Yes, but didn't Cassano let the team down, I heard that when I was in Genoa last week

Do you know how to spell suicide?

And Canna really wasn't bad at all, he really stamped his authority in defence and was winning balls back like a mad man, challenging players in his central area and out wide. He really over shadowed Chiellini. Like I said, his only error was on the goal, but De Rossi was also supposed to be marking him and that didn't work very well either

Another reason why this World Cup is a joke: Security is terrible, why are they letting people in with sniper rifles?

They're just warming up for when Stevie Me plays next, Kurt.

Fifa rankings are total BS, and England dominated? Only when the Americans got tired and England got desperate

He actually got the back of De Rossi's leg, Italy were going on a decent attacking move, why would he dive in that situation?

@han:

Criscito can play centre back. He's quite good at it too. Its in no way suicide if its put out right.



Antonini- De rossi- Pepe. De rossi provides cover while those two attack, it would work out quite nicely.

Hopefully Barsil fall flat on their faces

wtf, I missed that I thought he was faking when I saw the picture

England had 18 shots and 62% posession. We had 60% posession in the first half and 8 shots in the first half. So both halves were pretty much the same in terms of domination. FAIL.

An opinion from an American forum I use. Well, it's actually a New York based forum, where you'd probably expect to see a bias towards Italy, if anything.

Not a good idea imo, Crisito was good today but still not all that convincing at times, I'd rather no have him playing in the centre with all that pressure on him, and why would you want Criscito in the middle when there are Bocchetti and Bonucci as options for the center.

Just doesn't make any sense

Holland or Germany but little Urugauy
Italy don't have a shot this year..but Ivory Coast got the hardest group

they would have completely changed the game, imagine

Pazzini

Cassano - Balotelli

Montolivo - De rossi - Pirlo

Criscito - nesta - Chiellini - Zambrotta


with free lancing AMs this would be lethal

Actually, no I wouldn't expect that Kurt. Because the US media is inundated with the not even close to objective generalizations about Italy courtesy of the likes of Andy Grey (who's doing a show on Fox Soccer Channel), the English media via print, and the talking heads on ESPN who all think that the EPL is the only good league ever to have existed.

@han:

Trust me on this criscito is a solid CB. I'd personally have him over the latter because he is fast, strong and has good passing ability. You already have one guy who is just a destroyer in chiellini. You need another to help build the attack in some cases.

But all in all it really doesn't matter who goes in the centre for italy as its not that tough a job compared to the wingbacks, which are more important.




---

I hope Italy plays brazil in the next round so our golden boy can teach lippi a lesson

At the 30th minute mark I saw possession 58% in favour of the US, to me they dominated the first half... How many of those shots you mentioned were on target? Rooney was shooting from all over the place and not one of them was hitting the target, the ones that I clearly remember that were on target were obviously the goal, Heskey's shot straight at the keeper and Lampard's shot from outside the box...

If you actually watch that on real TV not a small gif image you can tell that he nicked De Rossi's leg

You're assuming either side will make it out of the group stage, Blue. I don't think that's a given in either case.

I'll be rooting for whomever Brazil plays tomorrow, as I'm still sore from them dogging it in '06. That and the media going gaga over Kaka on a regular basis even though he peaked in 2007.

That team is as good as Spain or Brazil...except I wouldn't put Montolivo...maybe Marchisio

I dont' know about italy, but i'm sure brazil will make it out of the group. Their squad is way too good to stay in group stages.


But i'm surprised at all the brazil hate here, nobody is cheering for kaka and thiago tomorrow???

Like I said, as good as he might be in the center, I wouldn't want to put so much pressure on him. I think he's doing more then ok at LB and he chould stay there. Not sure about either Canna or Chiellini at this point, Canna made that costly mistake and Chiellini really wasn't that convincing in his overall play imo. Nesta

I don't really see Kaka shining this time round, it seems like he's really not in the best condition, what with all the injuries, and lack of form. And I don't really see Brazil in general doing well either, Spain have a far better team then they do, Argentina as well have a lot more talent then the Brzilians do. Dunga really messed up taking guys like Baptista over Dinho, Pato, etc

Not this fish.

Not since 1994.

England underestimated USA after the first goal, I thought England was going to win

If they and Spain crashed out I'd be a very happy... whatever I am indeed.
Although Brazil going out would probably mean Portugal going out. And that would be too bad.

well i guess we'll see tomorrow. Obv missing on dinho and pato really sucks; but brazil is still brazil.



Cesar-Maicon-lucio-silva-bastos-elano-g.silva-melo-kaka-fabiano-robinho is still a strong squad.

montolivo is at his best when not being fully rellied on, he is pirlo-lite with better shooting. with this squad we'd be Bombarding the box with chances all game long for Pazzo/cassano/balotelli to put in the net

No.

lol...

Im but they are not one of my favorites
but Brazil is worth watching even i Dinho aren't playing

thank you samira! Its nice to know some milan fans are gonna watch our boy play.

Well I do hope that Thiago does well even though Dunga will probably go for the Lucio-Juan pairing

I think that more milan fans are going to watch Brazil play , Portgual is playing agianst Ivory Coast then who are Brazil playing agianst?

No I don't think juan will start; he's been playing thiago recently in friendlies so that could mean somethign. But who knows with dunga, he is retarted.



@samira:

Brazil plays north korea. My prediction


Kaka 4-1 north korea.

I hope Maicon will play bad tomarrow

North Korea is pretty good but Brazil is better

I never ever liked the Brazil NT, though I like Kaká and Thiago Silva a lot. So I guess I will see during the match how I think about the team.

don't worry chu; after kaka scores 4 goals tomo you'll realy like them

Lol, I bet you that Kaka won't score any let alone 4!!

I'll predict a bore 1-0 win for Brazil, just like the rest of the results in this so far boring WC.

allright whats the wager:


i'll take you sarcastic yet logical discussion ability if i win; if you win you can have my awesome transfer forum powers where you can post news faster all others.

Domination? Hardly. Possesion was only 54-46 according to FIFA.

Domination is what Germany did to Australia

the only team that scored 4 goals are Germany, this WC is pretty tight

Chellini said that right?

commonly know as spam!

Pretty sure Brazil is going to wipe the floor with NK, and then the media will go crazy over how Brazil is now the team to beat for sure.

Which wouldn't be a bad result, I'd like to see some scoring at some point here.

According to mediaset, Buffon had a back problem in warmup and played the first half anyway. He asked for the substitution during the interval. Lippi's not sure if he'll be available for the next game (his answer was 'it's up to the doctors to say').

link

I didn't see the game, but I'm not surprised of the result. Italy have by far the weakest attacking line from the big names, they ain't going anywhere by playing Pepe, Gilardino and Iaquinta. Oh Lippi, you'll start soon regretting the choice of leaving Cassano, Balotelli, Borriello and Giuseppe Rossi at home. You prick!

Some very odd squads at this World Cup. Maybe FIFA have told them they have to be drunk when they select it? It's the only reason I can think of.

looking forward to seeing Portugal/Ivory Coast tomorrow. Hopefully Drogba will be in the squad. haven't heard if he's been allowed to play with a cast or not.

i also hope NK gets completely blasted by Brazil. I'm hoping 10-0.

You're on Jack


No one said Italy dominated the game, although in the second half Paraguay were barely getting a look in.

Statistics prove that overall Italy were the better team

Italy - Parguay
10 Shots 8
5 Shots on goal 1
15 Fouls Committed 15
8 Corner kicks 4
1 Yellow cards 1
0 Red Cards 0
52% Possession (%) 48%


Well I wouldn't put that past Maradona... But the others are mostly just stubborn and pig headed. This WC would have been so much better had there actually been the best players playing for every nation.

Seeing Pepe, Iaquinta and Gila dog it out in attack was ridiculous when there is so much talent back home for Italy. Seeing Veron misplace 50% of his passes for Argentina when Cambiasso is left out...

See guys, I told you Paraguay was solid.