Tuesday, June 20, 2006

To believe or not to believe...

They say the Americans wanted a war on Saturday night and that was certainly how the game ended up. Apart from De Rossi's stupidity I thought we were more sinned against than sinning with our players being pretty much battered from the first whistle. No wonder they ended up with nine men. Unfortunately, we couldn't push on for a winner after Zac's blunder at the back. Now it sets up a horrible Thursday afternoon.

It will be a typical Italy-watching day. Win and we win the group, draw and we still go through, lose and we could still sneak it if USA beat Ghana. Best to concentrate on our own match, of course. The Czechs will be hit hard by the loss of Koller, Ujfalusi and more. Gattuso should make up for the absence of De Rossi. Above all, what would be nice to see is some decent football. I'd hate to watch the boys go out in a World Cup first round - never seen that in my lifetime!

Hope Toni gets a goal to start the ball rolling for him. And hope Nedved doesn't start tumbling all around the pitch. Ragazzi, non deludete!

6 comments:

martinobhoy said...

It was unfortunate that we took Totti off only for the USA to go down to 9 men. He would have revelled in the extra space.

De Rossi, to use an excellent Scottish word, was an eejit.

Right time to settle down and watch Henrik.

Spangly Princess said...

I would have taken off perrotta for gattuso rather than totti, though maybe the combination of not-fully-fit and already on a yellow card made it a sensible precaution. And later in the match perotta woke up a bit anyway.

bloody de rossi. always sodding roma players too, though it's not like we're a particularly indisciplined team as a rule.

ginkers said...

I think Lippi was right to leave De Rossi to "cook in his own soup" or whatever phrase he used. The boy is a contradiction. On the one hand he owns up to a handball goal, on the other he smacks someone in the puss.

The trouble is that all that a lot of the world sees of Italian football is the major tournaments. Hence, Totti is a spitter, De Rossi is an elbower and Baggio a penalty misser. It's a shame really.

a.c.t. said...

It was such a big disappointment, especially after the first game when I gloated to all and sundry about how we are a new team; positive, strong, no longer defensive etc etc. As for De Rossi, well, he should have his elbow surgically removed. Dai ragazzi...

Spangly Princess said...

well, it's not so much that he's a contradiction as that he's a fundamentally decent boy with a habit of losing his head when he gets over-excited. He's not a cynical, dirty player, just a bit of a hot-head and occasionally a liability as a consequence.

martinobhoy said...

Ginkers

WE WERE RIGHT!