Italy needed this team not Sweden, Denmark, Bulgariap

 

OMG!!

I saw the germany,crotia and poland roup and thought sucker check this group and the portugal group looked hard.....then this group came out and thought **** this is going to be a classic

 

what the heck...tough group..

at least this way , france and italy will meet at finals

I dont rate holland right now.

 

We will qualify.

Would have been more worried with an "easy" group.

 

Domenach !!!!! :howler:

 

what i don't like is this:

all of our 3 games will be look like finals (and for watching value that s great ! ) ; but very difficult.

and if you watch to the other 3 groups, there are hardly any exciting games to notice! only spain - sweden perhaps. and portugal - czech repubplic?

our group rocks yes, but the rest of euro 08 looks LAME !

 

We will qualify.

Would have been more worried with an "easy" group.

thats what I am thinking.

we are generally slow starters. We cant afford to be now.

 

Well I suppose all the other 3 teams are in the same situation as us. So be strong, if we win 1 game and draw 2, unlike last time, this would probably put us through.

 

we feel f^cked yes, but imagine how holland must feel :howler: every time they enter a tournament, they end up in a group of death, which they amazingly go through, only to end up losing penaly finals

 

Holy ************************************!!!!

Whoever finishes first in this group deserves the euro

 

what i don't like is this:

all of our 3 games will be look like finals (and for watching value that s great ! ) ; but very difficult.

and if you watch to the other 3 groups, there are hardly any exciting games to notice! only spain - sweden perhaps. and portugal - czech repubplic?

our group rocks yes, but the rest of euro 08 looks LAME !

thats just it - how did the seeding/pots thing work?

How were Italy in 2, Germany in 3, France in 4, for example?

A very un-balanced looking group stage.

 

What a group, Forza Azzurri e Mutu :happy:

 

we are generally slow starters. We cant afford to be now.

Well neither could we in 2004.
At least now everyone (players, fans, coach, staff) knows right from the start that they need to get their shit together or they'll be going home after 3 games.

 

Here are the Group Fixtures

Monday 9th June 2008:

Romania - France (18:00) Zurich
Holland - Italy (20:45) Bern

Friday 13th June 2008:

Italy - Romania (18:00) Zurich
Holland - France (20:45) Bern

Tuesday 17th June 2008:

Holland - Romania (20:45) Bern
Italy - France (20:45) Zurich

 

This is the toughest group we have ever been in for sure.

 

TBO, I havnt seen much of Holland of late.

How are they going, exactly (I will check detailed results) but outside of that, how have they been playing?

FORZA ITALIA!!!!

 

In all honesty when we reflect on the draw, we can at least admit that this will test us. We have to prove ourselves and there is no better way than to play 3 big teams. However Holland and France are big teams, I think we can beat them... they can beat us too of course. Romania may be one of the surprises of our group. They are probably more dangerous than Holland.

 

HAS ANYONE NOTICED ??

in euro 2000 ,
we defeated ROMANIA in the quarters

we defeated HOLLAND in the semi's

we defeated FRANCE in the final (apart from that last minute injury time goal from wiltord , which i won't count this time)

COULD THIS BE OUR LUCKY OMEN?

 

Holland - Italy (20:45) Bern
Draw

Italy - Romania (18:00) Zurich
Win or Draw

Italy - France (20:45) Zurich
Win, and send the frogs packing!

 

Big conflict of interest for me :depress:

Hup Holland! Forza Italia!

 

:nervous: Another group of death for Italia.

 

The Netherlands

1. Van Der Sar (Man. Utd - Eng)
2. Stekelenburg (Ajax - Ned)
3. Velthuizen (Vitesse - Ned) / Waterman (AZ - Ned)

4. Boulahrouz (Sevilla - Spa) / Jaliens (AZ - Ned) / Melchiot (Blackburn Rovers - Eng)
5. Bouma (Aston Villa - Eng) / Donk (AZ - Ned)
6. Mathijsen (HSV - Dui)
7. Heitinga (Ajax - Ned)
8. Hofland (Feyenoord - Ned) / Zonneveld (PSV - Ned)
9. De Cler (Feyenoord - Ned) / Emanuelson (Ajax - Ned)
10. Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers - Eng)

11. Van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord - Ned) / De Zeeuw (AZ - Ned)
12. Sneijder (Real Madrid - Spa)
13. Seedorf (AC Milan - Ita)
14. Van Bommel (Bayern Munchen - Dui)
15. Babel (Liverpool - Eng) / Castelen (HSV - Dui)
16. De Guzman (Feyenoord - Ned)
17. Afellay (PSV - Ned)
18. Van Der Vaart (HSV - Dui)

19. Robben (Real Madrid - Spa)
20. Van Persie (Arsenal - Eng)
21. Van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid - Spa)
22. Huntelaar (Ajax - Ned)
23. Koevermans (PSV - Ned) / Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic - Sco)
24. Kuyt (Liverpool - Eng)

Our defense looks incredibly weak on paper, but in reality Holland was the country with the least conceded goals in the ECQ for 2008. So don't underestimate us. This could be our squad for the tournament.

 

Wow what a group!

I wont be too disapointed if we don't make it out of this group because all 4 nations are contenders to win the tournament as far as I'm concernd. I just know if we don't make it then it will all be blamed on Donadoni while he has done well sofar replacing Lippi imo without Nesta and Totti. But let's not think of that yet. If we play at our best we can beat anyone.

I just hope Nesta and Totti return eventhough the chances of that happening are very small and it wouldn't be completely fair to the rest of the team who fought to qualify.

Forza Azzurri !

 

Wow what a group!

I wont be too disapointed if we don't make it out of this group because all 4 nations are contenders to win the tournament as far as I'm concernd. I just know if we don't make it then it will all be blamed on Donadoni while he has done well sofar replacing Lippi imo without Nesta and Totti. But let's not think of that yet. If we play at our best we can beat anyone.

I just hope Nesta and Totti return eventhough the chances of that happening are very small and it wouldn't be completely fair to the rest of the team who fought to qualify.

Forza Azzurri !

I thinnk in defence we will be ok, even though nesta is the best defender I think with this team we have a good chance :thumbsup:
----------------------Buffon------------------------

Zambro/Oddo-----Canna-----Matrix-----Grosso/Zambro

------Gatt------------Pirlo---------DeRossi

----------?????-------------DiNatale

----------------------Toni-------------------

??? - Camoranesi for me is a No-No, but hopefully Cassano or maybe G.Rossi :thumbsup:

 

This is the toughest group we have ever been in for sure.

If you mean in the EC its probably so but compare it to WC 1982 when we got Brazil and Argentina in the second group stages! This time it seems like walk in the park p