So if you guys are down with things going on, you'd know that the most important game of the year is going down these next two months. It isn't baseball, and it sure isn't basketball. It's soccer. The world cup is upon us! I've been waiting for four years since the last one to see my team, the Azzurri, the Italian national team. Today marked the first day the Italians played in the 2010 cup. I have to admit I wasn't too surprised with the results. The defending champs ended up tying 1-1 against Paraguay. Paraguay has won one world cup compared to the Italians four. The Italians are ranked second over all in world cup victories; one less than their big world cup rival, Brazil. The Italians have a rep for starting out pretty bad, but growing stronger as they progress. Considering they have often lost their first matches before going on to winning a cup; I'm not too worried.
I was originally skeptical about the new line up that Coach Lippi decided to put in. My favorite player, Francesco Totti, initially came out of retirement in order to play in this years cup. Totti is recognized as one of the best soccer players around. After the 2006 cup, he decided to retire and continued to play in national games alone. Although it's not completely known why Lippi decided not to allow him as well as some of the other vets play, it is believed it is because he's been out of the lime light for four years now.
Francesco Totti
In any case, the new line up doesn't seem to be too bad. Regardless of the tie score, the Italians started off pretty strong. The Italian players were able to take on the Paraguayans 1 to 2 and kept the pressure on for pretty much most of the game. After Paraguay scored, the Italians came back, changed strategies and tied it up a few minutes into the second half. There are still some vets on the old team though, among them my favorite players such as their Keeper, Gianluigi Buffon who is regarded by many as the best keeper alive. They've also still got my other all time favorite player Andrea Pirlo, though he's been benched due to a calf injury. Probably why we couldn't follow up all of the great plays we made. The Paraguayans played hard though. They deserved the tie, but I don't expect them to get any farther. The Italians are just warming up! In any case, the world cup has been pretty lackluster so far. mostly 1-1 ties and 1-0 victories with one or two 2-0 victories in there so far except for Germanies victory over Australia which was 4-0. They really brought the hurt. I like the Germans. Their game against the Italians in 2006 was pretty much my favorite. They play hard! Along with Italy, I'm rooting for them, the US team, as well as South Africa. I wouldn't mind if the any of those guys took the cup, although I do want the Italians to control the cup for another year.
FORZA ITALIA! FORZA AZZURRI!
3 comments:
What is this "soccer" that you speak of? :)
I've watched a couple of the games... pretty fun!! How is the Netherlands team? :)
not sure how the Oranje are doing. I believe they destroyed Denmark.
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