EURO 2024
  
FORZA AZZURRI!!
 




Friday, June 14
Westfalenstadion, Dortmund
ITALIA - Albania 2-1
 
   
   
 

Bravo to the VARs in the Group E game Belgium
versus Slovakia in Frankfurt. If it had not been for
the correct and impartial application of VAR, the
favorites and favored would have won the match
Maradona-style, with uncalled offside scoring
and unseen handballs, that "no one" would have
noticed. BRAVO VARS! You give football a good
name and you give fairness, equality and trans-
parency a chance! I bet that is one of the reasons
why some would have loved to eliminate you and
have arbitrariness and a return to the "wild west".
 
Thursday, June 20
Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen
España - ITALIA 1-0
Italy was very fortunate to escape humiliation.
We saw one big nothing plus Donnarumma.
Something needs to change radically. Spalletti
has taken a group of 26 World-class players,
second to none in talents, skills and quality,
and has formed a team without strategy,
very little personality and essentially aimless,
whose midfield is adrift, cannot hold the ball
or combine effectively and cannot imagine,
take initiative or create chances. With players
such as Jorginho, Barella, Pellegrini, Chiesa
and Fagioli such scarcity and lack of ideas,
inspiration and imagination is neither
justifiable nor acceptable. WAKE UP and
do what you ought to do, what needs to be
done. No more laxity, no more excuses.
 
 
 
 
 

A few comments about VARs. You are supposed
to review plays carefully and not shy away from
awarding penalty kicks when infractions occur in
the area solely to avoid controversy. Both in the
Switzerland-Germany game (which I watched)
and, it also seems, in the Scotland-Hungary
game (which I did not watch) VARs failed to
award Germany and Scotland, respectively,
penalty kicks, which, clearly, might have changed
the result and, perhaps, the final classification.
If an attacker is in the box, ready to participate in
a developing play, and he is hugged from behind
and brought down by an overzealous defender,
for me it is clear that VARs should call for a review.

Monday, June 24
Red Bull Arena, Leipzig
Croatia - ITALIA 1-1
We did see a different Team yesterday. A Team
with high degrees of skill and coordination, with
many players, starting from Gigio and all the way
to those coming in from the bench, distinguishing
themselves and fighting tooth and nail for a positive
result. I want to mention especially Gigio, Riccardo,
Alessandro, Matteo D., Jorginho and Nicolò B., Lorenzo,
Federico D., Giovanni, Matteo R., Giacomo, Davide,
Federico C., Gianluca, Mattia and Nicolò F.
   
   
   
  
 

I hear that the Croats are not happy with the 8 minute
added time and, even though 4 minutes is more or less
the default and in this game there was a penalty review,
they are, perhaps, justified. On the other hand, I cannot
imagine that they would have raised any complaints had
they won, nor that they would have been even an iota
unhappy (for Italy) had the positions of the two teams
in the scoring sheet been reversed.

Complaints about added time are generally justified,
since the way this is currently decided is capricious,
arbitrary and non-transparent. Generally speaking,
part of the benefits that the addition of VARs has
certainly added to the game is being taken away or
reduced by the haphazardness by which injury time
is added, and the feeling that this is done to benefit
those favored. To correct this, football refereeing
authorities should add a referee exclusively in charge
of deciding on added time and record painstakingly
the way he makes his decisions based on clearly
stated guidelines. The main features should be:
1. Added time for injuries during play, exactly
    equaling the time lost from the whistle to the
    resumption of play;
2. Added time for VAR reviews, exactly equaling
    the time lost from the whistle to the resumption
    of play;
3. Added time for substitutions, if the player being
    substituted takes more than half a minute or so
    to walk off the pitch.
THIS MUST BE DONE NOW! COMPLAINTS, SUCH
AS CROATIA'S, SHOULD NOT BE OCCURRING,
SINCE, NOWADAYS, WITH OUR TECHNOLOGICAL
ADVANCES, WE HAVE THE MEANS TO ENSURE
OBJECTIVITY AND FAIRNESS AND TO ELIMINATE
ARBITRARINESS AND FAVORITISM.

FORZA AZZURRI!!


Saturday, June 29
Olympiastadion, Berlin
Switzerland - ITALIA 2-0
A huge let down and a big disappointment. The worst
feeling is that we went in without a plan and we did not
even try. Even when losing, this time, we could neither
perform nor fight against a team which had a strategy,
but was not that impressive. This was not our summer.
I will not repeat what I wrote after España-Italia, but it
applies to today's game verbatim, and, unfortunately,
today's game was not one that granted a raincheck
for underperformance and lackadaisicalness.
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Leaving behind our disappointment, let us follow the hosts,
the Mannschaft of Julian Nagelsmann.

Saturday, June 29
Westfalenstadion, Dortmund
GERMANY-Denmark 2-0

I understand the pain of Denmark, but, frankly, I do not
understand their argument at all. Rules are rules and
they may be broken by one millimeter or by one centi-
meter, but you cannot say one mm is OK, but one cm
is not OK. This makes the call subjective and no one
wants to restart these shenanigans that always favor
the favorites and the powerful against the weak. And,
no matter how the rule changes, the same will always
be the case. They say that Wenger's rules would be
better, allowing offsides only when the body is all
placed in an offside position. But be aware! The same
complaints would occur then. Teams will say ``the body
was all offside by only a millimeter; how unfair that
decision was.'' So do not get fooled by complaints
and leave the rule alone! As long as it is enforced
fairly and uniformly for all (and good and impartial
use of technology can ensure that), that is all that
really matters. The rest is a prejudicial discussion,
with a hidden agenda and ulterior motives.
   
   
   
   
   

Friday, July 5
Stuttgartarena, Stuttgart
Espana-GERMANY 2-1
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Friday, July 5
Volksparkstadion, Hamburg
Portugal-France 0-0 (3-5)
 
   
   
   
   
   
   

Saturday, July 6
Düsseldorf Arena, Düsseldorf
England-Switzerland 1-1 (5-3)
In, by far, the worst and most boring game of the tournament
so far, England, which is playing a totally aimless and terrible
game, as if it consisted of amateur players of lower divisions,
won against an equally boring and pathetic Switzerland. It just
makes me even sadder and more disappointed that Italy was
left out by such awfully performing nonentities.
   
   
   
   
   

Saturday, July 6
Olympiastadion, Berlin
Netherlands-Türkiye 2-1
One of the best games so far. We were rewarded amply
by the Netherlands and Turkey for our Jobian patience
earlier in the day during the parody, the ultimate joke
and utter bore, of the game England-Switzerland.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 

Tuesday, July 9
Allianz Arena, München
España-France 2-1
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 

Wednesday, July 10
Westfalenstadion, Dortmund
Netherlands-England 1-2
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

I hear that people are now praising Southgate and England.
The problem is that, if one takes into account the monetary
value of the players constituting the English team, their
appearance and performance in this tournament, despite
the fact that they have reached the Final and the fact that
in the semifinal against the Netherlands they showed a bit
more nerve than what they had dsplayed before, have been
generally appalling and much below expectations.
Even factoring in what we saw in the semifinal, my view
is that, unless England steps up even further or something
catastrophic happens to Spain, the cup will indisputably
and deservedly go, not to the Island but, to the Peninsula.
The only thing Southgate must have in his mind, with the
kind of football he has been orchestrating and showcasing
(if one can call it that), is not to be completely and utterly
humiliated by the talented, skillful, flary, inventive and
enthusiastic Spaniards.

Sunday, July 14
Olympiastadion, Belin
España-England 2-1