Azzurri Wrapping up that Qualification Thing

By: Martha | November 21st, 2007

The KingHow quickly things change — just a few days ago, the press (and the rest of us) were in a Euro 2008 frenzy, hanging on Roberto Donadoni’s every wise word, closely analyzing his possible formations, and talking endlessly about the Scots and their frenzied supporters. Now, though, you have to dig to find out the Azzurri have a match today. Instead, we have articles about the one maniac who traveled to the Faroes to watch the Azzurrini play today — these, my friend, are the things that really matter.

What, you didn’t know about the match? Yeah, the big boys are playing the Faroe Islands, the team of part-timers who made Italy look terribly pedestrian in their 2-1 win on the frozen tundra back in June. Now that it doesn’t matter, the Azzurri will probably win 14-3, with four goals each from Old Man Panucci and Luca Toni, who’ll celebrate his homecoming with a flip after each goal. Or, you know, not.

The press conferences since Saturday’s win have been nothing but Donadoni solidifying his position (to the chagrin of many), comparing himself to the Pope, and talking grandly about the few spots still open in his Euros squad, while his players pat themselves on the back and do clever things like demanding apologies from the haters. No mention, now, of things like systems or fitness, or who’s playing where in training. All we know for sure right now is that Marco Amelia will get the start in goal, but it’s assumed that, if everything goes as planned, Donadoni will give a chance to some of his squad players. (In other words, he might trim the number of Milan players on the pitch by one or two.)

All of which is a very long way of saying: If you’re planning to spend your afternoon watching the match, you’re probably a)very, very devoted, b)incredibly bored, and c)can’t find a stream for one of the games that matters.





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Comments  

  • Vin |  November 21st, 2007 at 9:21 am

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    Nice post, Martha. I caught the Donadoni=Pope stuff too. It’s hilarious.

    Posted from United States United States

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  • Martha |  November 21st, 2007 at 10:32 am

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    Thanks, Vin — it’s nice the Don’s developing an infallibility complex, just in time to lose some friendlies (The Dutch!) and get ripped some more …

    Posted from United States United States

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  • Laurie |  November 21st, 2007 at 11:05 am

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    Did you hear that Frey is starting against Ukraine today?

    Posted from United States United States

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  • Martha |  November 21st, 2007 at 11:19 am

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    Just saw that in my feeds, Laurie — I’m sure he’s not regained his sanity, so what’s the reason for the sudden change?

    Posted from United States United States

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  • sofia |  November 21st, 2007 at 1:32 pm

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    great game against the faroes although we did start letting up towards the end. in the first half the faroes couldnt get it past half which left me wondering if this game was even fair. haha congrats to the azzurri and the azzurrini for their wins today. still hate donadoni even though we did qualify. 2010 WC qualifying groups are being drawn on sunday. italy along with some other european teams will be seeded so we most likely wont have to play people like france or portugal in the qualifying round.

    Posted from Canada Canada

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  • Paolo |  November 21st, 2007 at 2:13 pm

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    This is one game I am glad I missed becasue watching England lose today was absolutley awesome!!

    Posted from United States

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  • Marco |  November 21st, 2007 at 4:37 pm

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    Donadoni = Pope? Dear oh dear…

    By the way, I take offense at that last sentence Martha, but:

    a) Yes
    b) Yes…
    c) Actually, the England-Croatia game must have had at least two dozen streams on myp2p.eu. I caught the last 20 minutes of it and stared in disbelief, at how England managed to fu** it up even after Israel’s gift last Saturday. Appalling.

    Posted from United States

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  • Fred |  November 23rd, 2007 at 4:39 pm

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    I wonder where those people are that were saying Italy would not qualify last Semptember. My how the tables have turned, not only did they qualify but they won the group with only one loss. I always say don’t count your chickens before they hatch you just end up looking like an idiot, run and hide nay-sayers, run and hide. Regardless of how Italy do next year at least we broke the curse that was looming over us. It was a hard campaign, Italy had to struggle with a lot of bad luck but they manage to land on both feet and get a positive result. Something just occured to me, no British teams in the euro.

    Posted from Canada Canada

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