The Ballon d'Or is nothing if not a lightning rod for controversy and year-long verbal sparring matches with inflatable gloves. Yes, some deserving players win it. Others not so deserving also win it. In short, it's like nearly every other award handed out by any other organization in the world. But perhaps worth the debate is [. Click to continue reading...

Sorry for the lack of updates, but there's been zilch news on the international front. Buffon is injured but should be back in time for our next qualifiers. Pirlo is out for 2 months so we'll have to make due without him. Everything else- including the call ups- still are yet to be announced. So for an Azzurri blog, it's kinda hard to write when there's no Azzurri news.

Click to continue reading...

Frivolous goal rankings based on a careful review of the Arsenal.com's 10-minute highlights from tonight's League Cup match:

1. The 3rd Goal, from Carlos Vela. The first of his hat trick. Bendtner, who already had a double at that point, won it in midfield and chipped a sweet pass to Vela down the right who had a great touch to play the ball into the box, and a stunning shot with his left boot. Click to continue reading...

(first, sorry for the lack of posts the last two days, we'll be back on scheduled programming starting now)

Daniele De Rossi scored his first ever "doppietta" (brace) in an Azzurri shirt to give Italy the 3 points vs. Georgia. Italy now have 6 points for the first two games and have made an excellent start to World Cup Qualfying, despite their mediocre play.

Click to continue reading...

Live from the Stadio Friuli in Udine Italy, Italy vs. Georgia in World Cup 2010 Qualifying.   Television coverage in North America is available on both Gol TV and Gol TV Canada, Sept 10th @ 2:45 pm EST, with a match repeat @ 9:00 pm on both Gol TV and Gol TV Canada. (also available on RAI international) match preview to follow [. Click to continue reading...

«In Europa stupiremo: se superiamo il girone, arriviamo a Roma! Siamo tosti e presto l'Inter se ne renderà conto. La difesa è tra le più forti, con in più Buffon. Auguro a Tiago la stessa cosa che è accaduta a me, stavo per andarmene e poi...» BEN RITROVATO, Nicola Legrottaglie.

Click to continue reading...

Amelia is out and will not play in the upcoming qualifiers. He picked up a back injury in training and word is that the doctors don't want to risk the injury being any worse. Which is a shame cause he was really starting to grow on me. Buffon and De Sanctis are still there, but a third goalie could be called it.

Click to continue reading...

Il profumo di Europa assaporato nei palazzi di Nyon ha fatto bene. Il giorno dopo il sorteggio che ha fatto iniziare ufficialmente l'avventura in Champions League, la Juventus (per la prima volta in campo con la maglia color oro) si regala un'altra perla e batte l'Arsenal a domicilio.

Click to continue reading...

The Big Football kept going where I left off on the great saves post.

I saw a couple over there that I had to share. Enjoy!

1. Bogdon Lobont


2. Gigi Buffon Click to continue reading...

Mi manda Picone...bolli!

All'inizio del ritiro era stato Nedved ad intervenire su Stankovic per perorare la causa del serbo in maglia bianconera.

Oggi tocca a Buffon rilasciare l'intervista dicendo che questa Juve è alla pari di Inter e Roma.

Click to continue reading...

Idiocy can certainly be tolerated on message boards, blogs or college campuses. Indeed, on some level we expect nonsense to emanate from all three areas. That's kind of what they're there for, right? So when somebody on the BigSoccer sewing circle argues with conviction about the New York Red Bulls' needing to go after Cristiano Ronaldo, Fabio Capello, Ronaldinho, Buffon or Drogba, we can kind of laugh it off the same way we would an 18-year old arguing the virtues of Marxism. Click to continue reading...

19 year old striker Andy Carroll talked today to the Evening Chronicle, about his very definite first-team ambitions next season. Andy Carroll - clashes with Buffon in pre-season - that was clearly a foul Click to continue reading...

Nel giorno in cui la Juventus ha ufficialmente iniziato la stagione 2008/2009 Claudio Ranieri ha affermato a chiare lettere che ambire allo scudetto è lecito. Ho letto di parecchie lamentele sulla Rete riguardo a questa affermazione, in quanto la squadra sembra, ad esclusione di Amauri, la stessa della scorso anno, ma più vecchia e con una competizione in più da affrontare.

Click to continue reading...

With the Euro's just past, I think it was befitting to find a video that sums up the explosive goalkeeping performance of some of the best of a generation, and those whom stand in their wake. Personally, I felt that some of the goalkeeping displayed in this Euro 2008 competition was the very best I've seen in quite a while.

Click to continue reading...

Italy have finally seen the light. Like our own great nation, they are have cultivated a nicely casual hostility towards immigrants over the last few years, presumably buoyed on by some sterling work by the European branches of The Sun and the Daily Facist. Now obviously this is all well and good while it only threatens cabbies and chop-shop mechanics, one of Italy's best-known models has now been caught up in the nationalistic storm after admitting recently that she too was an illegal immigrant, living in fear of deportation and forced foxy-boxing down at the docks. Click to continue reading...

With Cesc the only Arsenal player remaining at the tournament (sorry Jens, you no longer count), I thought it would be appropriate to take a brief look at what each of our players achieved in Austria/Switzerland:

Cesc Fabregas: Scored his first international goal for his home country and showed that he's a man by beating Buffon to give Spain the win in penalties.

Click to continue reading...

CHA ha realizado su nueva obra, la caricatura de San Iker Casillas. Un ángel para España , demonio para Italia.
El domingo pasado fue duelo de porteros, Buffon quedo debiendo, pero entre San Cuartos y San Iker España ha pasado a semifinales.


Si te gusto esta nota, deja un comentario o subscribete a nuestro feed y mantente al tanto sobre todo el FutBlog Click to continue reading...

VIENNA (Austria), 22 June 2008 - The adventure is over. Spain beat Italy 4-2 in the penalty shootout and send them packing. The magic of Berlin disappears on a hot Vienna night. After a goalless 120', De Rossi and Di Natale miss their penalties, while Buffon manages to stop Guiza's shot. Click to continue reading...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. 
Worst. Game. Ever.
This game was so dull that it really isn't worthy of a proper match report, in fact if it hadn't been for the fact that I'm blogging this tournament I would've turned this snoozefest off and watched "Big Brother" or some other vacuous Channel 4 crap.
Italy were extremely defensive and without Pirlo, who was suspended, to pull the strings in midfield, they resorted to pumping the ball forward for Luca Toni to head, scuff, mis-control and occasionally shoot everywhere but towards the direction of Casillas's goal. Click to continue reading...

After three exciting quarter finals we were last night presented with possibly the most boring spectacle of the tournament so far. Even France against Romania was probably more thrilling that what we witnessed on Sunday evening. I have lost all respect for the Italians after they refused to come out and play football, deciding to revert to a style you would normally associate with lower league football in England. Click to continue reading...

Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso has spoken of his "fascination" with Italian football as speculation over his mooted transfer to Juventus continues apace.

The Liverpool playmaker is part of the Spain squad preparing to face Italy in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 on Sunday, a match during which Alonso could come face to face with a number of future team-mates at the Bianconeri. Click to continue reading...

This sucks to have to write. Spain defeated Italy 4-2 on penalty kicks today to advance to the semifinals of the Euro tournament. The first 120 minutes of the game consisted of Spain attempting to create chances, and Italy playing perfect defense to shut them out. Italy on the other hand, could not get anything going on offense, characterized by another bad showing from Luca Toni. Click to continue reading...

I was hoping for a 3-1 game figuring that if that was the final score that it would be a Spanish victory. It was disappointing not only to see the game go to penalties, but for it to be 0-0 with so many great players on the pitch. Was it me or did it look like Buffon dove to his right before Fabregas even kicked the ball? Click to continue reading...

I was hoping for a 3-1 game figuring that if that was the final score that it would be a Spanish victory. It was disappointing not only to see the game go to penalties, but for it to be 0-0 with so many great players on the pitch. Was it me or did it look like Buffon dove to his right before Fabregas even kicked the ball? Click to continue reading...

With the Euro group stages ended, here is a look at the team of the group stages:

Goalie: Giggi Buffon, Italy
Defenders: Sergio Ramos, Spain
Defenders: Pepe, Portugal
Defenders: Vedran Corluka, Croatia
Defenders: Gio Van Bronkhorst, Dutch
Midfielders: Wesley Sneijder (right), Dutch
Midfielders: Arda Turan, Turkey
Midfielders: Luka Modric, Croatia
Midfielders: Deco, Portugal
Strikers:: David Silva, Spain
Striker: Nihat Kahveci, Turkey

Subs:
Ronaldo, Portugal
Rafeel van der Vaart, Dutch
Orlando Engelaar, Dutch
Lukas Podolski, Germany
Marco Senna, Spain
Roman Pavlyuenko, Russia Click to continue reading...

The last thing Euro 2008 needs is a repeat of 2006 World Cup result As they've already proved with a big defeat to Holland, and narrow escapes against both Romania (Buffon's late penalty save) and France (got to play majority... Click to continue reading...

France 0-2 Italy. Ladies & gentlemen, this is how you mix a "Blue Lagoon": 1 oz Vodka (Pirlo), 1 oz Blue Curaçao (De Rossi), cherry (Buffon's save on Benzema), 1 part Lemonade. Don't have any lemonade? We'll settle for some Oranje zest (Huntelaar and Van Persie). The Azzurri's Euro 2008 adventure continues to the [. Click to continue reading...

Thierry Henry loves to get cute in front of goal. All flashes and finesse touches. And today he scored a stunning goal just that way. Unfortunately, it was into his own goal as he stuck out an instinctive foot to a Daniel De Rossi free kick and deflected it neatly into the right hand corner.

Click to continue reading...

France 0-2 Italy. Ladies & gentlemen, this is how you mix a "Blue Lagoon": 1 oz Vodka (Pirlo), 1 oz Blue Curaçao (De Rossi), cherry (Buffon's save on Benzema), 1 part Lemonade. Don't have any lemonade? We'll settle for some Oranje zest (Huntelaar and Van Persie). The Azzurri's Euro 2008 adventure continues to the Quarter-Finals. Click to continue reading...

In a rematch of the 2006 World Cup Final, Italy and France were playing to try and keep their Euro 08 hopes alive. Both teams knew that a Romania win would eliminate them both, but they had to focus on their own game. Italy controlled the play early on, but it was in the 24th minute that the game changed. Click to continue reading...

After today's absolute cracker of a match between Turkey and The Czech Republic, I'm left breathless.  ESPN was so enamored that they replayed the match from the beginning straight away- an excellent programming choice, as it was the absolute perfect match for a neutral.   Drama, heart, an incredible comeback, an insane last minute ending. Click to continue reading...

With the final score reading 4 -1 it was total football from the men in orange and total embarrassment for the french....more
In the other game Buffon kept Italy alive in the group of death by saving a penalty.It now means that the next game with France will decide who stays in the tournament.

Click to continue reading...

Premier League referees' chief Keith Hackett said that the goal Van Nistelrooy scored was okay after all.He looked a mile offside when he knocked the ball past Buffon.
But it appears he was played onside by defender Christian Panucci, who was lying off the pitch at the time.Take a look at the picture.

Click to continue reading...

Statistical Analysis of Group C for 09 June 2008
by Steve Amoia for Keeper Skool

To complement Liviu's coverage of Euro 2008, I thought that we could take a statistical look at goalkeeping performances.

Here are the game statistics, courtesy of the La Gazzetta dello Sport from Italy, for the keepers of today's Group C matches.

Click to continue reading...

Highlights from the Holland vs. Italy match on Day 3 Footytube Holland 3 - 0 Italy Van Nistelrooy 25 (H), Sneijder 31 (H), Van Brockhurst 80 (H) Holland: Van der Sar; Ooijer, Mathijsen, Bouhlarouz (Heitinga 77), Van Bronckhorst; De Jong, Engelaar; Sneijder, Van Der Vaart, Kuyt (Afellay 81); Van Nistelrooy (Van Persie 70) Italy: Buffon; Panucci, Materazzi (Grosso 54), Barzagli, Zambrotta; Click to continue reading...