Any one find this world cup disappointing?

[D-Kin]

Originally Posted by MUFC

"Italy are not one of the great teams and, man for man, they are no better than England."

Obviously the Italian players are tactically and technically superior to the English players, how anyone can deny that is beyond me.

The tournament overall wasn't too bad in my opinion. It wasn't brilliant but at the same time is was better than Korea/Japan.

[hanuma]

This Italy isn't one of the great ones and man for amn they aren't that much better than England.

But they play 100 times better than England ever could at the moment.

[azzurri]

Certainly better than the last WC. Group stages were exciting imo, but as predicted, the games got dull in the 2nd phase due to the strength of the squads (Germany/Italy being the exception). France vs Portugal was 1 of the worst games of the wc imo, incredibly boring, could barely tell it was a semi final.

[jec1]

The Only Thing disappointing was Italy winning the WC.

Just kidding

[Jager]

Originally Posted by MUFC

HARRY REDKNAPP has branded this World Cup as one of the dullest of all time.

Portsmouth boss Redknapp says no great teams or great players emerged from the month-long tournament and believes managers have made games poor by playing with only one striker.

He said: "It has been a World Cup without a star team or a star player. I would rate it six out of 10.

"There was no Pele, Maradonna or Cruyff and no one was outstanding.

"There was no great attacking because a lot played with one up front.

"Italy are not one of the great teams and, man for man, they are no better than England."

I wish we had England's midfield, Lampard and Gerrard mostly.

However I laugh at him.....only two goals against, one an OG, the other a bogus PK, yeah I think we have some things going for us.

The Azzurri have to play our way, not the way the English media thinks we should play.

Its really funny, but I also read the odd South American paper, namely from Argentina, and they admire Italian football. They accept that it is different from their own, but they don't try to make excuses or put it down...or put down the accomplishments of a nation.

There is only one Brazil. Live with it, and move on. Play to your strengths.

[Jager]

Originally Posted by hanuma

This Italy isn't one of the great ones and man for amn they aren't that much better than England.

But they play 100 times better than England ever could at the moment.

Well said, and I agree with what you are trying to say.

[Candide]

Defensive tactics
The first World Cup with no hat-trick
No underdogs madde it very far (Ukraine, Ghana and Australia only)
No risks by managers or players
Poor refereeing

Yeah, this World Cup was dissapointing considering previous World Cups and how well the coaches and players perform at club level.

[russe||]

Originally Posted by hanuma

This Italy isn't one of the great ones and man for amn they aren't that much better than England.

But they play 100 times better than England ever could at the moment.

True but how much is that down to the coaches and how much down to the players different abilities?

[MUFC]

Originally Posted by Jager

I wish we had England's midfield, Lampard and Gerrard mostly.

However I laugh at him.....only two goals against, one an OG, the other a bogus PK, yeah I think we have some things going for us.

The Azzurri have to play our way, not the way the English media thinks we should play.

Its really funny, but I also read the odd South American paper, namely from Argentina, and they admire Italian football. They accept that it is different from their own, but they don't try to make excuses or put it down...or put down the accomplishments of a nation.

There is only one Brazil. Live with it, and move on. Play to your strengths.

Give me Gattuso and Pirlo and there you got the rite balance. You dont get that with Lampard and Gerrard playing together.

[hanuma]

Originally Posted by russe||

True but how much is that down to the coaches and how much down to the players different abilities?

I think we've all seen it's a mixture of both.

But it's also not atall surprising that the 2 teams with the most to prove and the 2 teams that were the most detatched from the outside and introspective got to the final.

Italian NT players had a cause to fight for. French NT players had a point to prove and their own nation to prove wrong.

Where was the England players initiative beyond just doing it for themselves. Most of them seemed too thick to appreciate the incredible fan support and there was no philosophy behind what Svenn wanted to do. If he had said, I want to see us play ultra-attacking football or ultra-defensive football (given a purpose) then we might have seen some cohesion.

Edit: Could Lampard and Gerrard play together? Yes, I'm sure they could...but probably not to any top level without a holding midfielder unless they had a whole season to work at it. Did we have the right man to get them to gel? (maybe, but probably not) Really a redundant question, was it possible to get them to work without constantly playing that way over the period of a year? (like the Italians have) No, unbloodylikely.

Ultimately what we got was an England team that woefully underpeformed, lacked any purpose and 2 sides that weren't in anyway vastly superior (yet had a cause) managed to perform to a vastly superior level and rightly went further than England.

I could say that this England team hasn't had a purpose since 1970 when we went to defend our World Cup and perhaps the only examples since was in 1996 when we were very unlucky (1990 doesn't count because we were very lucky then, the manager even stumbled onto the tactics that would prove succesful).

[LAF]

Italy's passing game is far more superior. They know how to keep the ball better.
Gerrard and Rooney would be the only players that could make it in the Italy team.

[hanuma]

Joe Cole is better than Camoranesi, I'd take Gerrard over Perrotta, but you can't break up Pirlo/Gattuso (in many ways Lippi was silly to do that and got lucky with DeRossi's ban).

I'd take Totti over Rooney when Totti is at his best, he was awesome for Roma before his injury. Rooney could be as good as Totti one day, maybe better (we'll see).

England is weak compaired to Italy for strikers.

[UltraViseu]

The dissapointing thing abut this cup is that we had to face Mexico, Ingerland and Holland, and Italy had the mighty Australia and Ukraine!!! Grrrrrrr.......

[azzurri]

Originally Posted by UltraViseu

The dissapointing thing abut this cup is that we had to face Mexico, Ingerland and Holland, and Italy had the mighty Australia and Ukraine!!! Grrrrrrr.......

thats because Italy finished at the top of their group, which was clearly the hardest of the tournament. Ukraine was a result of France finishing 2nd and going on to play spain instead of Ukraine. If france would have finished 1st, they would have played Ukraine, and than Italy. Thats not Italy's fault. France should have tried harder in the group stages.

Not to mention we knocked out the host. Luck, more like skill and determination.

CAMPIONI DEL MONDO!!!

[UltraViseu]

Originally Posted by azzurri

thats because Italy finished at the top of their group, which was clearly the hardest of the tournament. Ukraine was a result of France finishing 2nd and going on to play spain instead of Ukraine. If france would have finished 1st, they would have played Ukraine, and than Italy. Thats not Italy's fault. France should have tried harder in the group stages.

Not to mention we knocked out the host. Luck, more like skill and determination.

CAMPIONI DEL MONDO!!!

I never said it was luck, I just wanted to see Italy play Brazil. That was my dream. Oh well. Overall the Cup sucked because I hate games that are decided on PKs. Not enough goals for me.