Why did Italy go from World Champions to 'rock bottom'?

Why is it a surprise? Italy played badly, as did France. England is mediocre and they too didn't deserve the high expectations. My money is on Germany, Brazil, the Netherlands and Argentina, one of them will be the next world champion. France, England and Italy didn't deserve their status as "favorites".

Age it finally caught up to them. Italy have been resting on their laurels and strange refereeing decision too long. In a World Cup where pace mattered more than accuracy, they were victims of tired aged legs.

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I'm sorry but they were in decline even before the 2006 World Cup

2006 was a fluke. Not saying they didn't deserve it, but they certainly weren't the best. The squad has been getting older and older, and the youngsters aren't given a chance at all. Combined with inept managers, they're a second-rate team now. I can't believe people are actually suprised that they didn't make it.

One of the most defensive and boring teams on this planet eliminated can only be good for the next rounds.

Italy were robbed today and against New Zealand. If we won back to back World Cups, it would have been bad for world football. So FIFA decided to throw us out of the tournament early.

Shado

Go lie down, take a pill or two and chill. Sheeez man.

"ITALIAN EQUALIZER WAS IN IT WENT OVER THE LINE PLAY THE VT::::
THE DISALLOWED OFFSIDE ????!!!!"

Go cry to the Yanks. We still don't know why our game winner against Slovenia was disallowed and yet we still went on to top the group over 'favorites' England.

You know, some teams just think they can just show up and someone is going to hand them a trophy. That's not how the World Cup works. Italy, France, (and England, quite frankly) have all learned that the hard way.

Unless national home grown players are given the chance to play in the best Premier and Serie A league teams, both England and Italy will continue to suffer.Inter won the champions'league without Italian players and with a foreign coach.

Italy were lethargic throughout the tournament. They tried long balls too often and just didn't have the skill to create enough god chances. Even when they did, their strikers were awful... until, that is, the introduction of Quagliarella. Lippi kept faith too long with the old guard.. what Iaquinta is doing there i don't know.. just a lumpy centre forward who can't seem to score goals...if Quagliarella had been on from the first game, I think they would have got through but Lippi isn't someone who likes to be bold, let's hope the new manager comes in with different ideas and creates a team with flair and ability, one that is good to watch and won't have everyone cheering their exits from major tournaments

Is the moderation team controlled by Bettega? Everything is modded lol!!
Otherwise, sorry but being surprised by Italy's elimination means that you know NOTHING about football.
Pirlo is the only player who can make the difference and was injured.
Pazzini, Balotelli and Cassano have been ignored by Lippi.

shado1, i haven't laughed that hard in ages. that was utterly brilliant

shado1 you've accidentally put an extra "h" in your name mate.

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I'm sick and tired of people saying they are too old, Cannavaro is the only player i saw that that statement can apply to, Camonarasi is 32 and he changed the two games he played in, di natalie is 32 and just finished top scorer in Seria A and Zambrotta, 33, was solid, they just have a lack of quality players. I think i read on the bbc somewhere that Italy where actually the 5th oldest team. England on the other hand, James 39, Ferdinand 31, Upson 31, Carrager 32, Lampard 32, Hesky 32, Gerrard 30 and alot of players are aged bout 28, 29 the age is not the problem!

No 3, shado1, what are you on about?

There was no conspiracy to oust Italy, they were just rubbish. Not unlike France, the other 2006 finalists.

I'm sure the England Squad average age is older than the Italy one, yet we never hear that our guys are past it.

Maybe we'll here that on Sunday night though. Probably not though, 1/2 this group of players has failed at international level at least 3 times, many closer to 6, yet it's always the managers fault!

The clue is in the scoreline: 3-2. In the last world cup they only conceded two goals, one from a penalty and one from a own goal. In the 2008 European championships even spain couldn't unlock them in open play. In this world cup campaign they conceded five goals in the group stage, and three from...Slovenia, 3 goals which two years ago Slovenia would have had to play a whole week of solid football to score.

Italy used to play football that have today elevated teams such as Japan and New Zealand into decent opponents this year: The secret to winning tournament football is a solid defence or as the great swordsman Mushashi calls 'holding down the pillow' namely to allow your opponents' to engage in useless attacks and then counterattacking when the are spent or overstretched and punishing any mistakes they commit. This allows even mediocre teams with little pace or creativity to destroy the most fastest/strongest/skilled/aggressive teams. Thats why people are still scratching their head at Italy triumph in 2006. They didnt look like winners and yet outlasted all their competetitors.

This years they went for attacking football. Lots of passing, lots movement.Lots of rushing about like headless chickens. Lots of nonsense. The type of football that gets played week in week out in the EPL which doesn't translate into victory in international tournament football. Only one team - Brazil- can get away with scoring goals and sloppy defending. Instead Italy went for SKY McFootball.And got deserved punishment for its stupidity. Im sure viewers of RAI must have loved the fruits of attacking football.

Let us see how Italy has done in the last 20 years:

1994 WC played for penalties and lost to Brazil on penalties
1998 WC played for penalties and lost to France on penalties
2000 EC played for penalties and lost to France in extra time
2002 WC played for penalties and lost to S Korea late into the match
2006 WC played for penalties in the final and finally won this time
2008 WC played for penalties and lost to Spain on penalties
2010 WC the defensive game seems to have finally abandoned the and they are beaten in open play.

I don't miss Italy. Happy to see their backs and I hope that their miserable anti-football dies its natural death, and football, as played by Spain, lives on!

It makes me laugh when people say Italy are a boring team, they have a higher world cup scoring ratio than England has... go figure.

Allot of it is Jealousy and is quite ugly, simple as that. 6 world cup finals with 4 wins and and 2 Euro finals with 1 win.. If you compare that to England's 1 world cup final and 1 win (on home soil) then its clear to see that a world cup without Italy is not a good thing for football, as History shows.

I also find it amusing that people say Italy are lucky when you only need to look at the 5 perfectly good goals disallowed in Korea to laugh that statement off...

Italy were the most consistent team in 2006 and were strong in every area of the field knocking the hosts Germany out in fine fashion.. and THAT is why they won it.

This year, I think the fact they put their faith in a 36 yo Canavaro who will be playing his football in the middle east next season says it all.

They have some Great young players coming up and will no doubt be back, But I think a bit of arrogance from lippi and a team that needs rebuilding was Italys down fall.

Forza Italia!!

That Shado must be Italian right? If ever a comment buries its head in the sand that would be the epitome, surely? Italy were poor, I love a good conspiracy theory but they just didn't turn up for the tournament, though losing Gigi Buffon didn't help.

The teams that are doing well are the ones who want it the most and I for one am loving it.

Why oh why do people like "Shado" have to be convinced there's a conspiracy against the Italians? Can't you accept that possibly, just maybe, it was YOUR OWN FAULT!
Grow up and admist you're human like the rest of us :-)

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Italy was probably too old, too slow, too jaded and too complacent. The key feature in this World Cup is the higher-ranked teams’ underestimation of those lower-ranked ones. Latest example: look at Japan 2-up against Denmark with just set pieces and finally winner at 3-1.

It went wrong when they tried to cheat their way through the tournament when they couldn't even score a goal against New Zealand, just like they cheated their way past Australia in 2006. Falling over allover the place. Excellent Karma for De Rossi's dive in the box against NZ - seeing his great pass to set up the first Slovakia goal. Great to see the most boring team go out of the tournament, they didn't deserve to beat New Zealand, nor qualify. I am glad the ref wasn't falling for their antics in this Slovakia game as much.

Good to see them go out really, Quag's goal was very nice though.

Not surprised at all. It's quite refreshing to see all the "outsiders" doing well at the biggest stage.

Fatigue cannot be used as an excuse exclusively for Italy when we see other European based players performing well for their countries after long club seasons. The experience of Gattusso and Pirlo were major assets, but with these two injured for the first two games meant Italy had to show their true worth from day 1 of the tournament. Italy lacked conviction up front and none in midfield possessed the flair in the final third to devastate defences. The ommission of Cassanno and Rossi was criticised before the tournament and rightly so as they can offer what the others cannot. As always, the manager is culpable but it would be foolish to assume guilt to one party. A functioning balance was required from a pool of seasoned campaigners and the handful of youths to provide a wise head when needed and a refusal to adhere to stubborn defences. Too many fell short of previous standards achieved. This is the last tournament for so many great players in the squad who graced the game in the past 10 years, but the triumph of 2006 bookmarks their place in history.

Come on now -- this is a HUGE surprise. This was one of the weakest groups in living memory. Italy lost to Slovakia, and tied Paraguay and New Zealand. New Zealand -- they don't even have a football league in the country.

As a proud Italian (probably not after today) I am both frustrated and glad that Italy are out. All credit to Slovakia, they had their chances and took them, so I wish them well, no hard feelings. But...and I'm not clutching at straws here....at the start of this World Cup, Italy have NEVER been the favorites, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, England, Germany have been tipped by so many to win, not in any magazine, website etc etc have Italy been favorites. Same went for the last World Cup. The Italian media and pretty much every Italian you meet didn't have much hope, but I genuinely thought we'd get through to the next round, clearly we didn't.
And to all of you posting stupid and incorrect comments on this site about Italy (diving, cheating, boring) a word of warning...the 2006 win was NO FLUKE...the real Italy will be back. FORZA ITALIA

Yes we didn't deserve to go through. we only started playing in every game when we went behind, however there's some plain silly comments on this blog. we didn't deserve to win in 2006? You could say that about every team in modern times virtually except germany in 1990 couldn't you? Since when has any competition provide the best team as champions, if that was the case man u would have won the champs league more than twice since the mid 90's. They weren't in decline in 2006. They're not in decline now. they have some young players who lack experience, and they were ccomplacent from the off, which is Lippi's resposibility and the senior players.There was massive debate in Italy about him leaving del Piero and Totti behind. Sorry but i seem to remember the best game at 2006 was the semi with germany. negative and boring my foot.

Not saying they weren't poor - but there was no way that goal was offside. His head that was 'poking out' was in fact clearly level with the defenders foot. You'd think one of the fools on tv would have pointed that out but no because they are all biased against Italy. If they spoke they way they do about Italy about any of the African teams they'd be accused of racism. They always take sides with the team playing Italy and frankly it's embarrassing.

#4 RedGalore I don't see how 2006 was a fluke. They WERE the best team, Argentina were a good team but they put in a disappointing performance when it mattered in the quarters. I bet you're one of those who insists Brazil were the best in 1982. They weren't - yes they were stunning in an attacking sense, but their striker was poor, goalkeeper was poor, and defenders were playing like strikers. Basically, they couldn't defen and it cost them.

Also Peter funny how you say Italy are boring - they were in the best game of the last World Cup and another classic today. Tactically astute (unlike every juvenile's favourite's Brazil) does not make you boring, that just makes you better than if you play with no sense. I have watched Holland 3 times in this World cup and they have been far more boring. England were extremely boring in their first 2 games. Spain haven't really entertained me apart from that David Villa goal. I think you're just going with the stereotype.

I'm glad they're out, the didn't play well enough for a start to deserve to go through, but mainly because I'm sick of watching the endless diving and cheating which is a blight on the game, and the Italians are the worst at it. FIFA need to get their act together and wipe out diving and cheating from the game. Citing the player after the game would be a good start

@shado1

Either you're joking or you're David Icke.

Unfortunately Italy have been poor since winning the last world cup. I must have been the only one thinking they would go out first round and embarass us as a footballing nation. Lippi was to stubborn to listen and should never have come out of retirement and picked not an aging side as most will have you believe but a squad of individuals who cannot perform as a team. Most of the squad were from Juventus who have had the worst season ever and should only have had Chiellini included. Certainly not the rest and that includes Buffon. Too many players were chosen on past merits although Zambrotta did play well. The newer players like Maggio and Qualliarella have the passion and determination to do their best and it was a shame they were only give half a game to show it. Marchetti is not as good as people in Italy think. De Sanctis who was 3rd choice has kept more clean sheets than most goalkeepers in Serie A including Buffon and MMarchetti and should have been first choice or at the very least 2nd choice. How could he leave Giuseppe Rossi at home? What about Iaquinta who is the equivalent of Emile Heskey to England. Anyone who follows football knows that if two players have played together at club level as strikers and been successful will play well Di Natale and Qualliarella would have been formidable. The midfield was awfu! What happened to De Rossi he was awful! Gattuso the same! How could he even get into the squad as he's been awful all season! It was just a woeful performance all round. Can't wait to see their reception when they get back to Italy. Hopefully Prandelli will do better and pick
a team that is hungry to do well. If he does then watch out for 2014 as we will be back (I hope!).

Why didn't Lippi shake hands with the Slovakia coach at the end? Domenech was castigated for this: why not Lippi? Strange

I take it No 3 Shado is Italian ? Open your eyes, Italy were pathetic throughout their World Cup, and got their just desserts. Sadly for Lippi, this was one World Cup too many for him.Any team that can't beat New Zealand does not deserve to go into the knock-out stages. Both the previous World Cup finalists being knocked out at the group stage makes this a fascinating World Cup.

I remember that Cannavaro was injured and couldn't play in the last World Cup and the BBC asked its website readers if they thought it would make a difference to Italy's chances. I replied saying No, not based on his performances for Real Madrid. Well, he hasn't got any better since then and he is not on his own.

modernjan all you've done there is look at the results and some them up in hindsight! before the world cup italy and england had to some extent earned their right as favourites. yes the netherlands, brazil, argentina and germany may have played well so far but that doesn't mean they're going to win it. before the tournement argentina and germany were supposedly not going to be very good. i for one am glad that england have to play these too, one because i believe we are better than we have shown and these 2 are not quite as far ahead of england as they're made out to be and secondly because if we do beat these 2 it'll prove that we have the right to be in the semi-finals

Personally, I think the result was fair and deserved. It might teach the Italians not to be so negative. When they decided to attack, they looked the better team. Where was that spirit for most of the 3 games.

Yet again the technology debate arises. When are FIFA going to allow referees and linesmen this support. In this case, i think the officials probably did very well in the circumstances (and possibly got the big decisions right), but they need the help of technology in these cases.

Another issue about the officials is the criteria of the referees. Howard Webb actually did quite well in this match: good balance of physical play and control, but some of the other referees in this competition would have probably left the match as a 5-a-side game.

what do you expect with a squad that contains no flair players?

pirlo might have been able to unlock defenses with quality passes years ago, but the game has changed since then, whereas Italy havent

that is why Argentina/Brazil/Spain will win the world cup-they have players (Messi, Kaka, Villa) that take the game to defenders and actually try and make things happen, as opposed to waiting for the perfect through ball opportunity

GOOD TO SEE OVERLY NEGATIVE TEAMS BEING DUMPED OUT OF THE COMPETITION (see Italy, Greece)

The result was on the cards for a long time. Lippi's squad selection was poor - no creative players other than the in-decline Pirlo, no players with any pace or inciveness to trouble opponents down the flanks, an insecure central defensive partnership and a constant reliance on the same faces in central-mid who constantly fail to turn up for their country (e.g.De Rossi - the Italian Gerrard in every sense). Overall, too many players selected having completed seasons in poor form and in too many cases, having hardly featured for their domestic sides.

The failure to draft talents like Rossi, Cassano, Giovinco, Miccoli, Amauri into the squad already signalled for me ahead of the tournament that we could not hope to win it. Rossi - by far the best attacking player in an Italian shirt in season 09/10 - our best player at the Confederations cup. Lippi failed in his insistence on selecting underperforming players time and time again (Cannavaro, De Rossi, Iaquinta, Gilardino, Camoranesi...). He failed in his stubborness in underusing the few decent players in the squad he did take (Pazzini, Quagliareglia, Maggio, Palombo). He failed in putting square-pegs into round-holes when selecting a formation patently not suited to the personnel in the squad and vice-versa (Iaquinta as a wide attacker????). He failed in his inability to develop an attacking and enterprising style of play(probably not the only Italian manager in that bracket to be fair).

Going forward I am content to see Cesare Prandelli take on the role. Prandelli is a young but experienced coach who has a reputation for developing attacking sides by allowing young talent to come through the ranks. Hopefully this cataclysm will shed the shackles of an era of inhibited and staccato football and allow us to move on with developing a side that will capture the imagination.

Are you seriously suggesting that they went out because the officials got 2 crucial decisions correct? How is that bad luck?

So the greatest "actors" on a football field are out of WC-2K10!!

They deserved to go really, i saw nothing from them in any single match that would suggest they are even likely to be contenders for the world cup. Italian football has been in a steady decline for the past 10 years, 2006 was a flook, commentators really do over rate Italy. To me they are a very average team, its not particularly a shock that theyr out. Apart from Buffon and Pierlo, i dont think they got any players that are world class.

The big thing was the New Zealand game, now that was a match that they should have won for definite. Im more shocked that the French played so poorly than the italians getting knocked out. You look at the French team and see Henry, Evra, Malouda, Anelka, Cisse, Ribery, so many world class players and for some reason they all stick two fingers up at their country for a quite petty feud with the management in the grand scheme of things.

Its back to the drawing board with Italy, they are in a sense where Germany were a few years ago, (mind u Germany were still miles better than Italy then!). Theyv got to get some young blood in their team and sort of reinvent themselves. Hopefully that means theyl stop being an ultra defensive team, i wont hold my breath tho.............

5. At 9:22pm on 24 Jun 2010, Peter wrote:
One of the most defensive and boring teams on this planet eliminated can only be good for the next rounds.

Did you watch the game tonight? Rubbish they may have been, but boring you cannot accuse them of. And did you watch world cup 2006? 12 goals in 7 games? Hitting the crossbar 6 times? Playing with 4 strikers on the pitch against germany when most teams would have retreated into their shells? The last 5 tournament's best games have invloved the italians: Italy - south korea, italy - sweden, italy - germany, italy - romania, italy - slovakia (so far). Absolutley ground breaking evidence that italy are the most boring national side.

#3 has Azzuri tinted spectacles methinks. On my (neutral) TV, the ball certainly did not go over the line and Skertl clearly saves a goal. The TV replay also clearly showed that the injury time disallowed goal was correctly ruled out for offside. I know it's tough when your team play so poorly, but the match officials get enough bad press without whingers like #3 detecting anti-"My Team" conspiracies. The truth is, as usual, simple: they weren't good enough to beat Slovakia, Paraguay or New Zealand. Imagine what a good team would have done to them.

I'm not surprised they were put out either. They didn't look like they wanted it from the first game and the team was bereft of any players of quality with real experience. Cannavaro and Zambrotta granted, but these two are well past their best. They're most attack minded players were Iaquinta, Pepe, Di Natale and Montolivo. Two of which play for Udinese who finished 15th, Montolivo's Fiorentina finished 11th and Iaquinta's Juventus finished 7th. These are definitely not world class players, in fact there is not one in the whole Italian team. There's a good article I read on this site which looks at their performance today and what lies ahead in depth: http://thefootballphilosopher.blogspot.com/

fabulousRedsReds
I want to correct something.
2002 WC played for penalties and lost to S Korea late into the match
They lost to S Korea after an extra time, not on penalties pal =)))

I have no bitterness towards Italy although I still think they were fortunate to win the 2006 World Cup. Their only period of domination in this game (Slovakia) came after Pirlo was brought on. Who knows what might have happened had he been able to play in the games against Paraguay and New Zealand. Gilardino was obviously a massive disappointment and looked poor throughout while Iaquinta was simply not up to World Cup standard and tended to wait for the ball, as opposed to looking for it. Cannavaro has been a superb player but he's now 'over the hill' while Chiellini was fortunate not to be red carded on a couple of ocassions with his rash tackles. Also losing the excellent Buffon was a blow. Another by-gone player Guttoso came on and tried to kick everyone out of the game but is now too slow even to do this! 4 years ago everything slipped into place for the unfancied Italians, and the sending of off Zidane in the final showed that it was meant to be their tournament. This time it all fell apart. They are in good company though as France have gone home as well, but that's football.

Tiredness? No way! Footballers can never complain of tiredness with any justification. Compared with Tour de France riders who ride for 5 hours or more EVERY DAY for 3 weeks - and at any time if they decide to take a 'breather' someone else attacks forcing them to counter or get left behind. Compared with football strikers like Rooney who we've all seen - make a challenge, gives up and walks back with little fight.

Italy was a shock for sure, but it is the luck of the draw and England was indeed fortunate in this respect. In this tournament I would fear for England if we were in the groups containing Japan or North Korea even. Either side could run rings around us at the moment.

The real problem for England is how on earth are we ever going to motivate multi-millionaires who spend more on just one of their cars than most fans maintain a whole family over 4 years. - Just shows how much TV overcharges... Well doesn't it?

I think Lippi is 200% correct in taking all the blame on himself bcoz of several reasons:
1. He did not know which formation to play. (A coach who wants to win back to back world cups knows his plan long time before the world cup starts and only improvises on it)
2. He did not select players in form like Quagliarella,Pazzini etc.
3. Did not choose the correct squad ignoring young and artistic playmakers like Giuseppe Rossi, Bolatelli and Cassano.
4. He relied too much on Iquinta who must not have been in the squad itself.
5. Did not persuade players like Del Piero,Totti,Nesta to come back for one last shot at glory.

Now coming to players, some of the players like Natale,Pepe were selfish players and were playing for themselves without giving passes at crucial times.Goalkeeper was very bad, if Buffon was there, then maybe Azzuri's would not have conceded 3 goals against Slovakia.

There is also refreeing decisions that have been very bad. FIFA must take a note of this and intoduce refrees near the goalpost to avoid such blunders in future world cups.There is also the offside decision whcih was not.FIFA must take few portions of the BLAME. It happened in 2002 also with the refree favouring the host nation.

I hope palyers like Cannavaro,Gattuso,Camaronesi,Buffon,Zambrotta etc (players above 32 or 33 years)retire paving the way for young talents to come in.

Finally hoping that Cesare Prandelli injects young players and builds the team which has got pace, creativity and raw passion to bring the 5th world cup home.

Some people here need a little education. especially fabulousredsred. No, they didn't play for penalties in all those games you mentioned, perhaps they did for 2006 and that's about it.

End of the day Italy were rubbish and they deserved to go home; but that doesn't mean that they have always and will always be a rubbish team! Bottom line is that they have 4 WC titles to their name and due to one kick it could have been 5 (1994).

Talking about total football; Remind me how many WC's Spain have? how many do Holland have? how many do England have? How many finals have they all been involved in? and by the way England didn't even qualify 2 years ago for the Euro's.
If you want to win tournaments you have to utilise your tactics well and that's why total football doesn't prevail (with the exception of Brazil, but they haven't been playing total football for a while now).

How many people were happy to see Greece win the European cup? If Italy won it in the same way they would be ridiculed for defensive, negative football.

Italy have reached rock bottom now and building is needed. They will be back with a bang, it's only a matter of time.

Italy's ousting in the first round is the most natural thing that could've happened to them. The team lacks creativity at the mid-field. Pirlo alone couldn't do the trick. people should start understanding that italy did not perform well in the past because they're called italy. they won because of the talent of players like Del Pierro and Totti and camoranesi. Unless Italy rediscovers highly creative players who can take initiative, i'm afraid they'll never see their hey-days again. Lippi should really have overcome the race issue and sellect Ballotelli. Football's not always about scientific precision. A bit of craziness is sometimes needed in the game and i think Balotelli is crazy enough. Italy has thesame problem as france. complete lack of creative players. i thought france could count on Ribery but he did not rise to the occassion.

After the way the diving , cheating Italians took Australia out of last world cup, this expat Aussie couldn't be happier! I would also love to see the revitalised England beat Germany on Sunday..yes I am an Aussie saying this....I guess I've lived here too long...although I'm disappointed that the dream game of Oz playing England for a 1/4 final place never eventuated!!! Glad that the Aussies went down fighting with 2 great goals

To fabulousRedsReds - I don't think we are bieng too entertained by Spain at this World Cup. The moment Vincente Del Bosque decided to field TWO holding midfield players so leaving the excellent Fabregas on the bench we knew that he was more afraid of losing than concentrating on winning a game. Even against little Honduras we saw time after time he ball being played into the penalty area and only one striker being available. This is criminal as Spain have some excellent attacking players.
Spain were entertaining in the 2008 EC but so far they have disappointed with their less than positive play. Maybe it will all change today against Chile, who are by far the most entertaining and attacking side in the World Cup. It will be fantastic if their positive play is rewarded with a qualification place, even if it means Spain going out. I would much prefer to see Chile in the next round than Spain, based on their attitude in this World Cup to date.

Just to point out to those saying "Italy too old, age etc etc" this Italy squad was younger than England's. Just saying.

The problem for Italy was solely Lippi, I'm not going to beat around the bush. Ever since rejoining the Azzurri in 2008 his selections have been baffling and often borderline stupid.

Italy were faced with a relatively easy group in the qualifiers and everyone expected Lippi to remove the dead wood from the Euro 2008 squad, players such as Gattuso and Zambrotta who could no longer perform at the highest level, and mould a new young team around stalwarts such as Buffon,Chiellini,De Rossi and Pirlo. Yet Lippi instead chose to pick old and ageing players, most often those from the 2006 campaign who now of course were in their 30's and past their best. He did eventually start to use youth in the form of Marchisio,Bocchetti,Criscito but those players were given chances too late and by the start of the World Cup had less than 20 caps between them.

Still despite Lippi not forming a new younger team his snubbing of creative attackers was most frustrating. Lippi has always taken issue with Antonio Cassano and Fabrizio Miccoli, who coincidentally were the best Italian forwards last season. Some people point to Cassano's attitude, but that is little more than myth now, he has changed his ways entirely. If Lippi still insisted on leaving Cassano and Miccoli out then he should at least have taken Del Piero or Francesco Totti. Yes you could argue about their age, but they still hold undisputed class and would have given Italy the cutting edge which was so clearly lacking in this squad.

it's lovely to see everyone so happy about Italy being knocked out, but really it doesn't matter too much.. I don't think Italy supporters should lose too much sleep over it...they will rebuild and be successful again, history has shown that. 4 world cup wins, two other finals, semi finals....England still go on about 1 win and one semi final. And anyway, it's not Italy's turn to get to the final again, they should do in 2018. They have got to a final every 12 years since 1970...what a record!

I'm far from being Italian (or even much of an Italophile) but the stuff about Italy being "boring, negative, cheating" is an ancient stereotype that doesn't bear up to comparison with evidence. That they're always organised and hard to beat shouldn't be used as a stick to beat them with. As others have pointed out, England have a tendency to be far more tedious, negative and sterile in the finals of major competitions than Italy do. As for the cheating - I got the impression in the last 5 minutes of the match yesterday, from their reactions, that at least 3 Slovak players had broken a limb...

Italy's football has huge strengths and definite weaknesses. Their record is a very good one. Their biggest flaw it seems to me is a tendency to believe that 1-0 is good enough - the number of times they've lost a match just because they were ahead and gave up trying to score any more goals then got pegged back (the 2000 final for one).

Italy's fans don't do them any favours though. The shrill accusations of bribery, the diatribes about others' "arrogance" when they dare to criticise them, the assumption of infinite superiority... And no, before you come back, England's fans are nothing like that (only the moronic British media is).

Slovakia deserve some credit, while Italy weren't at their very best, lacking a cutting edge up front, football is starting to level out. It's no longer the case that the traditionally dominant countries will get an easy ride in the group stages. Perhaps Italy were too arrogant, expecting to stroll through qualification again.

Let us look at Spain's record 19.

1994 lost to Italy in QF in open play.
1998 eliminated in the group stages itself losing to Nigeria.
Euro 2000 eliminated in QF.
2002 eliminated in the QF against a host nation
2006 eliminated in round of 16.
Euro 2008 Winners.

Let us comapre with the Italians
1994 Second place.
1998 Eliminated in second round against a host nation.
Euro2000 Second place.
2002 Eliminated in second round against a host nation.
2006 Champions.
Euro 2008 eliminated in QF bcoz of a bad coach.

SPAIN: world cups won ZERO, EURO won ONE.
ITALY: world cups won FOUR, EURO won ONE.

Whose record is better PEOPLE. I am sure it is the AZZURI's.

One thing i dont understand is why are people of jealous of the ITALIAN defence.Why are people jealous of the way the Italians play?.Rock solid defence is their strength Italy has world class defenders and no other country has produced defenders of the caliber of them. Italians are more efficient in defence and they rely on counter attack. Not that they are defending with 10 players like Newzealand or Paraguay or Greece.

They defend perfectly with theie 4 defenders and counter attack.If other countries cannot produce defenders of the Italian standards,then it is their problems.

This time in FIFA 2010, it did not get right but i am sure in the near future with the next batch of young players coming in, they will certainly play better and the fifth world cup will come home(ITALY).

Italy struggled becuase of the clamp down on diving (though further clamping down needs to be done). They can no longer cheat their way to the title like they did in 2006. Now weveryone can see how poor they really are

ageing squad, not enough quality , lack of prolific goal scorers are the reasons for italy's demise .

wow, with all the self congratulation on this site I was starting to think that England played amazing expansive entertaining football. It might be worth noting that Italy this year scored more goals than england have so far, and we've hardly been up against strong opposition. I think people who support england and accuse other nations of playing boring football need to protect their glass houses

ageing squad, not enough quality , lack of prolific goal scorers are the reasons for italy's demise .

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ageing squad, not enough quality , lack of prolific goal scorers will be the reasons for england's demise .

The want to win just wasn't as strong as in 06, its a very rare event to win world cups back to back, difficult to stay motivated and players are indeed 4 years older, Italy always seem to struggle early on, they only have themselves to blame, last night they appeared to have done enough in the last 20 minutes only to have 1 or even 2 perfectly good goals ruled out, bad luck and poor results early on conspired to put Italy out, whats done is done and they will all learn from this, they have 4 world cups in the bank and they will be back for more next time around.

Italy cheated to win the last world cup, as many Australians will tell you! And if not for Zidane's moment of madness they would have probably lost in the final anyway.
Goodbye Italy, you won't be missed.

Italy have the wrong attitude and mindset towards the beautiful game! They belittle themselves, their country and the game by cynical play, primadonna theactrics and a serious lack of integrity.
Play the ball, score goals and spend energy being a winning team instead of this seriously outdated unsporting ethic...
Go home and think of the dishonesty within your playing style!!!!
Ciao Italia, you have 4 years to change your methods for victory...

May the best most determined skilled team win the World Cup 2010!!

Ps- Even New Zealand made Italia look like b grade, petulant overated, cheats...Serie A is tarnished forever since the Milan, Juve, Fiorentina facade!!

I think that these "controversial" decisions cannot be used as an argument that Italy were eliminated by poor refereeing. The Americans were very nearly eliminated because of refereeing which was demonstrably bad : all we can say is that the Italians had one shot that appeared to be "almost over the line" ie very nearly a goal (but "not quite"!) and one offside decision that would have been given off side in 50% of matches but perhaps not in the other 50%. Just as they were given a penalty against New Zealand, which would have been given in about 5% of games but not in the other 95%. Italy looked a bad team and their elimination is not the earth shattering shock that is claimed. Commentators expressed surprise at the quality of Slovakia's performance as though this is bad luck for Italy. In fact the Italian performance yesterday showed them to be one of the most consistent teams at the world cup and their elimination was thoroughly deserved. Even their "dominance" of the later stages (if it ever really existed) was delayed until Slovakia led 2-0, can't mask that they got a third amidst defensive chaos (yet again)and that Italy's play at this stage (second goal excepted) amounted to little more subtle than hoof it into the box and hope.

Italy didn't cheat in the last world cup to win...and nor were they cheated in previous competitions...sometimes decisions go for you.and soemtimes against. I think some of the aussies are in danger of sounding as bitter as many Italians sounded after they lost to South Korea in 2002. I haven't noticed Italy being any worse than any other team with regards to diving/cheating... in fact there have been many many worse. Judgements should be made on evidence not stereotyping and historical revisionism.

I think fatigue does play a part. The best and most competitive leagues in Europe (and the World) are England, Spain and Italy. Each one was decided at the final game with one or two points between first and second. It is natural that the players in that league would be totally consumed and exhausted by the end of such an intense season and are now playing below their potential.
Italy didn't have anyone to be excited about; a young talent or a tricky speed merchant or a wild-card. There wasn't any charisma and flair either. No one who could provide an answer. England and Spain do have these players, but their energy levels may not sustain them to go all the way.

This is a decent question you have posed, but unfortunately this is probably not the place where you're going to get well founded comments.

The reality is that those who follow Italian football are really the only ones who truly will get how badly Lippi let down Italy here. Relying on mainly players from Juventus (7th this season), Udinese (15th) and Fiorentina (11th) who had had one of the worst seasons in their respective careers, was never going to work and only a stubborn, stubborn Lippi ever thought so.

A better selected squad probably would have been marginally weaker than say Argentina, Brazil and Spain's squads at the moment but the team that Lippi chose was disgraceful.

Iaquinta as the main striking threat, despite having played so rarely this season was a joke, as was not giving chances to the few players in the squad that were actually on form such as Quagliarella, Maggio and Pazzini - Quagliarella showed he could have been the stand out player for Italy this year and its scanadalous that Lippi went with people such as Pepe and Iaquinta ahead of him.

The thing that annoys me most is that people all around the world who do not necessarily watch Serie A week in week out will think that those players were the best Italy had to offer - instead a wealth of young stars of the future from Sampdoria, Palermo and Napoli (4th, 5th and 6th respectively) were overlooked.

That wont stop however the ignorant and unfounded comments being made about Italian football, both at home and abroad - already the Italian FA is complaining about there not being enough Italians in the big teams... all just glossing over the issue that Lippi picked a terrible squad!

They only realised they were in the world cup 20 mins from the end against Slovakia too little too late. The moment they drew against New Zealand they were in trouble just werent good enough but im sure they will bounce bakc.

What really surprised me was Italy's defence, normally held up as an example of how to do it. They made far too many mistakes and left some gaping holes. Some very questionable judgements, particularly from Cannavaro - and you really don't expect a player of his vast experience to go ball-chasing like a 10-year old. They didn't start playing until the last half-hour, when Pirlo came on - he made a difference, so why wasn't he played from the start?

Poor tactics for me caused their downfall, but I do think the team needs refreshing. New opportunities beckon.

It was a mix of complacency and some bad refereeing.

Oh dear, apart from being “malata come un pappagallo” at last night’s debacle I can’t believe all these Italy-bashing comments. From what I’ve seem the Italian squad were trying, just not succeeding, whether this was down to bad reffing, bad luck, age + tiredness + injury or just the fact that we are lacking inspirational players like Baggio, or even that they exist but Lippi made errors in his selection.
At least Lippi, and the players have taken it on the chin and are doing serious penance (I caught Cannavaro mea-culparing all over the place on the TV in a bar I popped into at lunchtime) – how unlike a certain other European “team” that plays in blue.
Italy has never been, even in this World cup, “boring and defensive” and as for cheating, well I’ve seen just as many Oscar-winning performances from players in other squads.
Watch out world we will be back and with a vengeance.

P.S. why was shado1’s comment bumped off the blog? Some people seem to have seen it, why not the rest of us who turned up a bit late, rather like gli Azzurri ;-)

Its a shame post 3 has been removed so now cannot follow the thread well. Otherwise, am I the only 'englishman' who likes Italy? Its obvious they had a bad start, just like England only England scraped through. They also missed the 'old guard' especially Del Piero. Someone has to go out and unfortunatly it was them but at least they didnt make complete fools of themselves or their country, unlike France!

On the subject of average squad age;

http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/the-average-age-of-all-world-cup-squads.html

The two favourite teams before the trounament began have completely different average ages; Brazil second oldest and Spain fourth youngest. This shows that age is not the only factor in determining how good a team is. We might need an inquest like the one France seem to be in to know the answer to why Italy went out so early.

I remember watching football on a small black and white TV as a kid back in the 60s. Up until then, I'd never watched anything but British football. This time, it was an English team playing an Italian team. I cannot remember the teams. I remember being completely amazed at the dishonesty of the Italians. It was the first time I had seen organized cheating in football, in the form of diving, feigned injuries, and all kinds of referee-influencing tactics, not to mention dirty play. Okay, so these tactics have since spread beyond Italy, but I still regard the Italians as the worst at this type of behaviour. Good riddance to them.

I admit to being pro-Italian. If England go out then Italy are always my second team. Just goes back to Rossi, Baggio and other stars of the past. I have never understood why they need to resort to some of the stuff they do. One thing they always have is that they carress the ball and that's always great to see (in my book anyway).

to phoenix - please look at the schedule one more time - is there a game played by Slovenia vs. Italy? And if you then look on a map of europe (right to atlantic, left to russia) you might find out the difference between slovenia and slovakia.

Italy, lovely country.
Italians, lovely people
Italian football team, greatest force for negativity in world football. Why?
Overly defensive, cynical, corrupt (foul, dive, tug shirts etc etc) and successful.
So the fear is, teams will (and do) try to copy them.
That is why everyone should rejoice that they have come unstuck.
All the Italian posters who keep saying "wait til next time" cannot wait. I think their bubble ahs finally burst. Hooray!!

Thanks to football. I`ve been watching BBC for many years and besides one report about doubious people from Slovakia living on a bank of river in UK, I`ve never seen anything about Slovakia on BBC. Poles or economical affairs remain unwatched...
So now football finally brought Slovakia to BBC broadcasting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS6Wqt00gTc&NR=1

That is a penalty. Obviously. Australians saying that they were cheated out of the world cup are delusional. It was a clear penalty.

Italy were poor this world cup. Not because they were 'too defensive', but because they seem to lack leaders on the pitch, and didn't have any creativity. When Pirlo came on against Slovakia, the difference was immense.

Not too bothered about them going out, but it does annoy me when people bang on about the penalty vs. Australia.

This is a game. Not every one wins irrespective of a winning culture. Parity is being gained a new teams find their feet. Wheel and come again, Italy, France and all others... it is what its is.
As for tv replays? Rubbish. Get better refereeing. There's too much pressure on the refs. I see refs giving fouls for shoulder to shoulder and cards for innocuous reflex late tackles. There is too much inconsistencies from game to game and the big name teams tend to get the benefit of the doubt more. Mistakes will happen but they often balance out.
For the flow of the game, don't hold it up for replays. I would introduce technology however for such things as diving and faking, and increase the penalties to several matches and fines. And in a match review, if a ref is particularly bad, he/she should be dropped. Thats where replays will work.

Italy game paln is penality kicks. No wonder it collapsed, not just this world cup, but they now have to rebuild everything from scratch. Always stick to fundamentals. Costly experience

I have been a true azzuri since 1982 as far as i can remember and Yes we have had our ledgends Rossi, Baggio,Schilachi Maldini, Baresi etc.. and you need them type of players to win a world cup or at least come close. I had a gut feeling that this time wasn`t to be. i watched them in 2 friendlies against Mexico and Switzerland and i knew the defence was aweful.They do it all the time, have sucsess and then the next time fail at the first hurdle. I actually said to my brother is it a coincidence that Italy have reached the final every 12 yrs since 1970. 82,94 2006. Thats some going and also thats with playing so called Boring football.
To get to the point good football or boring football it doesn`t matter at the end of the day because if it means Winning or reaching the final at least then it`s a succsess and i can feel for you boys because most of the young ones have never seen England get there and the feeling is fantastic. So now Italy are out i honestly do hope England go all the way
just to see the faces of the country. We have done it 4 times and seen 2 wins and 1 loss in my life time. Now come on Capello do it the Italian way

Agree that Italy won 4 world cup. However they play a boring game. It is good for world cup that Italy and France got out in group stage. Frankly speaking, England is also not deserved to be in the round of 16. There so much hype about England during a world cup and they fizzle out in 2nd round or QF. It seems this time will be no different as they will loose against Germany. They were not impressive in group stage