What happened?

Well I am seething at another Azzurri exit in the World Cup. Where do I start? Prandelli just quit and so did Abete. Good riddance to both. I was so positive about Prandelli after the Lippi disaster in 2010. He brought in the fantasistas in Cassano and Rossi. Balotelli would join after a year. We were on the right track up to Euro 2012. Misfortune had followed with Cassano needing heart surgery and Rossi needing two knee surgeries. They went to the Euro 2012 final which was justly deserved. Right after that, Prandelli got the Italian manager disease known as arrogance. He decided he didn't need Cassano anymore. All his attention would be on Juventus and of course Balotelli.  Basing all your hope on a 23 year old who showed the maturity of a spoiled brat was a disaster waiting to happen. Balotelli had become unproductive both with Manchester City and then with Milan. His efforts seemed to be more aligned with getting attention at all costs as he tried to make people forget his perfo

There was some celestial harmony when Danny Gallivan would say back to the point and Lapointe fires and scoreesssss. It seems that Guy Lapointe was always there. You see him in the grainy videos of the 71 stunning Cup win where the habs eliminated the Bruins and Hawks. He was there in the four straight cups in the late seventies. He was prominent in game 7 versus the bruins in 1979. Savard and Robinson that night had had better days. He was there in 1972 giving the Russian the choke sign in game 1 and playing a strong role in Canada's win in Russia. He was there in that famous game versus the Red Army on New Year's eve in 1975. He played with Jean Beliveau and JC Tremblay. He played with Guy Lafleur and Larry Robinson. Yes he was there and everyone expected Guy to have an error-free fast skating offensive game with a good hip check every once and awhile. If Guy Lapointe should be remembered for anything it was that he was consistently very good, game in game out almost ev

I am really unsure if the Azzurri will even get out of their group this year. England and Uruguay have beaten and tied the Azzurri in their last 2 meetings. England got off to a very good start in Euro 2012 and when they met the Azzurri in the quarterfinals were more or less exhausted. Meeting the Azzurri in the first game could be an advantage. Uruguay has some great strikers that could put an unbearable pressure on the Azzurri if they need to win or draw the final game in the group. Costa Rica could be a problem because the other countries will be concentrating on their key matchups. Once and if the Azzurri get out of the group stage they will be more prone to go far. By that time they will be more confident and the knock-out games will put pressure on the opposition as well. I was hoping that some key players would have been chosen. Totti I think was needed to add leadership and fantasista skills even at his age. If Cassano falters or gets tired there are few that can replace him. W