[Adriano]

The second game of Italy's Under 21 European Championships campaign will be played tomorrow in Basel against England at 20:30 CET.

The Azzurrini must at least draw, as a loss might put them out of contention for a place in the semi finals. The other game in the group will be between Portugal and Switzerland in Zurich at 17:00 CET.

Back in late March, the Azzurrini drew 1-1 with England in England, with Maccarone scoring first and England equalising. All makes for an interesting contest.

 

[mdelpiero10]

This is the "make it or break it" game for the Azzurrini!
We definitely has to win this game!!!!!
We already show that we are the better team than those Brits!
So I think we are more than capable of beating England!

Damn it's been 3 bad games for us Italian fans:
1) U-20 lost in Toulon final
2) U-21 drew against Portugal
3) The Azzurri lost to Czech Rep

If we lose again........I'm gonna trash my house!!!!

 

[blue eye]

You might aswell trash your house!!

When have you possibly shown you can beat the brits?

I noticed the national team did well against the Cheq Republic!!

 

[Jose luis pirri]

Official lineups:

Italy (3-4-1-2): 22 Pelizzoli, 2 Bonera, 4 Ferrari, 16 Natali, 7 Marchionni, 17 Blasi, 8 Brighi, 3 Bellini, 10 Pirlo, 9 Maccarone, 11 Bonazzoli.
(1 G. Rossi, 14 Dainelli, 15 Lucchini, 5 P. Cannavaro, 6 Donati, 13 Castellini, 18 Gatti, 19 Pinzi, 21 Iaquinta, 24 Caracciolo, 12 Spadavecchia).

England (4-4-2): 1 Robinson, 2 Young, 6 Barry, 12 Riggot, 3 Konchesky, 16 Parker, 14 Prutton, 4 Davis, 7 Dunn, 17 Smith, 19 Crouch.
(13 S. Taylor, 5 M. Taylor, 8 Greening, 9 Christie, 10 Defoe, 11 Pennant, 15 Jenas, 18 Knight, 20 Zamora, 21 Ameobi, 22 Bywater).

 

[mdelpiero10]

Re: You might aswell trash your house!!

When have you possibly shown you can beat the brits?

I noticed the national team did well against the Cheq Republic!!

Hey nitwit, we're one of the best U-21 out there.......
The last time Engalnd and Italia met, those Brits were lucky not to be slaughtered in their own backyard!!!!
So shut up!!!!
And the senior squad also beat England NT 2-1 at Elland Road even w/ Becks & Owen!!!!!
We have beaten the Brits more times in the last 30 years than the Brits beat Italia for a century!!!!!!

 

[G.T.]

and here we go again ... we screwed the english again, like 2 years ago.. 2 GREAT goals by Maccarone in the 2nd half.
ORA E SEMPRE FORZA ITALIA SIAMO I MIGLIORI...

p.s. "blueye" get some info about football before u speak again about our great national teams ... u clearly know nothing about what u say... now I understand that maybe in australia u follow other sports .. I saw a funny one once on TV ... maybe u'r thinking this is a forum about that kind of 'football' ? :howler: bye bye 'Brit-wannabe' LOL

 

[Tommi]

Unfortunately i didnt see the match, but we won and that´s the main thing!:happy: Did you saw the match G.T? If so...how was my favourite player Marchionni? Do you know where i can see those goals?

Italy 2-1 England
Maccarone 57, 84, Barry 63

St Jakob Park, Basle

(Channel4) - Massimo Maccarone has put the Azzurrini back on course for European Championship glory after his double saw off England. :happy:

The Empoli man netted two splendid goals that sent Italy to the top of the group after their 2-1 win over a spirited England in Basle.

Having drawn their opening game, the Azzurrini knew that a win was needed to get their European Championship campaign back on track. Claudio Gentile’s side got off to a good start and dominated the opening exchanges at the half-full St Jakob Stadium.

Empoli striker Maccarone had an early chance after just seven minutes when his cross shot from a tight angle brought a diving save from Paul Robinson.

It was Maccarone, a Chelsea target, who again threatened when he ran on to an inch perfect Andrea Pirlo through ball. But his powerful left foot shot went tantalisingly wide of the far post.

The Azzurrini continued to push forward in search of the goal. A Pirlo free-kick was comfortably saved after 20 minutes. Then five minutes later Maccarone had two chances in the space of 60 seconds but fired both over the bar.

England, Coached by former Bari, Juventus and Sampdoria midfielder David Platt, came out of their shell and frustrated the current European champions.

They even went close to taking the lead in the 35th minute when a Konchesky free-kick from the corner of the penalty area hit the bottom of the post.

As half-time approached both teams had chances. Parma forward Emiliano Bonazzoli saw his header cleared off the line by Dunn.

Before England did get the ball in the net before the referee disallowed it as Zac Knight clearly climbed on Bonazzoli before he deposited the header into the back of the net.

Gentile’s side started the second just as they did the first. Both Maccarone and Bonazzoli caused panic in the English defence before they took a deserved lead through the Empoli man.

A perfectly weighted ball found the striker who beat Riggott and scored with the outside of his right foot past the helpless Robinson.

But Italy’s lead lasted for just six minutes as Barry volleyed home from close range after Dunn had done excellently on the right before crossing for the Aston Villa man.

Gentile made changes as the side looked for the maximum points. Udinese man Iaquinta, who replaced Bonazzoli, brought the best out of Robinson after his excellent shot on the turn was forced out for a corner.

But as time went on the Italians seem to run out of ideas before a minute of brilliance by Maccarone sunk English hearts. He received the ball 30 yards from goal, flicked it over his shoulder and a defender, ran on to the ball and blasted it home with his left foot from the edge of the box.

Italy ended the game with 10 men after Daniele Bonera was dismissed for an off the ball incident involving Davis.

Italy U-21: Pelizzoli; Bonera, Natali, Ferrari; Bellini, Brighi (Pinzi 71), Marchionni, Blasi; Pirlo; Bonazzoli (Iaquinta 66), Maccarone (Donati 94)

England U-21: Robinson; Konchesky, Riggott, Knight, Young; Barry, Davis , Prutton (Pennant 84), Smith; Dunn (Zamora 88), Crouch (Defoe 46)

Ref: Gonzalez (Spain)

Sent off: Bonera 92


Ciao,
Tommi

 

[Primo]

What a beautiful win. You can always count on the Eternal Losers to give Italy hope again. :howler:
Forza Maccarone - the new legend.
AZZURINI LOVER

 

[pool_till_I_die]

What a beautiful win. You can always count on the Eternal Losers to give Italy hope again. :howler:
Forza Maccarone - the new legend.
AZZURINI LOVER

no offence but you are a joke!

 

[Primo]

No offense taken.

 

[pool_till_I_die]

I'm glad... I find that saying no offense before you insult someone always helps

 

[Fred Elliot]

Very interesting that there is a thread in here bitterly bemoaning the so called Italy Haters, and then you have a thread virtually underneath it dedicated to pouring scorn on England. Yeah, very classy

 

[Primo]

How dare I give back the trash talking in my own forum?! Real simple: You talk crap in this forum about our team, you get it back when the results come in.

 

[mdelpiero10]

Forget it Primo, we just won........
Fred is just a sore loser and how can we blame him since his most beloved team always get whipped by the mighty Azzurri and Azzurrini!!!!!!
FORZA ITALIA...........
Now we have to beat Switzerland to make sure that we top the group!
And of you English fans......don't worry you can still go thru as long as you can beat Portugal.

 

[Vinman]

I'm glad we won !!! Did any of you guys living in the New York area, or even in California see the game ??? If so, what channel is showing it ??

I checked RAI INTERNATIONAL and FOX SPORTS WORLD, and neither one televised it.

 

[Fred Elliot]

Forget it Primo, we just won........
Fred is just a sore loser and how can we blame him since his most beloved team always get whipped by the mighty Azzurri and Azzurrini!!!!!!
FORZA ITALIA...........
Now we have to beat Switzerland to make sure that we top the group!
And of you English fans......don't worry you can still go thru as long as you can beat Portugal.

as expected, you just don't get the irony of what you write in here:howler: Don't think I'll bother trying to explain it to you

 

[mdelpiero10]

I checked RAI INTERNATIONAL and FOX SPORTS WORLD, and neither one televised it.

Tough luck, dude.....
They are not going to show anything here in America.
The best you can do is go UEFA website and you can have a live commentary...:groan:

And Fred.......chill.........can't you take a joke?

 

[azar]

Originally posted by Fred Elliot
Very interesting that there is a thread in here bitterly bemoaning the so called Italy Haters, and then you have a thread virtually underneath it dedicated to pouring scorn on England. Yeah, very classy

"Dedicated to pouring scorn on the England". You must be joking right. This is about a U21 match , and I don't see any bashing of English teams before that blue eye guy appeared in the thread. Had he just kept away with the silly comments it wouldn't have gone this way.

 

[Mikey]

Well done boys on a well deserved victory. I only saw Maccarone's 2nd goal and to those who haven't seen it, it was simply world class. Now let's repeat this against the Swiss, who with the home crowd behind them will be hard to beat.

 

[G.T.]

Unfortunately i didnt see the match, but we won and that´s the main thing!:happy: Did you saw the match G.T? If so...how was my favourite player Marchionni? Do you know where i can see those goals?

I saw the game on tv (Rete 4), I don't know where u can see the goals, try some websites like raisport.rai.it or www.gazzetta.it
Marchionni had a fair performance, anyway I have seen him doing better in other games. I saw Switzerland game against Portugal (2-0) yesterday and I think we have to be careful because they are a good team. Portugal were unlucky not to score because they missed a lot of chances and hit the post twice, but in the end we can say that the Swiss victory was deserved.