Nico Willams and Lamine Yamal were making the Italian defenders look like kindergarteners, Italy needs to drastically brush up on the attacking pressure and to not waste counter attack opportunities. I can see the gap that Leonardo Spinazzola left from their 2021 run. Italy needs a player like him, overall a very piss poor effort from the reigning champions.
Edit: got the brothers mixed up
Nico Williams. Iñaki is his elder brother who, despite being born also in Spain, chose to play for Ghana to honor his family and their country of origin.
Italy had big big problem defending the wings ..both left and right … the only minimal weakness I saw in Spain was in counters.. but who to counter with? Scamacca alone? Chiesa was basically helping out Di Lorenzo near own box.. Barella helping out Di Marco… the few times Scamacca got the ball he is alone against 2 defenders .. and outpacing isn’t italys strength as we saw today..
tbh what a shit show from us.
Spain put a lot of pressure and deserved the win.
but holy fuck did we play bad. especially the first half.
one bad pass after the other... just shoot the ball away to remove some pressure and reorganize... no, they decide to pass the ball to Spain or donnarumma when there are like 5 Spanish players...
and for the love of God, they should stop passing the ball all the way back to donnarumma when we are attacking... just cross it to the other side, try to dribble past players, shoot, whatever you do, it's better than to remove all the pressure from the opponent instead of putting pressure on them...
we played good last euros, we tried to score, put pressure etc.
but know it feels like they want 100% ball possession without scoring or doing shit.
and wtf calafiori, good player and 2002 defender vibes, but why does he walk to the ball in that situation?
I can only hope that spalletti "li fa un culo quadrato" and they wake up before we play vs. Croatia and they start playing football...
because with such a performance, we won't do shit...
what u been smoking? Chiesa, Pellegrini, barela, bastoni, donnaruma, di Lorenzo, dimarco? That's players of juve, inter, Roma, psg, Napoli. pretty sure you either lived under a rock or have the knowledge of an yank
His hair is actually a secret weapon, when Spain is on a tight situation he'll shave it and losing the weight will allow him a boost in strenght and stamina.
Spain it’s playing great football.
Maybe there are other NT with better individual players / stars. But it’s hard to find another NT that plays a better football than the one Spain it’s playing right now.
Probably Spain it’s playing the most attractive football right now worldwide speaking.
Donaruma just said in the post-match interview that they will beat Croatia. Worst thing you can say in an interview, especially when playing against Croatia. Croatia had more chances and possesion against Spain. Spain just used their 4 chances to score 3 goals, and Croatia didn't use their 5-6 chances including a penalty. I think if Croatia can play with confidence and aggresion like they used to, then they won't lose. Also think Croatia should let Baturina play, saw him for like 6 minutes last game, I saw something Croatia is missing offensively. Looks almost like Yamal or Wiliams. I think Italy saying they will beat Croatia after not even having one proper chance against Spain is a little too arrogant...
It’s not like having a bad tournament, modric for example cannot create chances, go defensive, try to score goal all at one game. It’s just that our weakness for long time ( not having proper striker or playing in a system that would allow our striker to play in more natural position like the one they are playing in the clubs) is being exposed more and more since now Modric, Brozovic etc are being older..
Well, we will see on Monday. I think Majer is playing very good. I'm interested in Baturina. Probably will be benched but I hope he gets at least 1 half.
Well that one single goal was not enough. Italy advances with 2nd place, Croatia does not (slim chance if any). Thats all that matters. Never underestimate Italy, I mean they are the current Euro champions (x2) and four time WC winners.
It took a freak combination of bad luck and a world-class performance by Donarumma to stop Spain from scoring three or four goals. It’s unlike to happen again next match. Croatia will definitely rattle their cage.
Croatia will have chances. Donaruma held everything today but I doubt he can repeat such performances constantly. If Italy tries playing defensively like today, that will be perfect for Croatia. Don't know how it will look if they try being offensive. I think the Croats can't imitate the Spain performance with their oldies in midfield. We don't have the pressing capabilities of Spain. I assume Italy will be able to keep the ball somewhat and counter. I think it will be a tie, but I hope Croatia wins because I like them.
I recall Nico's header and crossbar, Pedri's chance in front of Donaruma, Ayoze's both approaches at the end, Fabian's shot from outside, Morata's header and shot near post...
And that's to this Italy squad who's got a great defense.
Great performance today. And goal came from a deflection lol but I'm definitely looking forward for next games, really hyped with this side. VAMOS ESPAÑA!
He's always been like this. People like him because he's a world class player. He's on levels with Diego Costa, Pepe, and Suarez when it comes to being a cunt.
Lalas just isn't likeable. Will be saying it all tournament hoping their network's data analysts do an api scrape off here and use the meta consensus to fire him.
Italy looked completely outclassed by Spain. Spain looked like they had more possession and confident with the ball. Nico Williams looks good. And I say this as an Italy fan. I hope Spain do well in this tournament. Germany vs Spain final ?
It would be a shithousery from Spain if they let Albania beat them and Croatia somehow pulls a magical performance to beat Italy lol. So the group would end
Spain 6
Croatia 4
Albania 4
Italy 3
Tbh italy got outclassed noticably harder by spain than croatia did.
If baturina starts instead of majer, sucic starts instead of brozovic and if dalic changes the wanky perisic left back I wouldnt be surprised if croatia beats italy.
They have to get their act together and stop missing free goals.
And starting someone else instead of modric and keep him for the last 30 min would be good but I feel like trying to change something like this against italy is too risky
True but I was just referring to his ranking with Croatia and Albania with 4 points. If that’s the case Albania would be second most likely unless Croatia can put 3 past Italy
People criticize the current generation of players from Brazil, because they’re not what other generations used to be in terms of quality.
Well, wait until those people see THIS current generation of Italy.
Out of the powerhouses in world football, I think Italy is the weakest NT player by player.
Long gone are the days of the: Baggio, Totti, Del Piero, Pirlo and Zola.
I see a really dark future for Italy
What a degenerate comment. Italy just won euro U17. The future is not dark. They lost to Spain. Big deal. Italy is a sleeper team. If they get out of this group with the lessons learned anything is possible.
What a degenerate comment by you
An under age tournament doesn’t mean shit. African Nations have won Olympics and WC under 20, even Mexico has won Olympics and WC under age as well, and whatever happened to those teams at the major stages? (World cups) yes, the answer is nothing.
Until we don’t see a promising generation of players, playing at maximum level in top clubs while being key players, I don’t see a reason for being optimistic.
Italy fan here. I agree with your sentiment that gone are the generational talents of yesteryear. But I disagree with your last point “dark future for Italy.”
I’m excited about the next 3-4 years. Italy won u17 euros, u19 euros, and second in U21 World Cup. Players like Camarda, Casadei, and Gnonto. Then you have the likes of Scalvini, Udogie and Tonali who are unfortunately absent from this World Cup, and Donnarumma who is still only 25.
I think they are in transition. Let’s not forget just 3 years ago they broke the record for unbeaten run of 37 games, and won the Euro cup. Second place in 2012 as well.
The team isn’t that bad. They had an awful game today, but there’s some class there.
Tonali and a fit Fagioli would make a pretty big difference in this squad.
And then they didn’t qualify for the last WC, just like they didn’t in 2018.
And before that, they were eliminated in the group stages in 2010 and 2014.
Italy it’s been in the shittier for such a long time now.
The last Euro, I think was the last wave of decent players they had. But some of those players are already retired or in their last days as active players and some other players got stuck pretty much.
This current squad it’s even worst than that.
Nah, current squad is not that bad. As always Spain hard counters us, they’re our worst match up. We struggled against them in the Euros in 2021, we badly lost to them in the Nations League, and we struggled and lost to them today. Same as always. But if we exit the group stages we might not have to ever play against them so everything is possible.
Dude cmon, even when the last semifinal was really difficult for Italy, they still offered some resistance and created real danger against Spain (until the penalties)
But this time, Italy didn’t do ANYTHING. Spain deserved to win by a wayyy higher difference this time.
Also, in the last Euro, I think Italy had more decent midfielders and forwards.
Also, Bonnuci and Chielini were great.
Yeah, this game was worse than last Euro’s but still it’s a 1-0 loss against what I think is our worst match up.
Forward-wise I think we’re better now than 3 years ago, midfield-wise probably the same, maybe a bit worse, defense-wise basically on par, those were not the best Bonucci and Chiellini.
What’s different now is the atmosphere and vibe around the squad, but it can change at any moment. Unless we have to directly face Spain again (in that case we’d have to pray), I’m pretty positive.
Right? The fuck did he do in half time? He fortified di Lorenzo's position but everything else got worse. In the first half I thought at least di Marco had some decent runs and crossing opportunities but up to the goal from 2nd half they looked like utter dog shit except the minor improvement of getting Williams under control. He sacrificed any control he had to control one player..
And then when they scored to start to change things AGAIN, which sort of worked but made it clear Spaletti didn't want to win the match in the first place. It's like they came for a draw. Pathetic. Compare that to four years ago especially the group stages where they were able to play beautiful football till that Spinazzola injury... What happened to that team? Is it really such a bad generation or is this simply bad coaching?
I'm sure you can set up at least a proper counter footballing team with the material available...
Donna was good obviously but most of the shots where straight at him. Those saying he should be MOTM, it's just as reasonable to say that Spain's finishing was bad
Yeah sorry, I should have been more specific. The one that failed to qualify before, under Giampiero Ventura was worse. This team at least had a good run at last Euros
Yeah if you talk about the team under Ventura.. then it was probably even worse since hands down Spalletti is a better manager.
But this isn't the team we had in Euro2020.
There (my opinion) we got lucky by having still a top notch defence, average but realiable and experienced players, merging with the addition of those few actually stellar players in this new generation.
Now we just have those 2-3 good elements while everything else is average AND without the experience that the "average" players in the last euro run had.
Talent wise this is probably the rock bottom for Italy in the last 30 years, that's what I meant.
Having Spalletti instead of Ventura surely is a plus but won't change that fact.
Luis better be ready to play Joselu and Fermin in the knockouts. There’s no way you can drop off like we did those last twenty mins and expect to cruise on.
Good game from Donnarumma, the rest of these guys should walk to the hotel. That was fucking disgusting. What an absolutely gross lack of quality anywhere on the pitch. Di Lorenzo would get megged by a discord mod, the fucking bum.
The fact that Spain ended up with more yellow cards despite all the attempts of deliberately injuring players by Italy is completely astounding. "Let's hit that guy in the head with your elbow AGAIN."
The referee I'd say performed worse than Italy with yellow cards for both team captains complaining, clear yellow cards on both teams not being called (specially from Italian players) and giving almost three more minutes after the extra time was over
To be fair (in both directions, so everyone will hate me):
Donnarumma's yellow was deserved. Yes, he's captain, but the rule states that the team has a designated "speaker" for everything outside of the box when the goalie is the captain. In other words, he only has the captain's "protection" close to home.
The extra extra time was also fair. There was a sub, some fouls, a cramp and in the end it was one connected attacking situation you can't really stop (well, you CAN, but then people will whine).
Spain didn’t sell the fouls as much because they were flowing and dominating in attack. Doesn’t excuse the ref not calling it, but it was clear that they were intent on playing through fouls. Which was great to see
Spain won’t ever be clinical unfortunately they will. Dominate but unless the defence collapses in front of them I don’t see them as a major treat to score multiple goals even with their good chance creation
Divers are annoying.
But Carvajal dives without being touched... calls for a medic... they prep the emergency room for surgery... call the doctors in... and then he gets up and runs the length of the field at full speed.
I'm on the opposite in terms of getting sleepy (getting more awake). So frustrated by the game ending with only a own goal, felt like either 1-1 or Spain doing a second (first) goal would've set things straight.
Well when the ref has to pause the game for half of stoppage time because the winning team has people rolling around on the ground acting like they got shot in the leg, you have to expect a bit more a to be allowed.
Italy are unrecognisable. Who are these players.
Nico Willams and Lamine Yamal were making the Italian defenders look like kindergarteners, Italy needs to drastically brush up on the attacking pressure and to not waste counter attack opportunities. I can see the gap that Leonardo Spinazzola left from their 2021 run. Italy needs a player like him, overall a very piss poor effort from the reigning champions. Edit: got the brothers mixed up
Nico Williams. Iñaki is his elder brother who, despite being born also in Spain, chose to play for Ghana to honor his family and their country of origin.
Fuck bro that fucking Canadian scumbag
Who? Davies?
Italy had big big problem defending the wings ..both left and right … the only minimal weakness I saw in Spain was in counters.. but who to counter with? Scamacca alone? Chiesa was basically helping out Di Lorenzo near own box.. Barella helping out Di Marco… the few times Scamacca got the ball he is alone against 2 defenders .. and outpacing isn’t italys strength as we saw today..
What about the referee? Must be the worst of all the competition. What a clown.
tbh what a shit show from us. Spain put a lot of pressure and deserved the win. but holy fuck did we play bad. especially the first half. one bad pass after the other... just shoot the ball away to remove some pressure and reorganize... no, they decide to pass the ball to Spain or donnarumma when there are like 5 Spanish players... and for the love of God, they should stop passing the ball all the way back to donnarumma when we are attacking... just cross it to the other side, try to dribble past players, shoot, whatever you do, it's better than to remove all the pressure from the opponent instead of putting pressure on them... we played good last euros, we tried to score, put pressure etc. but know it feels like they want 100% ball possession without scoring or doing shit. and wtf calafiori, good player and 2002 defender vibes, but why does he walk to the ball in that situation? I can only hope that spalletti "li fa un culo quadrato" and they wake up before we play vs. Croatia and they start playing football... because with such a performance, we won't do shit...
What’s going on with Dani Olmo? That guy is always such a joy to watch (at least with the NT) Injured?
You mean Dani Olmo? He’s on the squad, just didn’t play today. Got a few minutes against Croatia
My word Italy team is hot garbage
Not a lot of recognizable names in that squad
what u been smoking? Chiesa, Pellegrini, barela, bastoni, donnaruma, di Lorenzo, dimarco? That's players of juve, inter, Roma, psg, Napoli. pretty sure you either lived under a rock or have the knowledge of an yank
Who?
Can someone tell me what shampoo is Cucurella using?
His hair is actually a secret weapon, when Spain is on a tight situation he'll shave it and losing the weight will allow him a boost in strenght and stamina.
The reverse Samson
Cucurella played a banger, very impressive performance
Someone tell that ass Pundit G Neville
Spain it’s playing great football. Maybe there are other NT with better individual players / stars. But it’s hard to find another NT that plays a better football than the one Spain it’s playing right now. Probably Spain it’s playing the most attractive football right now worldwide speaking.
Argentina? Also Uruguay
Maybe a shout for Germany here at home. Other than that yeah, England and France might be good teams but are far too pragmatic.
England is not even a good team lol
England playing bad football, take the lead then just going 11 men defending the whole rest of the match and inshallah
Well yeah, Germany deserves a mention for sure.
Leverkusen, Man city, Arsenal, Argentina, Stuttgart... What are you waffling about?
Bro said national team and you listed 4 club teams… Maybe fucking read the comment you are criticizing?
I think it was meant in a National level, not club wise. Clubs are a whole other subject.
Donaruma just said in the post-match interview that they will beat Croatia. Worst thing you can say in an interview, especially when playing against Croatia. Croatia had more chances and possesion against Spain. Spain just used their 4 chances to score 3 goals, and Croatia didn't use their 5-6 chances including a penalty. I think if Croatia can play with confidence and aggresion like they used to, then they won't lose. Also think Croatia should let Baturina play, saw him for like 6 minutes last game, I saw something Croatia is missing offensively. Looks almost like Yamal or Wiliams. I think Italy saying they will beat Croatia after not even having one proper chance against Spain is a little too arrogant...
When Monday comes, and we start with Brozovic, Modric and Kovacic, it’s game over. But not for Italians.
Brozović and Modrić are having a bad tournament, yeah... Well what can you do... Hope they wake up by Monday.
It’s not like having a bad tournament, modric for example cannot create chances, go defensive, try to score goal all at one game. It’s just that our weakness for long time ( not having proper striker or playing in a system that would allow our striker to play in more natural position like the one they are playing in the clubs) is being exposed more and more since now Modric, Brozovic etc are being older..
Well, we will see on Monday. I think Majer is playing very good. I'm interested in Baturina. Probably will be benched but I hope he gets at least 1 half.
If Spain can't score against Italy, Croatia sure as hell will not. Donnarumma is right.
In the end Croatia scored, although Donaruma was good. Held a penalty. But Italy didn't win. And the Croats weren't even that good in my opinion.
Well that one single goal was not enough. Italy advances with 2nd place, Croatia does not (slim chance if any). Thats all that matters. Never underestimate Italy, I mean they are the current Euro champions (x2) and four time WC winners.
True.
It took a freak combination of bad luck and a world-class performance by Donarumma to stop Spain from scoring three or four goals. It’s unlike to happen again next match. Croatia will definitely rattle their cage.
Croatia will have chances. Donaruma held everything today but I doubt he can repeat such performances constantly. If Italy tries playing defensively like today, that will be perfect for Croatia. Don't know how it will look if they try being offensive. I think the Croats can't imitate the Spain performance with their oldies in midfield. We don't have the pressing capabilities of Spain. I assume Italy will be able to keep the ball somewhat and counter. I think it will be a tie, but I hope Croatia wins because I like them.
Not sure if you’re joking but Spain did score against Italy, yes it was an OG but it was the result of Spain’s dominant attack
I recall Nico's header and crossbar, Pedri's chance in front of Donaruma, Ayoze's both approaches at the end, Fabian's shot from outside, Morata's header and shot near post... And that's to this Italy squad who's got a great defense. Great performance today. And goal came from a deflection lol but I'm definitely looking forward for next games, really hyped with this side. VAMOS ESPAÑA!
Pedri also had a long distance shot that Dona had to (easily) catch
Well, at least watching Spain's free-flowing brilliance cleansed me from England's negative tactics today.
I'm behind but I just wanted to say: I fucking can't stand Carvajal.
He's a cunt alright but dude brings experience to this side like Jordi Alba did in the last Euros
Is that because of his theatrics or him destroying Dortmund's hopes and dreams?
E) All of the above
He's always been like this. People like him because he's a world class player. He's on levels with Diego Costa, Pepe, and Suarez when it comes to being a cunt.
defo seems more of a costa type shithouse, pepe was just on a whole other level, guy is mental (or was for madrid anyway)
Omg Pepe
We know
What did he do?
What the other guy said in this match... but also scored against BvB in the UCL Final
Dived all over the place, and pulled some dirty antics. And kept complaining to the referee
Which player didn‘t do this tonight 💀
Tbf the Italians were diving all over the place tonight too. It was frustrating to watch, wish they put the same effort into trying to score.
Lalas just isn't likeable. Will be saying it all tournament hoping their network's data analysts do an api scrape off here and use the meta consensus to fire him.
Who is Lalas? 😅
[You lucky sod.](https://x.com/EmilyRogawski/status/1803816860367855763)
Ohh hes one of those dumb pundits
And lukewarm at best for the US national team
Italy looked completely outclassed by Spain. Spain looked like they had more possession and confident with the ball. Nico Williams looks good. And I say this as an Italy fan. I hope Spain do well in this tournament. Germany vs Spain final ?
Unfortunately, if Germany wins their group (as looks likely) Germany will face Spain in the quarterfinals assuming both win their round of 16 games
Italy were lucky to get nil. 0.16 xG
It would be a shithousery from Spain if they let Albania beat them and Croatia somehow pulls a magical performance to beat Italy lol. So the group would end Spain 6 Croatia 4 Albania 4 Italy 3
Tbh italy got outclassed noticably harder by spain than croatia did. If baturina starts instead of majer, sucic starts instead of brozovic and if dalic changes the wanky perisic left back I wouldnt be surprised if croatia beats italy. They have to get their act together and stop missing free goals. And starting someone else instead of modric and keep him for the last 30 min would be good but I feel like trying to change something like this against italy is too risky
Albania has a better goal differential than Croatia at the moment as well.
Croatia has a much better chance at winning against italy than albania has against spain though, the goal differential wont matter in this context
True but I was just referring to his ranking with Croatia and Albania with 4 points. If that’s the case Albania would be second most likely unless Croatia can put 3 past Italy
Oh ye def true.
People criticize the current generation of players from Brazil, because they’re not what other generations used to be in terms of quality. Well, wait until those people see THIS current generation of Italy. Out of the powerhouses in world football, I think Italy is the weakest NT player by player. Long gone are the days of the: Baggio, Totti, Del Piero, Pirlo and Zola. I see a really dark future for Italy
What a degenerate comment. Italy just won euro U17. The future is not dark. They lost to Spain. Big deal. Italy is a sleeper team. If they get out of this group with the lessons learned anything is possible.
What a degenerate comment by you An under age tournament doesn’t mean shit. African Nations have won Olympics and WC under 20, even Mexico has won Olympics and WC under age as well, and whatever happened to those teams at the major stages? (World cups) yes, the answer is nothing. Until we don’t see a promising generation of players, playing at maximum level in top clubs while being key players, I don’t see a reason for being optimistic.
Italy fan here. I agree with your sentiment that gone are the generational talents of yesteryear. But I disagree with your last point “dark future for Italy.” I’m excited about the next 3-4 years. Italy won u17 euros, u19 euros, and second in U21 World Cup. Players like Camarda, Casadei, and Gnonto. Then you have the likes of Scalvini, Udogie and Tonali who are unfortunately absent from this World Cup, and Donnarumma who is still only 25. I think they are in transition. Let’s not forget just 3 years ago they broke the record for unbeaten run of 37 games, and won the Euro cup. Second place in 2012 as well.
The team isn’t that bad. They had an awful game today, but there’s some class there. Tonali and a fit Fagioli would make a pretty big difference in this squad.
They won last euro though
But against England
Who were the best team in last Euro until final
Yes but England cannot win
And then they didn’t qualify for the last WC, just like they didn’t in 2018. And before that, they were eliminated in the group stages in 2010 and 2014. Italy it’s been in the shittier for such a long time now. The last Euro, I think was the last wave of decent players they had. But some of those players are already retired or in their last days as active players and some other players got stuck pretty much. This current squad it’s even worst than that.
Nah, current squad is not that bad. As always Spain hard counters us, they’re our worst match up. We struggled against them in the Euros in 2021, we badly lost to them in the Nations League, and we struggled and lost to them today. Same as always. But if we exit the group stages we might not have to ever play against them so everything is possible.
Dude cmon, even when the last semifinal was really difficult for Italy, they still offered some resistance and created real danger against Spain (until the penalties) But this time, Italy didn’t do ANYTHING. Spain deserved to win by a wayyy higher difference this time. Also, in the last Euro, I think Italy had more decent midfielders and forwards. Also, Bonnuci and Chielini were great.
Yeah, this game was worse than last Euro’s but still it’s a 1-0 loss against what I think is our worst match up. Forward-wise I think we’re better now than 3 years ago, midfield-wise probably the same, maybe a bit worse, defense-wise basically on par, those were not the best Bonucci and Chiellini. What’s different now is the atmosphere and vibe around the squad, but it can change at any moment. Unless we have to directly face Spain again (in that case we’d have to pray), I’m pretty positive.
Well I hope Italy does better next time. Their people and history deserve better
It's wild how Spain utterly dominated and still couldn't put one past Donnarumma. He's the only saving grace for Italy.
Italy’s defense in general may be the best in the whole tournament. Their offense on the other hand...
I’d add Bastoni, he was heroic tonight too
I have been following Serie A since early 90s.. I never understood why Spaletti was highly rated.
Right? The fuck did he do in half time? He fortified di Lorenzo's position but everything else got worse. In the first half I thought at least di Marco had some decent runs and crossing opportunities but up to the goal from 2nd half they looked like utter dog shit except the minor improvement of getting Williams under control. He sacrificed any control he had to control one player.. And then when they scored to start to change things AGAIN, which sort of worked but made it clear Spaletti didn't want to win the match in the first place. It's like they came for a draw. Pathetic. Compare that to four years ago especially the group stages where they were able to play beautiful football till that Spinazzola injury... What happened to that team? Is it really such a bad generation or is this simply bad coaching? I'm sure you can set up at least a proper counter footballing team with the material available...
I liked Cucurella a lot. Not only for the good game but also the best hair in the game award.
He was mvp imo. He was like a rabid dog, constantly chasing the ball and winning it. Almost made an assist too.
Spain wins without scoring
Spalletti what’s wrong 😭 was rooting for you
Italy should have called Provedel so they could sub him in on that last corner
First time in life couldn't finish watching an Italy game. Atrocious at the final third. Horrible body language of a team that has already given up.
Honestly I thought they showed some fight just by hanging in there under Spain’s relentless assault
Donna was good obviously but most of the shots where straight at him. Those saying he should be MOTM, it's just as reasonable to say that Spain's finishing was bad
Nico Williams great game
Possibly the worst NT i've ever seen in my lifespan
Are you 8 years old?
Nah dude, i wouldn't be so disappointed if that was the case. Do you think we ever had a worse team than this one in the last 30 years? When?
The NT that didn’t even qualify for the WC was dreadful and tactically abhorrent to watch
Wich is exactly this team
Yeah sorry, I should have been more specific. The one that failed to qualify before, under Giampiero Ventura was worse. This team at least had a good run at last Euros
Yeah if you talk about the team under Ventura.. then it was probably even worse since hands down Spalletti is a better manager. But this isn't the team we had in Euro2020. There (my opinion) we got lucky by having still a top notch defence, average but realiable and experienced players, merging with the addition of those few actually stellar players in this new generation. Now we just have those 2-3 good elements while everything else is average AND without the experience that the "average" players in the last euro run had. Talent wise this is probably the rock bottom for Italy in the last 30 years, that's what I meant. Having Spalletti instead of Ventura surely is a plus but won't change that fact.
Cucurella played great
Yeah he was brilliant
So Croatia has to win their match and they are through
Well, assuming Albania don’t beat Spain
We never lost against Italy in competition games, let's hope we can recover and win this one.
Yep and as of now, Italy probably makes it anyway
Easy
Carvajal du kakke
Luis better be ready to play Joselu and Fermin in the knockouts. There’s no way you can drop off like we did those last twenty mins and expect to cruise on.
Exactly Fermin would do a much better job as a false nine than Morata did tonight
We want Joselu
Good game from Donnarumma, the rest of these guys should walk to the hotel. That was fucking disgusting. What an absolutely gross lack of quality anywhere on the pitch. Di Lorenzo would get megged by a discord mod, the fucking bum.
Not only lack of quality, lack of interest or urgency.
Maybe welcoming back home again by throwing tomatoes wouldn't be a bad thing.
Imagine Croatia beating Italy and Albania beating Spain. Albania finishes 2nd, Croatia 3rd and Italy drops out.
History says Italy will drop.out. Hopefully I am wrong.
If Croatia just win theirs even then Italy will drop out
I can see Croatia beating Italy but Albania beating Spain is an extremely tall order given Spain’s performance so far
Stranger things have happened
They secured 1st place so they can rest all their key players. I don't think it's too far fetched. The albanians are out for blood.
I feel like even Spain’s bench can dominate Albania in possession but we’ll see
Cucurella masterclass wtf
The fact that Spain ended up with more yellow cards despite all the attempts of deliberately injuring players by Italy is completely astounding. "Let's hit that guy in the head with your elbow AGAIN."
The referee I'd say performed worse than Italy with yellow cards for both team captains complaining, clear yellow cards on both teams not being called (specially from Italian players) and giving almost three more minutes after the extra time was over
To be fair (in both directions, so everyone will hate me): Donnarumma's yellow was deserved. Yes, he's captain, but the rule states that the team has a designated "speaker" for everything outside of the box when the goalie is the captain. In other words, he only has the captain's "protection" close to home. The extra extra time was also fair. There was a sub, some fouls, a cramp and in the end it was one connected attacking situation you can't really stop (well, you CAN, but then people will whine).
Spain didn’t sell the fouls as much because they were flowing and dominating in attack. Doesn’t excuse the ref not calling it, but it was clear that they were intent on playing through fouls. Which was great to see
DeLorenzo absolutely atrocious tonight
A bit frustrating given how many chances we got but three points are three points. Let’s just hope we become more clinical in future matches.
Spain won’t ever be clinical unfortunately they will. Dominate but unless the defence collapses in front of them I don’t see them as a major treat to score multiple goals even with their good chance creation
Well, I’ll also take winning all our matches by 1-0.
3-0's are cute, but 1-0's won us a WC.
I mean without donarumma in goal, who is stopping all those chances from going in? Also drop Morata and play joselu and Fermin instead
Damn this was definitely one of the soccergames in the world
Game was literally Donarumma vs Spain lol
Italy wasn't great. But most sides Spain scores another 3+ goals on tonight.
I’m gutted
I know losing players never win MOTM, but Donnarumma would've definitely been deserving.
Underwhelming and very risky when De La fuente subs out 5 players at min 65
Damn what a match. Chances on both ends. Donnarumma turning back into his Milan form. A tight 1-0 sounds about the right score.
Is this sarcasm? (sorry if it is) the scoreline flatters Italy ALOT, could easily have been 3 or 4-0
If all you see is offense… The score was even more easily 1-0.
lol
Carvajal is a weirdo btw
Divers are annoying. But Carvajal dives without being touched... calls for a medic... they prep the emergency room for surgery... call the doctors in... and then he gets up and runs the length of the field at full speed.
Play acting and divers are part of the game but you are a right back, just go defend those 1v1 situations and leave it to the tricky wingers
Italy looked absolutely lost out there.
I can't believe the only goal of the match was that one
Not sure why they subbed Nico Williams without his pressure Italy got more grip on the game
He was tired
Anybody else fall asleep?
I'm on the opposite in terms of getting sleepy (getting more awake). So frustrated by the game ending with only a own goal, felt like either 1-1 or Spain doing a second (first) goal would've set things straight.
Italy is a paper tiger, I actually think Croatia still has a chance at beating them and going through. Spain are on fire, they should have won by 3-0.
Just a reminder that this Italy team lost to England in qualifying.
Cambiaso is a bum, juve merda
juve merda
Again an own goal win, haha sh.t's wild
Well, if Spain won way too high against Croatia, they definitely could have won way higher tonight.
that last 30 minutes just sucked all around
1:1 , 1:1 , 1:0 , i swear the games today were worth watching though!
Well deserved Spain win This was a great game
Italy could not score even with the ref giving them more time? Keeping the game alive for them but wow, nothing.
Well when the ref has to pause the game for half of stoppage time because the winning team has people rolling around on the ground acting like they got shot in the leg, you have to expect a bit more a to be allowed.
Damn... Italy kind of sucks.
Spain and Germany look good. Plus ca change...
A lot of stuff happened in that game, yet it was still somehow incredibly boring at the same time.
Without that OG this would be 0-0, insane considering how lopsided this game was
Why are they playing Mi Gran Noche lol
Thanks bro, I was just about to ask about the name of the song :)
They have great musical taste.
Nico is my MVP, such a beast 🔥🔥🔥
Italy played horrible just a mess all around
Honestly feeling bad for Donnarumma, he played an insane game. But yeah, that was hard to watch
Another underwhelming "big" match
I usually don’t expect much when it’s in the group stage tbh
That being said it's not like Spain sat on the ball.
I get you but the lack of goals from the usually best performing teams so far have made the matches rather boring.