[Football] Italy V USA
 

I say another red card before the end, 3 at the moment. First two id agree with, pope's was harsh.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

go usa u rock

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

i disagree - first one obviously, second was a yellow card, third was a yellow card (but he was already booked).
There were a few harsh bookings in the first half too.
The ref is being very inconsistent anyway.

A few injuries as well in this for Italy.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

I think all three red cards were justified.

It was an entertaining match to watch :)

Pirlo's passing impressed me in the 2nd half, every pass or trough ball he tried looked dangerous. Italy is being flamed on tv for this performance but they looked very lively to me (compared to france for example..)

Italy's chances for the title? I think they are one of my new favourites.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

So you watch Italy draw with the USA (as entertaining as it was) and then go on to say they're one of your favourites?

They weren't a patch on Argentina and i personally think they are going to have to fight for a result against the impressive Ghanains.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Um....?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...06/4852746.stm

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

I won't rate them above argentina offcourse.

But atm most teams playing at the WC seem to lack to ability to create anything. All they do is pass sidewards and backwards and try long balls and in the end struggle to break defending teams.

The Italy midfield did have the ability to create openings.. I think they have the creativity to get a long way.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

and what Dante said :)

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Great game, and Italy could still go out :up:

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Did any of the americans on here actually watch it btw?

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

:(

I'll blame a combination of non-stop revision and the dodgy sausages i ate for lunch.

heh, speshal.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

interesting group now, ideally i would love czech rep. and ghana to go through, more realistically, god only knows, i would imagine italy should get through now, but the ghana v usa match should be interesting

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

I agree with that.

I also agree with myself that de Rossi should be banned for the rest of the WC. Hopefully Czech will beat Italy and either USA win with 4-0 over Ghana or Ghana wins over USA. I'm happy as long as Italy doesn't advance. Crap team, no morale, no fair play.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

I don't know what you're on about.

I think the ref was good.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Not sure if I want to agree with that. The african countries have brought some very nice techniques into the matches and really raised the entertainment-level of watching a game.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

"new"? How can you say they're your "new" favourites after todays match? They're lucky if they pass the group play this time and it wouldn't be a loss if they didn't.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

the first 2 were definately red cards.
first red: he elbowed him in the face and drew blood
second red: he made a dangerous tackle. its like throwing a high kick instead of a header to get the ball from someone else, its a no no. there was risk that he could seriously injured him and luckily for the italian his knee was snapped.
third red: pope had recieved a yellow card eariler in the match so it could be seen that he didnt take the first warning seriously enough.

Btw, was that the best goal in the tournament by Zaccardo or what lmao.

i only watched the first 20 mins but the usa were playing very good. they just couldnt finish their set ups

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

You don't have to agree and to be honest I hope they don't pass the group phase. But what I saw in that match was mainly Pirlo passing impressively. Every ball he send trough the defence looked dangerous. Including his free kicks and corners. And they still haven't conceded a goal (only an own goal ;)) and beat an impressive ghanian side fairly easy.

I think they are going to get to semi's atleast. What I hope is that they get a spanking from the czechs, but not looking like that atm :(

You are right about the africans sides playing entertaining, but after 7 matches (I think) they have one win and one draw. I doubt we will have even one of them in the tournament in two weeks time. They lack the experience and are losing to ugly teams playing ugly football :(

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Italy did not beat Ghana with ease. It was a rather undeserved win.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

I disagree, they didn't dominate the match but even though Ghana kept pressing they didn't get any 100% opportunity's. Italy defended great and scored two goals. You deserve to win if you can create and use openings to score. Not if you have the most possesion and play prettier.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

I like to think that 'deserving a win' is when you win because of skill, not because of luck (like Italy).

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

The czech unfortunatly wont make it to the next round. They have some serious trouble because of injuries. I expect Italy and Ghana to qualify.

Italy always played somewhat defensive. Even yesterday, with 10 vs. 9, they didnt play very aggressive. They didnt even seem to want a 2nd goal.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Simply because they weren't better. Of course they wanted a 2nd goal. They're in a bad position because of the draw, causing them to drop out of the WC if Czech beats them and Ghana beats USA.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

The czechs can't beat them because they have no strikers anymore.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

We can always hope ;) Do Italy have any banned players for the next match (except de Rossi)?

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

in that case most of the other yellow cards he gave out should have been Red.
It was no worse than any of the other free-kicks the ref gave. And I thought he was very inconsistent for what he gave fouls, yellow cards and the red card for.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

USA is apparently better than most on here have given them credit for. When they beat Ghana, I shall rejoice.

[edit: I posted in a football thread, lol.]

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

i don't think anyone here have ever been overly critical of the US team, their performance in japan was outstanding and unexpected, we expect more from them and enjoy seeing them do well, its just amusing that what they do passes relatively unoticed in the US.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

What I was referring to was the WC prediction thread where everyone, with one or two exceptions, picked Italy to win and most picked them to lose by 2 or more goals.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

italy threw that game away :(

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Italy are (or were) considered one of the world's best teams, with very good players in almost every position. They were expected to do very well at this World Cup - and could have reached the semis. However, they looked ordinary yesterday and few now expect them to do so well.

Those predictions may have been wrong, but they weren't unjustified given the Italians' ability. Perhaps Spain have passed them the underachievers' tag for now.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

You also used the word lol. Next thing you know you'll be picking up fourteen year old girls on the internet and then getting butchered by them when you take them home.

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

Have you seen that film yet JBG?

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

No, nobody I know wants to go with me to it :(

Re: [Football] Italy V USA
 

that film sounds 2/3 of the way to being perfect :(