G
Guest
·I watched the match and was really sad when the golden goal was scored. Maldini deserve to win some medals at last, especially with his brilliant display down the left in this tournament and for so many years in the past. When I saw Cannavaro and Albertini cried, I felt like doing so too........they were 30 seconds from winning it, alas............
France deserve to win this......Italy has shut them out for 93 minutes.......but the whole team was getting complacent in the last 30 seconds.......and you know you cannot afford to be lax, even for a second on the French, and that is how a lapse in concentration cause us a conceded goal in injury time........and the Italians were dealt a heavy psychological blow by the equaliser, their mental strength were not strong enough this time to hold France for another 30 minutes, as what they did against Holland.
And actually, Italy should have wrapped up the match. Del Piero has been set up 2 times and he missed both. If only he has just converted 1 of those chances. Del Piero did not have a good tournament. I think if Delvechio, Montella or even Inzhagi were there, Italy would have won 2-1. Zoff pay the penalty for trusting in the wrong person at teh wrong time. As we remember in France 98, in the quarter finals against France, Del Piero was seriously out of form, but Cesare Maldini stuck faith with him....until late in teh match, Roberto Baggio substituted him and Baggio almost snatched the Golden goal, but Baggio did not have enough time to win it for Italy before the match went to penalties.
It is the same script this time, Zoff refuse to believe in the proven legend, Roberto Baggio. Inter Milan's coach Lippi has to shoulder part of the blame too, he has benched Baggio for practically the whole season, making it difficult for Baggio to prove himself to Zoff that he is still very deadly in attack. When Vieri got injured, the stubborn Zoff simply refuse to bring Baggio into the Euro squad. Del Piero was trusted in the final hurdle, and again, he missed 2 clear chances and Italy lost again.
So maybe this Italian loss is not total loss for Italian soccer. At least the inadequacy of Zoff will not be disguised, which will be the case if he had won the cup. I would think bringing in Di livio, who has proven to be very penetrating in one earlier match will be a better idea than Ambrosini for Di biagio, adding an extra dimension to the attack and more width on the right, complimenting the excellent left wing play by Maldini. The forwards up front, I would opt for Montella and Delvechio (or Inzhagi), with Totti just behind them. I will not play Del Piero, who is not having a good tournament. Del Piero tends to just run into defenders and fall down, getting free kicks. But he cannot seem to weave past defenders , like Zidane and Davids, he always like to just run into them, I dun understand him. He seem to be very good at getting himself tripped by defenders, almost like deliberate getting into positions so that he can fall down. Zoff is too defend-minded. I know Italy is well known for their world class defence, but to be more balanced, we need the attacking options and dimensions in front. If we have that, maybe we would have scored more goals and there will be no extra time needed. And it is time for creative players like Roberto Baggio and Totti to be given more space for creativity in the Italian team, for the overall good of the future of Italian soccer......we need to build on our already superb defence to have a world class attack as well. We have the talent in offence, we now only need a good coach to practise a more attacking style.
For the future, I am waiting excitedly for the arrival of Andrea Pirlo, Ventola and Christian Abbiati into the national team. Pirlo can be the next Roberto Baggio.
My friends, do reply to discuss whether you agree with what I had said.
France deserve to win this......Italy has shut them out for 93 minutes.......but the whole team was getting complacent in the last 30 seconds.......and you know you cannot afford to be lax, even for a second on the French, and that is how a lapse in concentration cause us a conceded goal in injury time........and the Italians were dealt a heavy psychological blow by the equaliser, their mental strength were not strong enough this time to hold France for another 30 minutes, as what they did against Holland.
And actually, Italy should have wrapped up the match. Del Piero has been set up 2 times and he missed both. If only he has just converted 1 of those chances. Del Piero did not have a good tournament. I think if Delvechio, Montella or even Inzhagi were there, Italy would have won 2-1. Zoff pay the penalty for trusting in the wrong person at teh wrong time. As we remember in France 98, in the quarter finals against France, Del Piero was seriously out of form, but Cesare Maldini stuck faith with him....until late in teh match, Roberto Baggio substituted him and Baggio almost snatched the Golden goal, but Baggio did not have enough time to win it for Italy before the match went to penalties.
It is the same script this time, Zoff refuse to believe in the proven legend, Roberto Baggio. Inter Milan's coach Lippi has to shoulder part of the blame too, he has benched Baggio for practically the whole season, making it difficult for Baggio to prove himself to Zoff that he is still very deadly in attack. When Vieri got injured, the stubborn Zoff simply refuse to bring Baggio into the Euro squad. Del Piero was trusted in the final hurdle, and again, he missed 2 clear chances and Italy lost again.
So maybe this Italian loss is not total loss for Italian soccer. At least the inadequacy of Zoff will not be disguised, which will be the case if he had won the cup. I would think bringing in Di livio, who has proven to be very penetrating in one earlier match will be a better idea than Ambrosini for Di biagio, adding an extra dimension to the attack and more width on the right, complimenting the excellent left wing play by Maldini. The forwards up front, I would opt for Montella and Delvechio (or Inzhagi), with Totti just behind them. I will not play Del Piero, who is not having a good tournament. Del Piero tends to just run into defenders and fall down, getting free kicks. But he cannot seem to weave past defenders , like Zidane and Davids, he always like to just run into them, I dun understand him. He seem to be very good at getting himself tripped by defenders, almost like deliberate getting into positions so that he can fall down. Zoff is too defend-minded. I know Italy is well known for their world class defence, but to be more balanced, we need the attacking options and dimensions in front. If we have that, maybe we would have scored more goals and there will be no extra time needed. And it is time for creative players like Roberto Baggio and Totti to be given more space for creativity in the Italian team, for the overall good of the future of Italian soccer......we need to build on our already superb defence to have a world class attack as well. We have the talent in offence, we now only need a good coach to practise a more attacking style.
For the future, I am waiting excitedly for the arrival of Andrea Pirlo, Ventola and Christian Abbiati into the national team. Pirlo can be the next Roberto Baggio.
My friends, do reply to discuss whether you agree with what I had said.
