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Italy played ok, Belgium's first goal was a bit controversial, the shot appeared to be cleared of the line but it was judged the ball was over the line. The Italy player was in the goal when he hit it out, but to me the ball was on the line, meaning no goal.

Italy Out In Controversial Fashion
Italy 2-3 Belgium

Ten man Belgium played 74 minutes and did enough to send the Azzurrini packing from Beijing. Pierluigi Casiraghi's men were average on the night and it's Arriverderci China and gold medal hopes. However, Italy will feel hard done following some shocking refereeing decisions...

but I thought we always get the referees..... do you hear that noise? that's the haters like agente trying to remove their heads out of their asses...
Pabs:
yeah we were negative last game, that hardly justifies this though, this game was every bit as bad as korea, I woke up 6am to watch this crap.

If they ever put another tournament in asia we may as well stay home....

they want a brasil argentina final, this is the best way to it....perhaps i'll whine for 4years like all the haters..

2cold

where did you watch the game ? cbc.ca's website or did you find a TV station that found it ?

Contraversial Goal

OK, I just heard aboutit, but geez they still allowed 2 other goals with a man advntage.

To his credit Casiraghi said after the game that there is no contraversy and that the team did not play brilliantly

Opinion Poll curently running on GDS looking at the results, the large majority of people feel this way too.

Un'altra delusione olimpica per il calcio azzurro. Di chi è la responsabilità maggiore?

Dell'intera squadra che non ha affrontato con la giusta mentalità l'impegno e non ha nemmeno saputo sfruttare la superiorità numerica sul Belgio 56.3%

Del portiere e della difesa 17.9%

Dell'atteggiamento tattico impresso da Casiraghi, mostrato anche nella brutta partita con il Camerun 11.8%

Dell'arbitro argentino di Italia-Belgio 9.2%

Dei fuoriclasse attesi (Montolivo e Giovinco) che non hanno saputo fare la differenza 4.8%

I was going to head back to bed but I think I'm going to watch a bit of the NDL vs ARG before the 100M Final comes up.

Which will surely be won by Usain Bolt.

2cold, That going to far calling it another Korea. What's Aisa got to do with it?
I would thought they wanted Italy Brazil/Argentina final not Belgium, besides you cant get a Brazil Argentina Final, cause they will be playing each other in the semi. If Argentina don't stuff up against the Dutch

one last thing...

a very small part of me cringed when I found out we were playing against Belgium. We always do shit against modest teams.

Pabs wrote:one last thing...

a very small part of me cringed when I found out we were playing against Belgium. We always do shit against modest teams.

I felt the same When Brasil was paired with Cameroon, but luckly the selecao got through. I can't see them getting past Argentina though

What the hell is this crap ? Same recycled shit over and over again !

Portieri: Amelia (Palermo), Buffon (Juventus)

Difensori: Barzagli (Wolfsburg), Bonera (Milan), Cassetti (Roma), Chiellini (Juventus), Dossena (Liverpool), Grosso (Olympique Lione), Zambrotta (Milan)

Centrocampisti: Aquilani (Roma), Camoranesi (Juventus), De Rossi (Roma), Gattuso (Milan), Palombo (Sampdoria), Perrotta (Roma), Pirlo (Milan)

Attaccanti: Del Piero (Juventus), Di Natale (Udinese), Gilardino (Fiorentina), Iaquinta (Juventus)

ADP, Gattuso, Camoranesi, Perrotta, Iaquinta should not be here.

Where the hell is Christian Maggio ?

What happened to the defense today? But what was the linesman thinking on that first goal?

1-0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWyppVNhRV8

1-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBfjfTapBNY

1-2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5qtX3bxKEs

2-2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcIxpi1h42Y

2-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCw5LYSfrkA

That's a Joke

as I said, I never saw the game and those are the first highlights of any kind that I've seen. That first Belgium "goal" is an out right GIFT

These goalline clearances are very common in a game. How the hell did the linesman mess up ?

2nd & 3rd goals were amateurish defending.

Pabs - I would like to see a close up shot but seriously, how is that even close to being a goal? I also read that Rossi was tripped by the keeper and instead of a PK, got a yellow for simulatoin. I also read that Belgium were a bunch of thugs. I don't know, maybe the boys were rattled today. Yet, they gave up two soft goals.

Belgium were thugs against Brasil in the group games, they had 2 players sent off

Belgium's goal
I saw it semi live on HD and like I said before, the player was in the goal when he struck the ball, but to me the ball was on the line.

Stop crying. You weren';t crying with the made up PKs against Honduras or the call against Australia back in the day.
Man up bitches!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol. italia let in 2 very soft goals.

Cal - There was no defense played on those two goals. At least by Italian standards.

We should hear soon about the extent of Chiellini's knee injury.

I watched the 2d half of the Belgium match and we deserved to lose. The whole squad deserves the "credit" for not going for it. Belgium wanted it more. And yes the officiating sucked but it was the team that lost it.

I also read that Rossi was tripped by the keeper and instead of a PK, got a yellow for simulatoin.

Falc, I saw the play. It was ridiculous. I and my nephew thought it was a PK when we saw it at live speed and when they showed the replay the Belgium keeper clearly wrapped his arm around Rossi's leg and tripped him. PK if there ever was one.

palo

had the PK not been given against Honduras, do you really think it would have made a difference ?

Bineaz

when did this incident occur ? After Italy was given the 2nd PK ? What I'm getting at is, if it was, then maybe the ref shy'd away from wanting to award Italy 3 PK's in a single game (even though the 2 he did give were 100% PK's)

Should be no question on this call ...



Does anyone know of a good site with pix of the match?

Looks like a clean play to me. Isn't that what you said about Gentile? LOL at Italians crying about rough play. Man up bitches. Your boy is already known as an elite diver. I gave him a 9.5 on the dive against Honduras. That is the risk of the boy who cried wolf too many times.


Again, I repeat, man up!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just can't get over that Gentile thing, can you? I don't recall Gentile doing that in the penalty area. Need to get over it. Carrying something like that for 25+ years is not healthy.

LOL. Gentile was not a thug, he was a criminal. I will never forget!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Isn't that the GOP motto?

Falc

Second one was way more obvious. Belgian player SCISSOR wrapped BOTH his legs around Rossi's leg. I guess he was inspired by the Freestyle Wrestling.

when did this incident occur ? After Italy was given the 2nd PK ? What I'm getting at is, if it was, then maybe the ref shy'd away from wanting to award Italy 3 PK's in a single game (even though the 2 he did give were 100% PK's)

Pabs, No the Rossi card for simulation--and again it was a blatant take down--occurred before the PK; 11th minute of the second half. Belgium was a man down at the time so it may have influenced the ref.

No one's crying palo (except maybe half of Brazil); just saying. I just don't see a need to say it a millinion times like Gentile this Gentile thta.

Some pics and commentary:

http://www.mcalcio.com/italy-2-3-belgiu ... pics-2008/

I caught parts of the Argentina-Brazil match this morning. The first goal, one of the defenders reminded me of Junior in that epic match against Italy in 1982. Hand straight up in the air instead of marking the goal scorer. Say what you want about Gentile, at least he knew to keep his hands on the opponent's body.

alright, move on already...

just a reminder we play a meaningless friendly tomorrow against Austria in Nice, France of all places.

I've been pretty busy that I haven't been paying attention to news from the NT. After the disillusion of Euro 2008 & the Olympics, I'm not sure I want to get up for the NT again.

The RAI Int'l site has Italy playing "Australia;" you'd think Europeans would know their geography. I suppose I'll have my mom DVR it but unless there's some good scoring I doubt I'll watch it.

It looks like this will be the line-up:

Buffon; Zambrotta, Bonera, Barzagli, Grosso; Gattuso, Pirlo, DeRossi; Iaquinta, Gilardino, Del Piero.

BAH it's only a friendly but what's the point of Gattuso and ADP; aside from their devotion to the Azzuri shirt they don't have much left in the tank.

Gilardino shouldn't even be there, he hasn't proved anything yet.

Italia (4-3-3): Buffon; Zambrotta, Bonera, Barzagli, Grosso; De Rossi, Pirlo, Gattuso; Di Natale, Gilardino, Del Piero.

Austria (4-5-1): Manninger; Garics, Stranzl, Prodl, Pogatetz; Harnik, Saumel, Scharner, Ivanschitz, Fuchs; Janko.

Arbitro: Coue (Fra)

Gilardino

Air, it's because he's in "early-season form" having played in the CL qualifiers.

BTW: It looks like Sheva is returning to Milan. His days in the Chelsea wilderness will be over.

Yeah, I saw on Goal.com that loan will be finalized tomorrow or something like that. Should be interesting to see if Sheva will have a good impact on the team.

Italy-Austria 2-2

Lippi, opaco ritorno - L'Italia salva la faccia nel giorno del ritorno sulla panchina di Lippi, recuperando da 0-2 a 2-2 contro la modesta Austria. Azzurri spesso in difficoltà e in ritardo di condizione contro i più deboli rivali, capaci di portarsi sullo 0-2 grazie a un sinistro di Pogatetz e a una girata di Janko. L'Italia è riuscita a evitare il ko grazie a un paio di errori difensivi degli avversari che, in pratica si sono fatti due autoreti con Stranzl e con il portiere Ozcan, autore di una sciagurata uscita. I migliori alla fine: Grosso e Di Natale nell'Italia, Janko e Fuchs nell'Austria.

Italy saved face in the first match of Lippi's return. The Azzurri were frequently in difficulty due to their lack of fitness compared to the Austrians. Italy was able to come back from a 0-2 deficit with the help of poor defending by the Austrians. The best players on the pitch for Italy were Grosso and DiNatale, and for Austria it was Janko and Fuc*s.

the more things change the more they stay the same

once again, discussing lack of form. Uhm, hasn't training camp started since July ?

And how much conditioning can they lose from the 3rd week of June (when we were eliminated from Euro 2008) to mid-July ?

I see absolutely no purpose in starting Gattuso, ADP, & Iaquinta. Absolutely unnneccessary callups.

Just got back from Italia last night. Good trip. Nice to see the old country with family and friends. Nothing has changed really. But the recession has hit Europe too. Not many are traveling and it shows. I can't remember the last time I traveled to and from Italia where both airports (JFK & Malpensa) were at maybe 40% capacity. My flight to and from Milano had less than 90 passengers on a Boeing 767 which seats 220. Unbelievable when you think about it. Two contributing factors are the weak dollar and the high price of petroleum. But the weak dollar is clearly hurting more the Europeans from an economic perspective than us. Not many are traveling from other continents to Europe therefore not buying Italian goods. Also Italian goods are too expensive abroad (outside of Europe). I took a day trip to the beach on the week of August 10 (that Friday is the 15th... a holiday) which is traditionaly a very heavy vacation week. Hotels/motels/restaurants/beaches etc are packed at this time of year. Well... not this year. It may have been at 50% capacity. No joke. Italians are keeping their vacations local... very local.

Got to speak to many calcio fans. Many believe il scudetto this season will stay in Milano but not neccessarily with Inter. I kept hearing that Mourinho non riesce a mangare il panetone which means he will not make to XMAS. Why is that the prevailing thought? Well... because he won't have the respect of the locker room. I understand that Mancini didn't either but Mourinho has a way of rubbing many the wrong way and players just shut him out. Also, Inter will be heavily into the CL. They want to win a CL title bad. Therefore it will be interesting to see how Mourinho handles the fans. He once slapped a fan in London in the stands for ridiculing him. If he plans on doing that in Milano he will get hurt. Italians and more importantly Inter fans won't put up with that crap. It will also be interesting how he handles the media and Moratti.

I kept hearing that Milan has not won a scudetto in 5 seasons and they have no CL obligations. Therefore watch out for Milan. I heard from some to watch out for Gilardino at Fiorentina this season. He will be scoring a hec of alot more goals. I did not hear much about Juve. Some believe they will be as competitive as last season if not more but I did not hear any predict a scudetto for them.

Italia-Belgio

I'm still kicking myself for missing that game. I was in my home in Italia and had nothing to do. Cousin Stefano calls me at 2pm (the match had just finished in Italia) and all he could do was bitch and moan about the ref. Spoke to others who saw the match and they agreed that we got dicked.

Bentornata Casati. Sounds like you had a good time. Did you see Pramzan? Which beach did you go to? Is Cousin Stefano staying out of trouble? You use to give us some funny stories about him.

About the Belgium match, from what I read from some people, looks like the boys lost their composure. Hopefully it will be a lesson that will serve them well in the future.