I can’t see much wrong with the Italian side after they calmly took care of a decent Ghana 2-0. They looked confident from the start and never wavered. This could be their year.
The US looks to be the worst team in the Group. I know they just played one lousy match and might rebound, but I can’t see them taking a point from either of these teams.
Agree on all points. Ghana was great, super fast and attacking from the first minute yet Italy did not flinch at all.
Best point of all is that unlike past tourney’s Italy continued to push the ball into the attack all game long. In past years Italy would have started defending and let Ghana set the pace in the second half. This dangerous tactic often paid off for Italy in the past but I think we are all curious how far italy can go if they play to win instead of playing not to lose.
Luca Toni had numerous near misses and looks like he is in peak form.
Totti was fine until he sprained his recently surgically repaired ankle. Press reports this AM say Totti will be OK but I would imagine that he will sit against the US Saturday night. Italy looked fine without Totti and the way the US played yesterday, I think Italy can handle the US side with or without their star playmaker.
The Italian defenders were brilliant as always, especially Cannavaro
I was blown away by the performance of Italy. As John said,they didn’t sink into a defensive mode once they went up 1-0. If they keep this up they definitely have a chance to win this thing.
Ghana was very impressive as well, and the result was the most entertaining match so far in the tournament. The contrast with the US game was striking.
“The War!”
The Italian Press is having a field day with the comments by American forward Eddie Johnson that Saturday’s match between the US and Italy will be a, quote / unquote,,, “War”.
In general, Italians view the use of the term war for a sporting match, as inappropriate and even perhaps offensive.
For those Italians who are able to look beyond that, most see it as Johnson’s way of letting the Italian side know that the American team will be playing “rough”, in other words physically aggresive.
I think this is just a big cultural misunderstanding. I have not lived in the US for 8 years but I recall the use of the word war as a sporting term simply meant a very hard fought game but the Italians are going to use this as locker room motivation and probably come out really challenging the Americans, especially physically. For the US this is bad news because the Italian team is bigger and stronger (not to mention faster).
Maybe in the end, the anger generated by the “war comment” will help if an Italian player or two gets a red card. The only chance the US has to beat Italy is if we are playing our 11 guys vs 10 or 9 Italians!
The US team can’t even get it right when they don’t have to do a thing. War?? Please. That’s like Monocco declaring war. Shut your silly little mouths and get ready for a lesson. Another one.
Just futher evidence of American ignorance. They have no idea how they are perceived in the rest of the world, and don’t care, or don’t think, about what they say or do to fuel those perceptions.
I understand it was a nothing comment–more of a cliche in US sports than anything else, but it’s happened before. They should know better. A handful of the players play in Europe.
It was also trumped up a bit more than necessary by Italy to ensure they wouldn’t look past the match. Brilliant. By ignorantly running their mouths, the US are essentially down 1-0 before the kick-off.
They’ve not only been bad, I could live with that, they’re becoming an embarrassment. On the pitch and off. Can’t play. Can’t even not play. Just pack the bags and get home.
Mike
It is definitely gonna be ugly Saturday night ! I cannot imagine the US getting away with any self respect.