Ras' Football World

 Before Euro 2020 started, I left it to the players to prove themselves on the pitch. The reasons of it you can read it here, https://rasfootballworld.blogspot.com/2021/06/time-for-italy-to-prove-themselves.html . The team has proven themselves and how. The Complete Team Italy showed itself to be a complete team. They dominated and swept aside Turkey and Switzerland in the first two games. They managed the game well in the third game against Wales with qualification secured, against Austria in the 2 nd Round, they faced a stern and awkward test by a team that played direct and physically pressed hard. We found an answer to that through the quality we had on the bench. In the quarter-final, we played against the best-ranked team in the world, Belgium and we dominated them for most parts of it. To close out the game, we relied on our traditional defensive organisation, solidity and resilience. We were closed out and unable to play our usual game by the Spanish in the semi-final an...

 Italy are Champions of Europe for the first time since 1968, a 53 year-long wait. Our unbeaten run stretched to 34 matches and proved to be fruitful as we won something to show for it. I have seen Italy lose two European Championships finals, heartbreakingly at Euro 2000 and humiliated at Euro 2012 so this victory goes some way to easing the pain felt mainly for Euro 2000. I am elated, on a high and have a lot to say but first, let’s look back at the match in Part 1. The Final Italy was caught out cold by England’s change in formation just as they were by the change of Spanish tactics in the semi-final. England scored from their first attack and it was a well-constructed move that started with Harry Kane. Giovanni Di Lorenzo was caught napping at the back post and was not covered by Federico Chiesa. England threatened to score more through the same source that provided the assist, Kieran Trippier on the right flank. Their goalscorer, Luke Shaw too carried a threat on the opposit...

Dear Italy, I have been a fan of your national team since 1991 (or it could be the later part of 1990). I am writing this letter to you to talk to you ahead of the Euro 2020 final against England at Wembley tomorrow or Monday morning based on where I am staying. In my history as a fan, I have seen you get to two European Championships finals. The first one was in the year 2000 and we were just minutes away from celebrating an unlikely triumph when it was snatched out of our hands and then tragically pierced through our hearts in extra time. I still look at that final with regrets because if only Alessandro Del Piero had put away one of the two chances he had, that goal in the final minutes wouldn’t have mattered. That’s fate and luck. In 2012, we were royally embarrassed by a far superior team that was at the peak of their powers that day while we were completely out of it. In such cases, you do feel ashamed and have the urge of covering your head in the sand but you got to show ...

There’s a lot more you can learn about a team when they lose a game or turn in a below-par performance. Italy’s navigated their group stage with a 100% win record for the first time since Euro 2000, scoring seven goals and conceding none. Their performances attracted a lot of positive attention as they broke away from the usual defensive, counter-attacking Italian style. Progressively, I feel Italy’s challengers have got stronger after the first game against Turkey. Against Switzerland, Italy scored at the right time to kill off any hope of the Swiss mounting a comeback.   Then against the Welsh, the team was rotated heavily and that match became comfortable after a harsh red card for Ethan Ampadu. Italy Rattled This morning against Austria, I felt Italy dallied too long with their final ball and shot. That allowed the Austrians who were sitting back in numbers to close down quickly. The one quick, incisive move Italy created ended with a shot by Nicolo Barella saved by Danie...

We are on the eve of Euro 2020 and Italy will kick off the tournament for the first time in my time as a fan. In the days leading up to the tournament, there has been a lot of positive attention on the team. Some are tipping them to be the dark horses of the tournament, some are tipping them to go all the way to the final and even winning it. If you have followed the Italian national team as long as I have, you will know that this spells trouble. Whenever Italy has entered a tournament as one of the favourites, they have disappointed for example 1996, 2002 and 2004. The only exception would be 1994 where they went all the way to the final after a slow start. When no one has given them a chance, they have done well as we have seen in 2000, 2006, 2012 and to an extent, 2016. If I apply this logic, it doesn’t bode well for Italy in this tournament. I have not watched Italy play since that unfateful World Cup qualifier playoff elimination by Sweden in 2017 because I have not had any ac...