Many people said Holland would win 3-1 .HELLO!!!We aint Yugoslavia .Our defense was really solid ,Maldini was just awesome and Nesta Showed why he is the best defender in the world .Kluivert ?????Why do u think he sucked in serie A ???Nesta just covered him so well and Holland had so many chances and they couldnt convert on 2 penalty shots .
FORZA AZZURI
SCREW U ALL FOR PREDICTING HOLLAND TO WIN BY A BIG MARGIN .

Screw you all? Hhhhmmmmmmmm. Not nice. Congrats to Italy. But they didn't beat Holland. Holland beat Holland. Or Toldo beat Holland. When you stick ten players in your box it's obvious that its difficult to score. Lets se if they can keep up to speed with the french strikers. It will be interesting.

[This message has been edited by Kostas 7 (edited 06-29-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Kostas 7 (edited 06-29-2000).]

Hello? Italy sucked!!!! The didn;t deserve to win. Del piero SUCKS> HE IS THE MOST OVERRATED CRAP IN THE WORLD.


Italy did a good job hloding on. If only stupid Zoff would have put totti in earlier. Godd luck in the final.

Well... the predictions weren't far off. Italy must count themselves as being endowed with luck of the greatest kind. I'd love to know what odds you'd get on Holland have six penalties in the course of a match and only scoring one of them. I wish Italy the best of luck for the final and pray to god they remember how to venture out of their own half...

If Italy sucks ,Holland sucks very badly cause they attacked throughout the whole game and yet "il catenaccio " got the ball out of their zone .SCREW HOLLAND .Now we dont have to see those stupid orange fans in the stadium .

Drinky, I also think that Holland played WAY better today.

But how would you go into a match against the HOMETEAM, that won 6(SIX)-1 the last match, playing with a ref that sends off a guy after 30 minutes and awards the other team 2 penalties?

Our best players are Cannavaro and Nesta. I'd like to trade one of them against a Zidane like midfielder, but since there's no go I'm more than glad with this result.
And that Inzaghi dude is crap, seen what Delvecchio did ALONE vs the dutch defense???
START HIM WITH TOTTI!!!

For once I'm happy with Italy playing a defensive game...

Nesta defended superbly, same goes to Maldini, and Toldo was a class goalkeeper-he was soo cool, but i got to say its because Holland played their lousiest football ever. with 2hours of game and 70% of possesion and all the time attacking, they just didnt find a goal!!! to make matter worst they didnt score with the 2 penalties given. GOD must have choosen Italy to play France in the finals! but then watch out Italy,,,France will be the CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!

yes, ITALY played defensively, but they do not sucked.

i always enjoyed watching Maldini tackle the ball away from opponents, Toldo is ON-FORM as well.

ok, maybe Inzaghi sucked a little...

Screw you Paolo.
France will def Italy so easy and you´ll cry so much.
What brilliant team...Italy didn´t shot on time on the all first half.

Yeah,thats what you all said about Holland-Italy .Many said Holland was gonna kick Italy's ass,well look who is in the finals.I dont care if they lose ,as long as Holland didnt win ,im happy .It also proves why Kluivert sucked in Serie A .

Many people said Norway were poor and boring for playing the defensive style they do, but where are they now ?? Just wondering, a lot of two faced nicks going around here.

Anyway, congrats to Italia, the gods ( all 138 of them ) not only smiled on them, but gave holland a little slap in the face too. Just pray that they're gonna be as helpful in the final cause on football alone Italy will never win.

Zambrotta, if you are even hinting that the ref was poor or in favor of the dutch please look for sympathy elsewhere. Zambrotta was rightfully sent off, just as Zenden was rightfully booked for a dive, this ref was damn good and didn't back down when faced with a challenge.
And as a final word, my summary of the game

Soltanto le sfere di Toldo di acciaio hanno salvato i vostri italiani asini

Kluivert did not suck absolutely, he played a decent game against the world'd best defense.

And I say it again: I'd also love to see better offense for Italy, but I also enjoy their defense. Watching Maldini, Nesta and Cannavro is absolutely fantastic.

I hope they saw, that when you affront the opponent in a more open manner, as they did in the second half, things are easier, especially when you play in 11...

I'd love to see di Livio and I guess all the world did see that it's tough to play 1 on 3 (as Inzaghi did), but that at least at times you can have the upper hand (Delvecchio!!!).

Against the French giants they have to play him!!!!!

Canoe, ma quanto sei fess'!!!!!
Non rompere troppo, amico, figura'ti 2 rigori in una semifinale, mai accaduto?
E per chimar'ci "asini", ripeto, QUANTO SEI FESSO, FACCIA DI CAZZO!!!

France-Italy,what a beautiful final .If Portugal held france for 125 minutes ,why not Italy ?France didnt even score one goal vs Italy in 98 and much of their players are still with the team .

Damn you are really happy huh that Italy win Paolo_Rossi? Well tell me what you're proud of? They almost defended the whole match, at least Holland dares to play attacking football and try to score and are not as chicken to wait until the opponent makes a mistake. Italy didn't do anything special to beat Holland. They had all the luck in the world that Holland didn't crushed them. Holland could have won with a great margine but we didn't because we missed our chances not because Italy made us miss them. You can only win by scoring goals, but because Italy only defended you had the luck we didn't.

It was a game of wouldnt against couldnt. Italy played very unattractive, this is not the kind of football people are waiting for. Yes, you can say they got the result, but the result isnt everything. Holland just played to scared, they were for some reason nervous and if you miss 5 out of 6 penalties you dont deserve to be in the final. A very dull game which didnt deserve a winner.

Holland didnt deserve crap. Any team that misses two penalties deserves to lose. Lets not forget that Italy played with only 10 players for most of the match, so they had good reason to stack players in the box.

All this nonsense about kluivert being so great is B.S. The guy is overated, he may show signs of brilliance but he is inconsistent and he blows too many shots. Look back at the Brasil-Holland game at France 98, he blew numerous chances that could have won Holland the game. Italy deserved it....

Well of course Italy defended ,what do u expect when your team loses 1 player .If they would of attacked ,they would of probably lost and how can u say it was a boring match unless your dutch ???Didnt you enjoy the way Maldini played at back ,the way he would just take the ball away or Cannavaro's shot blocked or Nesta man marking Kluivert .They r just the best defenders in the world .2nd ,remember ,offense wins u games ,but defense wins you the championship ,thats what a brittish commentator said on BBC today .Plus ,Italy has been winning games this way ,why should they change because of the viewers ,all they want is win the championship not entertain like Holland and frankly I rather see them win then seeing them lose despite dominating throughout the game .

Italy should play the tactic they want, but this is the kind of football in which getting the results is more important then how you achieve it. If every team at EURO 2000 would have played that way it wouldnt have the interesting tournament it has been so far.

BMW, so you say that Holland deserves to lose just because they missed two penalty's? That's the dumbest reason i've ever heard.

And you're saying that they only defend because they had a man send off? First off all, Zambrotta deserved to be send off, he had to be more carefull with having conceded already one yellow card.

And second they didn't defend because they were playing with ten players, they ALWAYS play like this, even against lousy teams.

And about defending football wins tournament, I don't think so. You can't score by defending the whole game. It's defending and a lot of luck that help Italy wins.

Italy sucked the whole tournament. I've only seen them in front of the opponents goal a few time a match. The reason you Italians disagree is because you only think defence and enjoying it too. I can't imagine you can enjoy a match where one team is defending the whole game, or do you?

And you're right about Italy isn't Yugoslavia. At least Yugoslavia has the guts to attack and try to win themself, unlike Italy.

Italy currently does not have the midfield to play a constant offense against great teams.
Zambrotta is young, and as he showed today, immature. Fiore is a great talent, but he carried all the load while Albertini and di Biagio simply are the guys who play a 50 yard pass better and quicker than a 5 yard pass. Sue them if you like...
Maldini ain't no winger, he only plays this position because Zoff brought noone else.
Totti plays attacking mifield for Roma, Zoff plays him as a striker.
They simply had to make the best of what Zoff had at his hands, but don't blame the entire country, you should have seen Italy's U21 squad a month ago.

Bringing in young, gifted players like Brocchi, Baronio and Pirlo will benefit Italy's style a lot, and I'm sure this team will suit the taste of the mass better in 2 years.

This time it was: try to play an offensive game, suck at it and loose. Or do what these guys can best and rely on Totti or some other attacker to make finish upfront.

And please, one lst thing: I didn't see Portugal do much against France yesterday either.

I last saw Italy and France play in the World Cup, and I must say, it was the worst game I ever saw.

I wish for Italy to dispatch France...Italy might play outrageously boring soccer, but it is very entertaining for me to see a team win by utilizing their specialties...

I predict another penalty overtime...Italy should win, because they have shown that they are not always prone to losing on penalties...

However, I give 2 thumbs down to the Dutch coach for quitting...why leave something so great? it's not like his players gave up on him like the Germans did for Ribbeck...not to mention with World Cup qualifiers coming, why does this coach leave?

Yes ,we do defend a lot ,but has any team beat us so far ,NO!!!!No they dont have luck ,cause defensively they r strong and not many can score on them and their counter attacks is so dangerous that they usually win with 1 or 2 shots .Who says attacking makes you win games ,all italy's goals came on counter attack so thats offense for Italy .The only reason u r saying that is cause u hate defensive matches ,well as long as we win ,im fine with that .

Paolo Rossi,

It's one thing to be happy about your team,but don't go screaming "screw you" man.It's just a bit to much.Reminds me of the Turks.....

PS Congrats to Italy!

First of all: F*CK YOU PAULO-ROSSI!! You don't no sh*t about football,how can you be proud of Italy,they where sh*t!!I can count the times they where at the Dutch goal on one hand... Second of all,don't concider Holland being the Hometeam,because the crowd in de ArenA where crap,you could here the Italy crowd better! Holland play there best matches in Feyenoord stadium De Kuip in Rotterdam..there was a poll on a Dutch channel,if Holland should play in De Kuip or in De ArenA,result: 91% of the voters said De Kuip!!! And third of all: France are going to trash Italy,if they play as cowerdly as they did today!!

Holland deserved to Win, but finally AZZURI rule prevail!!!

Forza Azzuri

PS> Can u stop hating others team??

These dutch guys have some atittude problem, you just CAN'T MISS 5 PENALTIES OUT OF 6. Even I canscore at least 2/5 against any GK, good taken penalty=goal.

BTW Holland deserved the win by far

I dont care if we lose to France as long as we beat those overrated orange craps,im happy ,how can Holland deserve to win?So they led in possession .Big deal ,Belgium,Turkey,Sweden and Romania all lead in possession and couldnt go through the wall .I have a lot of respect for France unlike Holland who already saw themselves as champs before the tournament even started .At least were in the finals you dumbass .And yes we did deserve to win cause your team sucked so badly that they only scored once in penalty shot and coulnt even break the italian defense since Maldini,nesta,Cannavaro and Iuliano took care of those so-called great attack of the dutch .Its nice to be enthusiastic about beating those yugoslavians 6-1 ,but if they expected the same result against Italy ,your wrong my friends .At least the french dont brag of how they r going to be champs like Holland did and France is probably the second team I would prefer to be in the finals instead of that overrated so-called offensive team of Holland .

How can you ever compare the Norwegian defensive style with the likes of Itali's Nesta, Maldini, Cannavaro, they are superb!! The italian showed that in footbal you can win through the defense. if strikers can score goals to win game, so do defenders can win games too. They deserved it especially when they play so beautiful! it is not only scoring a goal is beautiful also defend a goal is equally beautiful(even more excitement!). And needless to say Toldo was awesome. Attack after attack of Davids, Denis Bergkamp, Zenden, Cocu, Overmars, Kluivert, Wow, was that like 5 strikers in all 2hours period?? Also, i just remember Jaap Stam's penalty kick was sooo aweful, he balloned it..hahaha
but not one of the worst if compare to the poor Frank de Boer.

To people who say Holland "deserved" to win what a bunch of whiney crap!!! They play 1 man up for 90 minutes, hardly make any scoring chances, miss two penalties, you know the story, and they "deserve" to win?? what planet are you coming from!!! They deserve nothing but criticism, the great offensinve machine held with hardly a scoring chance the whole damn game! besides Bergkamp hitting the post in 1st half was Holland ever really close to scoring? Delveccio had more good scoring chances in 30 minutes by himself than the whole Holland team did the whole game and that is only a slight exaggeration!

Italy play the way they do because, in the modern game, there is a feature called "penalty kicks"...against threatening teams, Italy takes full advantage...
And no, Italy does not play that way against all teams...unless you consider a 9-0 victory over Austria defensive, then I recommend you learn to watch ALL Italian games before criticizing...

Sure, they will try to score like other teams, but they realise that if they cannot score, they might as well let the other team kill themselves trying...that is exactly what they did to Holland...Maldini, himself, even predicted that if the Dutch attack in full force, but fail to score, they will be in trouble...counter-attacks galore will rip apart the unprepared team (unfortunately, there were no significant counter-attacks by Italy)
If Italy do score, then the game is usually over for the other team, because the Italians can sit on that single goal for years...
If you ask me, and I know you won't, it takes tremendous skill/competence to play JUST ENOUGH to win...

Hahahahaha. Wall? What wall? The only wall that I say was the posts saving Italy twice. But in all due respect hats of to Toldo, only Toldo. It has Holland versus Toldo and the posts. No I'm not an Dutch fan. On the contrary I don't like them but they did outplay Italy. But what is Itally going to do against sharp shooters like Zidane and Djiorkaeff? How can they keep op to pace with Henry, Anelka and Vierra, there just too fast. L Blanc. Now thats a wall my friend Paolo.

I agree with Polish here, sure Holland had all the posession but it's not like they hit the bar 5 or 6 times and had the ball cleared off the line a couple of times. They hit the post once (twice including Kluivert), two cr@p penalties and that was it - any other time Holland tried to come into the Italian box Cannavaro, Nesta or Maldini shut them down.
If Vieri had of been playing then perhaps the game wouldn't have even gone into extra time.
Don't get me wrong, I like Holland and their attacking 'attractive' passing style of play and I wanted to see a France vs Holland final. And, if you compare the squads you'd have to say that Holland have the better players, but if you're one man up for 90 minutes, and miss two penalties then you can't really say you deserved to win.
That said I'll be rooting for France, but if Italy get the first goal on Sunday........

Oh and if the modern game as someone mentioned is about 0-0 games then we and the game itself is in deep ****.

Isnt Henry that same player who couldnt score in serie A cause the defense was containing him very well .And are you trying to say Maldini-Nesta-cannavaro are crap,cause if you do ,I think your stupid and you dont know nothing .I respect France ,if they beat us ,fine ,but if we win ,ill be happy ,I dont care if italy wins or not ,im just happy that they reached this far .its been a long time since they came in the finals .Btw ,dont ecxpect a high scoring game in the france-Italy finals .

Paolo_Rossi,
Henry is definately NOT the same player as the one that played in Serie A - he was a more of a winger, and when he came to England it took half a season of him playing like a dead donkey for Arsene Wenger to mould Henry into a striker and then he exploded with 26 goals in the last half of the season. IMO Henry is one of the most in-form players in Europe right now - Nesta, Cannavaro, and Maldi will be tested, especially if Anelka comes to play, but if Italy can get a single goal lead early in the second half or thereafter, I think they could hold out to win.

Zambrotta, don't get so defensive, Toldo is by far the best goalie on display at Euro2000.
Paulo, if people critize Norway for lying back and trying to counter, then why is it okay or good if Italy does it ?? I'm sorry, but football is football, whether you play one style to win or the other, what matters is winning.
And Paulo, better hope the Italian defence handles Henry and Anelka better than they did Zenden and OVermars, else you might be 10 men down before you know it.

Kenny II said" it is not only scoring a goal is beautiful also defend a goal is equally beautiful(even more excitement!)"
...we're f***ing lost. The maximum expression of football is now less important than marking/tackling (not that these things are awful, hey, i play stopper, but enough is enough)

All I have to say is. NO MORE NAME CALLING. State your opinion without calling someone something. I am reffering to one person and he knows who he is. Two can play that game. We are adults, not children, so behave and watch your language.

"DIVINE JUSTICE" Italia deserved to win !!! 1st., the ref was on Hollands side, In the opening minutes he was handing yellow cards to italian players left to right. Once Zambrotta was sent off, it was of no surprise to any Azzuri fans that the reff woud award Holland a penalty and he did., twice !!! 2nd Italia Playing a man down managed stay in controll and the result was a SPECTACLE of top of the line Defending... 3rd It is now time for France to return the favor Italy did them in France 98 !!! In other words on Sunday "Italia Campioni" !!! che bella cosa la giornata e sole., che bella cosa il Catenaccio !!! ANDIAMO...

Once and for ever: the difference is that Italy sometimes plays defensive and wins games, while other teams who don't score (and it was the 1st time here), usually get beaten, so they don't "rob" anything in your opinion.

And please, will you accept that our and maybe the world's best centerforward, Vieri, is missing and that he usually is their most important man when it comes to scoring. For some ****ed up reason Zoff replaced him with Inzaghi, which is a ****ed up decision as Inzaghi sucks so bad, I sure hope that Delvecchio gets his 90' on Sunday.
Same goes for Del Piero, he played good defense yesterday, but Totti sure is HEAPS better, gotta play the ROMA duo upfront.

hey gaucho..in another words are you saying that defenders are actually not playing football? it must be tough for you to accept the reality. or do you think that only goal scorers are playing footbal? Yes defending maybe aweful, but Italy did a superb defending yesterday. Italy's defending wasn't dull (of course they don't play like you or me) but was brilliant. I was supporting Italy all the way. And it was just that Italy didnt let us down. I thought they were gonna lose very bad, but turned out they won.