As did that for Sweden.
As did that for Sweden.
I'm worried for Italy. Sweden can score and Italy ain't scoring three.
Its amazing how ordinary their team is on paper. Going the way of Netherlands by the looks of it.
Agreed. That one just now was stonewall.
People have moaned about the scorelines but these play-off games have largely made excellent viewing.
Italy look much better this leg. Their two wing backs are atrocious though. Darmian especially wasting so many good chances to cross.
Not sure why Zappa isn't playing, pretty much all he can do is cross.
I haven't seen an Italy team run around like this in years. Desperate.
I think this ref's got some brown envelope action in him, let's see.
Italy have been shit for ages. That 2-0 over Spain at the last Euros was their first competitive win over somebody decent for a decade.
This Lindelof is good. Maybe United meant to sign him instead.
Weaker tournament if they're not there.
Luckily I was on over 135.5 overhit Italian passes.
A World Cup without Italy.
I'm a twit
What fucking scenes this is.
What a boring non entity. They'll go out without scoring. Cunts.
Speechless. What a bunch of heroes
If you're not good enough to either top your group or beat Sweden over two legs, you're not good enough to be at the World Cup.
I didn't count that because 'Yogi Love' BOTTLED IT and they were shit. We gave them a better game in the quarters.
At John mate.
fuck off Ventura fucking cretino
Fucking scenes here in Stockholm.
I'm absolutely all for smaller teams shitting out progression against "big names". Sweden absolutely deserve their spot and they'll do fine.
Actually, I'd forgotten that Zlatan will announce his unretirement and they'll be terrible again with him playing.
How are you all doing on this fine day?
I'm just really sad for Buffon. The rest of the wasters can wallow in their own failure.
That Euro 2016 Italy team was great. They were so shit but Conte brought them together and made them a great team. I reckon they'd have won the whole thing if they'd beaten Germany on penalties.
Without Conte it fell apart though. I wonder who will be next. Ancelotti?
Italy probably should have beaten Sweden, sure. But they also should have done well enough over the last few years not to be a second seed and draw Spain in the group. The failure started early.
Ventura is the main culprit here, this team beat Spain and Belgium in the EUROs and one year later we lose against Sweden. It is not a coincidence, the players underperformed without a doubt but when every single player underperforms there is no way it is not the manager's fault. Hopefully at least this will mean that every one in the federation will be thrown out and maybe Italian football as a whole can try to start fresh.
small text
https://streamable.com/a94lw
In 50 years, Buffon might actually be the player I will have the fondest memories of.
Your arse wound will have consumed you within ten.
One hell of a thing to remember that.
It's still going though, so fair play, I'll probably be gone before 35.
That's actually kind of amazing.
That was a bit special. Granqvist after the game was a complete teary mess
Now all they have to do is convince Zlatan to do a comeback just in time for Russia
Did they underperform or are they just shit?
Ibrahimovic should be nowhere near it, there's a reason they did fuck all with him in the team.
Ewing Theory
Eventually, we decided that two crucial elements needed to be in place for any situation to qualify for "Ewing" status:
A star athlete receives an inordinate amount of media attention and fan interest, and yet his teams never win anything substantial with him (other than maybe some early-round playoff series).
That same athlete leaves his team (either by injury, trade, graduation, free agency or retirement) -- and both the media and fans immediately write off the team for the following season.
Underperform? I thought that was a pretty damn good performance from us.
As for Zlatan - you are probably right. This team has a real collective unit feeling about it and he would ruin that.
At the same time, he's always worked well in 4-4-2 systems, and Toivonen is essentially a really shit version of him, so. Still don't think it would happen.
Did Pontus start?