’t think i was good enough and took someone else over me. Other places took people who are younger than me(23) because it costs them less money.
I’ve started 2 companies and since sold them and made a nice amount of money to live off of. Now I am following my dream to be a professional golfer. Im 24.
You can do it mate. If you cant join em, beat em.
Yeah i aint gonna be able to start a company. I can tell you without even trying. Every person is alot different, you know. Becoming a professional golfer is pretty cool though. It would be a dream of mine to do something in the sports world. I’m still thinking of looking into that. Always been pretty good at the sports i used to play.
Do it! If you value your life, then you must know that time is the only thing you can never get more of. Never waste time.
Anything in particular youre into? Marketing new boots? designing new boots? designing kits? coaching? organizing matches? commentating matches?
I know that. Before you know it, it’s over. Gotta make the best of it.
I’m not into creative things like that. I hate most of the boots players wear nowadays anyway. Way too flashy. Commentating matches would be fun, but thats not something i can reach in the upcoming years.
I recently found out my mom didn’t throw away my skateboard, which she told me she did for the past 10 years. I’m really thinking of picking that back up as i was pretty good at it when i skated as a kid.
My other passion is music. I’ve been thinking of buying a guitar and trying it out. It’s mostly to have something fun to do, but you never know. Maybe i’ll create the next Nirvana :p
Nice nice. Just do you and listen to yourself. The subconscious can be very helpful if you pay attention to it and think about everything.
It starts with belief Dutch. Belief is more than just a word, its a source of power
Well I don’t think the english papers give 2 sh*ts about your opinion tbh. I don’t think anyone aside from Rooney actually thinks they have a chance of winning the World Cup and his plan is just to steal it (he’s from Liverpool after all). I have no idea why you’re talking about hope and your theory on a winning attitude.. The hope for the fans, not the players.. I doubt they read the papers over in brazil.
Rooney might read them just to check if his bullshit talks are in it. But wait, Rooney from Liverpool?
Hahah Rooney can’t read! Yeah.. From Liverpool
He’s born in Liverpool or what
Yes.. Even started his career at Everton
So defensive about the english marc.. I think the english culture is all the same. Pompous bastards that contribute nothing to anything. Except for ask for help.
Well that just shows how ignorant you are.. Moronic too.
My comment was mostly trolling for more anger. I mean of course the english paper doesnt care about my opinion, Im posting to you not them. You are just being too obtuse to realize what I was saying.
Lol of course.. Way to back track on your dumb set of comments. ‘Trolling for anger’ So what you’re saying is you are moronic? Got it.
Naw, again youre being obtuse. You’re comment turned it from being a discussion about our opinions. So I made a ridiculous statement to retort your destruction of rapport.
Moronic. Got it.
K man either troll on or enjoy your bubble. Either way Im going to let bygones be bygones and let it go.
Now you’re being obtuse!
English culture is actually pretty cool. It’s a nice country that i would love to visit sometime too.
Theres parts of it that are awesome. And as a whole its not as vain and insatiable as American culture. But, from what I have seen, English (mainly London) culture is very similar. Of course there are exceptions, but in every microcosm of society there are extremes found at every end.
London is not a good place to judge England on, its full of tossers.
I would say none of the cities are right to judge England on. The villages and landscapes are the best thing of England i think.
Yeah some of the little villages are beautiful
I love scotland when I was there. Most people i met were great. But its that constant nose-up air of “we are better than everyone else” that you feel everywhere in southern england. I hated it. Almost as bad as Los Angelos.
Parts of Scotland are nice, Edinburgh is one of the nicest cities I’ve been to but most of southern England is lovely however as with all places there are tossers
That attitude stinks. I think it depends though. There are some great people in england too, obviously. I did hear LA is one of the worst places when it comes to people on multiple ocassions.
Yeah. Its pretty shitty and is turning many parts of america into cesspools. And ofc england has great people. Theres great people everywhere.
California overall is just an unfriendly shit Place. I think its one of the most friendly state in the usa
LOL france play today. ESPN just showed the video of their coach walking off their training and throwing his badge and stomping off. Then the 5 players getting suspended. Oh 2010.. What a shit world cup.
Pogboom gonna put a couple in today boys.
Not a shit world cup :/
You’re right.. Beyond sh*t doesn’t even count as a World Cup really
There are no shit world cups. They are always fun.
Its shit when the team you love and support does shit and the team you hate with a passion wins it…
Plus the overall quality in 2010 was just putrid and all the controversy surrounding it made it all the worst.
Holland did shit in euro 2012 and spain won it, but i still enjoyed it. World cup is even more fun, so yeah, there are no shit world cups.
It’s just something special. Something different from everything else. The whole world watches it and the whole world cares and stuff. The country it’s held in is upside down during the whole world cup. That makes it fun.
Those are really great points… But i still loathe the 2010 WC. I cant recall any match i enjoyed.
Hey when i said shit world cup I meant from the stand point for france. Their team mutinied, they were left for dry and played horrible. It actually led to a recession in soccer in france.
Watching diego forlan and nederlands have great worldcups was exciting and fun. van bronkhorst’s goal from 38 meters will be remembered forever.
There were 11 goals in 9 games in 2010. Theres been 27 in 8 games this year.
And look at the finalists. 2 teams that had never won it before. It was a backwards world cup.
This world cup is better than the last indeed, but obviously as a dutchman i enjoyed 2010 alot. And Africa was a great country to host it at.
Africa is a continent.
Sigh, South Africa.
When i grow older i will be stronger. Just like a wavin flag.
Great WC song and enviroment, but shit play.
By Italy, yes. There were some great plays and goals though. We even discovered a new world class goalkeeper in Suarez. But yeah the people of South Africa made it as fun as it was.
Waving flag was played on the radio for so long because Holland got to the finals.
By all teams in general.. Italy especially say for the final 45minutes of their tournament
At least Italy won their first WC game since 2006 WC final yesterday.
Italy in 2010 was almost like their 2006 squad, just 4 years older. They have done a great job getting new and younger players into the team and are imo now one of the contenders for winning the world cup. Winning the first WC game since 2006 shouldn’t mean alot since it’s 8 years in between.
Except for no Del Piero, Totti. It was just poor poor years for Italy. Post WC 2006 to 2011 are pretty dark days I have tried to push deep into my brain and forget about.
We had decent players available for the 2010WC lippi just didn’t call them up, too much faith in the old guard
Agreed. It was all sorts of meh. But he also had no time to prepare too
He had 2 years
I feel like I remember a few injuries leading up to the WC. Cassano and Rossi
I don’t remember Rossi being injured but I’m near certain that Cassano was healthy just Lippi refused to pick him because of his attitude
Meh I honestly dont remember nor care to. Shitty time for Italy and Juventus.
Rossi always seems to be injured….
Well Del Piero, Totti and many others from 2006 are still missed, but that’s them in their prime and not how they are now.
No it wasn’t .. the 2010 team was missing key cogs like delpiero, totti, toni, grosso, materazzi, nesta, zambrotta (and buffon and pirlo for the most part) .. it was a horrible squad, one that was picked with stubbornness and dementia on the part of Lippi .. Like seriously, he had Iaquinta starting after only scoring 4 goals that season while he left players like totti, delpiero, cassano, balotelli, rossi and dinatale at home.. his player selection was a fuckin joke… our early exit didn’t have to happen the way it did and was not some indicator that italian football was all of a sudden terrible .. Lippi picked a horritble team, shame on him for that. bloody fool.
And yet again i can’t take you serious if you call Lippi a fool.
yes .. he was a major fool in 2010. in 2006 he was not .. just because he did one good thing, does not absolve him of another.
Thank you.
1 good thing? Lippi did one good thing???? And you call yourself a Juve fan?
on the international stage I’m talking about …
Lippi over all is a legend, but in 2010, you can call him a fool
Don’t interrupt us
it was a shot world cup .. general consensus. nothing to do with holland going to the final, just everything about it, the country it was in, the vuvuzela’s, everything, it sucked.
https://www.football-italia.net/50571/italy-set-world-cup-passing-record
F*ck you Spain.. Thats how you play a passing game, not your negative, boring tika-tika sh*t
Pirlo-Verratti>>>>>>>> Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets
Ronald de Boer took his chance just now to say England played attractive football and Italy didn’t. Seriously i hate this guy. When Italy play counter football he thinks it’s lame and anti football, when England does so, it’s attractive football..
He’s probably aiming for one of those highly paid jobs on English tv for the euros/next work cup
Precisely.
Haha that might be it. I wouldn’t advice them to take him as he talks pretty annoying.
The tv says just LICHTSTEINER. No Stephan lol.
I love watching Steeban “Forest Gump” Lichtstiener play.
Hes glorious.
Hopefully they’ll get a goal soon. They deserve it.
AND ITS BLISS FOR THE SWISS AS MAHMEDI EQUALIZES.
We need Ricardo Rodriguez. Wheres Sohaib? Id like to thank him for pointing dude out.
Sohaib is in that ritorno cl glory facebook group. I think you’re in it too. How long ago was that though, Sohaib hasn’t been on here in forever.
On: i agree about him playing really well. As soon as he got the ball in the last second of the match in that position i knew he was gonna give a good pass.
He’s in exile
I’m wondering were you here when Sohaib was active?
Yea Marc was here
It brings back memories of the old board system we used to have ;D
Memories in the corner of my miiiind
Yeah..
Wolfsburg wont let him gor for less than 20mil
Wolfsburg have a pretty good team. Rodriguez, gustavo, de bruyne, perisic, olic and they want morata and lukaku
Pogba seems ready. Hoping he’ll shine. Cmon Paul!
F*ck france! Go Honduras!!!
No you…
Wow. So the honduras guy steps on pogba twice and then dives and instead of getting a red, pogba gets a yellow
Pogba kinda launched him though. Shouldn’t have done that. But still the Honduras guy is a fucker. Steps on him and nearly tore his shirt apart.
Germany v Portugal. This match will set the tone for two big teams in the tournament. Germany could start with a great team effort and hold portugal. Portugal could also start by banging in few.
Very excited to say the least.
USA USA USA
DAMN kyle beckermans dreads have gotten so sick. 9 years to grow those bad boys. Clint dempsey to score in this USA victory on the road to knockouts.
I’m hoping for a Ghana victory myself
Daw England v States isnt a rivaly, youre like our old grandma we take care of.
Ghana will loooooooose
And you’re like our fat little grandchild who we love even though we can see youre a prick and that everyone hates you
Haha really? going to try and compare england to the US? Sure the US fucks up alot. Its hard to predict what the world would be without the US. But you can be sure that many good things have come from America. More good than bad thats damn certain. England should accept itself for what it is. A cancerous growth that survives through its dependence on others. Maybe get a tangible GDP? lol.
No, I wouldn’t insult England by doing that lol it is hard to predict but one thing is for sure, it would be a better place.. Perhaps not as advanced but better overall. I’m sorry to tell you but there is only one country that is a cancerous growth and thats the USA.
Heh, I guess everyones entitled to an opinion. You dont seem very educated Marc. Maybe you should think about going back to school.
Nah, a third degree doesn’t interest me, nor does a phd really.
middle school and high school dont count
lol that was terrible.. For shame.
Usa is full of sh*t man. Kids are becoming more and more idiotic, materialistic and they worship anything f*cking idiotic etc… Almost everyone is a damn poser. I swear everyone is just a damn selfish, self-centered, egoistic clone. Im might be exaggerating because this topic is very sensitive to me.
Theres so much more i can go on about, but i simply cant, my mind is overwhelmed with thoughts regarding this topic.
To put it short and simple f*ck usa, i dont even know why im slightly supporting them in cup
John first I dont know if youre an outside perspective looking in, or this is what you see around you. But I think its important to realize that we are all people. We all have selfish, self-centered, egoistic ways. Simply saying fuck the US isnt helpful because theres many different sides of what is going on in the US.
I do abhor many of the people around me. I cannot stand the -in your face- culture we have created. Giving voices to teenagers has amplified the curiosity for the insignificant and instant-gratification. Everything is about the wave in the water you can make. Not the actual content to what you do. Creating a facade is now the American way. Our government did a great job leading by example too.
Now USA has gotten to the point where innovation and invention are halted because the foxes have the keys to the hens house. The golden rule here isnt to do unto others as you would want done unto you. The golden rule here is simple: he who has the gold, rules. America was not built in this way. It has let itself become this way. Anyone living in it who is not trying to be part of the solution, is part of the problem. So I suggest to you (if youre an american citizen) to look at yourself and say, how can I be a better person/American?
E1: To add, I hypothesize maybe lack of personal accountability to country is from it not being anyone here’s true home land?
I didnt down vote, i just saw your comment now…. I ll reply later, im kinda busy right now:p
Yeah Im pretty sure marc did, then took away and upvoted yours above
Also when it comes to soccer, the US isnt far behind. And I will laugh when we can say we have more world cups than england
So erm.. Not in our lifetime? Because as unlikely as it seems at the moment that England will ever win another World Cup (and lord knows i don’t want them too) its a lot more unlikely that the states will win one anytime soon
Ghana coach is an idiot and playing Asamoah LB. What a waste of the sparse talent in your team.
Asamoah has been used as Lb for close to a year in Ghana, maybe even two… Since the last african cup of nation.i dont mind it, this could be good for us too
He can be used a lot better in that Ghana squad. Its good experience for him from a Juve fan perspective. But if I was a Ghana fan Id be pissed.
I love you espn commentators. So far in the games i ve watched, Juves names has been mentioned at least three times each per game.
well that came out mangled
Asamoah could solve our LB problem. Good going forward and defensively. His positioning seems to have gotten better too
He was facing the US haha. Never going to get time or space like that in Italy or CL. But he did look good defensively. Not much you can do with 2v1s all game and facing fresh legs for the last 30.
His brilliant pass created ghana’s goal
Really wanted Ghana to win :/
https://www.football-italia.net/50645/balo-why-always-me
lol
HAHAHA
https://i.imgur.com/7kou4Oy.jpg
Joe Hart after Pirlo’s free-kick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bZwr2FeC_Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player
His face watching the ball was great