Forza Italia!

lol, quattro stelle!!!

The World Champion 2006 Italia.

something'll change in Italian team after WC?

For sure there must be changes .... players liek Del Piero and materazzi should be moved on .. its a new era and under new management i msure there will be quite a few changes.

Lets see if donadoni keeps the attackign mentality which finally brought our world cup back to us after so long!

Donadoni Ready For First Call-ups The new Azzurri coach confirmed that he will be calling up only players who are on form and not based on their names.

Roberto Donadoni will soon mark his debut on the bench of the Italian side, with a friendly match in program in mid-August against Croatia.

For this encounter, Donadoni denied that he will be calling up the players who have a bigger status within the side, but will focus entirely on those on-form players.

"On the newspapers they write a lot of things and a lot of things can be read. It's not a matter of being a world champion or not, I need people who are on-form and of people who are well."

New Italy coach Roberto Donadoni has boosted Antonio Cassano's hopes of earning an international recall.

The 24-year-old struggled to establish himself at Real Madrid last term after securing a transfer from Roma midway through the season.

He made only three starts in La Liga and missed out on a place in Italy's squad for the World Cup as a result.

Following the Azzurri's triumph in Germany it could be more difficult for Cassano to force his way back into the squad.

However, Donadoni has insisted that the door is open to any player who performs consistently well for his club.

"The Italian national team's jersey is everyone's right, but they must be able to deserve it," Donadoni explained.

"Cassano is in the same position. It is up to him."

Donadoni will not be able to call Cassano up for Italy's friendly against Croatia on August 16 due to his Real Madrid commitments.

GRANDIIIIIIII

Donadoni drops gilardino and recalls del piero .. yeah thats the reason we arent winning because the slow ass del piero isnt playing? Donadoni is a fruitcake, sack him before we fail to qualify .. i was all for giving him a chance but he seems clueless on who to pick ... also dissapointed in tottis selfisheness .. if he wont make himself available till 2007? Why do something like that .. he should be called up or not be called on again, he is making it look like he is more important then the team.

I think if italy dont win big next two games Donadoni should be sacked .. and same goes with mancini .. when you got the players and cant use them to your advantage then you gotta go

15 minutes till kick off for italy vs ukraine .. the game is on RAIUNO for those of you with italian tv, those without it .. bad luck!

Good result for us today scotland 1 - 0 france..

Lets hope donadoni has named a strong squad and gets his tactics right this time .. time to kickstart our qualifying campaign .. i realise the players probablly are not as motivated considering they have just won a world cup ( can win anything bigger) but personally i think the problem has been donadonis team selection .. we clearly need toni upfront and a creative player just off of him ... also totti needs to stop being so self absorbed and make himself available for the team .. if he doesnt want to play then retire, keeping the nation waiting is so selfish and dissapointing from a player i admire.

2 - 0 win ... well it was a pretty good game .. donadoni finally got his tactics right .. italy dominated the game and should have really got around 4 ... ukraine had 1 or 2 chances from free kicks but were pretty poor and totally undisciplined.

The game got much more lively in the 2nd half when donadoni made the right subs ... he replaced del piero with di natale and i must say di natale looked the best player on the pitch .. he really impressed me.

Anyway Lippi begun without winning his first 2 games and look what he did .. donadoni has started the same way and now he has us on track.

Decent night!

This result just goes to show you that Italy's problems before were just a matter of match fitness, or lack thereof, and France's loss to Scotland just goes to show you that we would have dealt with them with more ease had that game been now as opposed to then.

Agreed, just watched italy woop georgia 3-1 away .... italy looked sharp .. toni missed 3 easy chances ... team is looking fit and once again di natale was very impressive.

Yes, absolutely agree.   Di Natale has finally been given the extended run he deserves and has deserved for some time.   I'd love to see him as a first choice attacking substitute above Iaquinta.

I'd like to see Miccoli given a chance....
He is struggling with injury currently, but he still is putting in consistently good performances at Benfica...it's a shame he isnt in Serie A

And Iaquinta is so fast .... he may be one of the fastest players on the squad
Lippi utilized this well in the WC
It seems Donadoni will do the same