After the Nerazzurro domination of the previous season, the 2007-2008 season proved to be more challenging. With Juventus back in Serie A and no teams starting on points penalties, the Scudetto race was open. Inter had a little more trouble winning this time, only finishing 3 points ahead of Roma at the end.

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The Decade in Review continues with the 2006/2007 season. The 2006/2007 season was the beginning of a new era for Italian football. It was the first post-Calciopoli season, and it was the first Serie A season without Juventus. A reinforced Inter side dominated the championship, finishing 22 points ahead of second place Roma and winning their first scudetto on the pitch since 1989.

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I didn't get to see most of the Italy-Cameroon game live yesterday. I was on my way to New York City instead (I'm a New Jersey native, home from college on spring break). PUMA was having their official unveiling of the Azzurri's new World cup jerseys, and when Daryl passed along the invite, I couldn't resist.

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Back in the fall of 09 Serie A Weekly got the lead on the new jersey design but there was still doubt it would be the official version. Several days ago we learned it was so Joe and here are the...
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Marco's indicating how many times he's had sex since finding out he was called up to play for the Azzurri. Like we need him to count them for us. Pull-ease.

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Marco's indicating how many times he's had sex since finding out he was called up to play for the Azzurri. Like we need him to count them for us. Pull-ease.

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The Decade in Review finally arrives to the 2005/2006 season. A season filled with such controversy (Calciopoli), but ended with such joy (World Cup 2006). This is the season that would change Italian football forever. Juventus in particular would never be the same (and they still aren't).

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The Decade in Review continues with 2004/2005. Juventus, with Fabio Capello at the helm, reclaimed the Scudetto (which would be revoked the following summer). It was an interesting and competitive campaign, a campaign in which 40 points, usually the magic number of avoiding relegation, was not enough to ensure survival.

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Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani could fail to make Italy's final 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup, according to Calciomercato.it.
The player spent the first part of the season out with a serious ankle injury, and has since only made eight appearances in the Premier League and has yet to play a full match under coach Rafa Benitez, who seems to prefer Steven Gerrard, Javier Mascherano, and Lucas in central midfield. Click to continue reading...

Si ferma ai quarti il cammino nella Viareggio Cup della Fiorentina di Babacar che esce dal torneo, sconfitta con il risultato di 1 a 2 dall'Empoli, vera e propria bestia nera per i viola di Buso.
Già due anni fa, infatti, i gigliati furono "cacciati" via dalla manifestazione proprio dall'Empoli, vittorioso a cinque minuti dalla fine con un gol di Caturano. Click to continue reading...

We all have different club affiliations, but that gets thrown out the window when we root for gli Azzurri. We live, breathe, and die with those players out there. Here are some of the more emotional moments we've had following an ever changing group of 11 players with three things in common: the shirt on their backs, the blood in their veins, and the passion in their hearts.

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We continue on the weekly review with the 2003/2004 season. While the 2002/2003 season was pretty boring on the domestic front, the 2003/2004 season proved to be really interesting and exciting. First, this was the last Serie A season to feature 18 teams (more on that later), as well the last season for arguably Italy's best fantasista of all-time: Roberto Baggio.

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The Euro 2012 qualifying draw was held today, with Italy getting a decent group with two teams that could cause a little trouble (Serbia and Slovenia). Marcello Lippi was not in attendance, fueling speculation that he won't be leading the national team after the World Cup. Italy were drawn into Group C with Serbia, Slovenia, Northern Ireland, Estonia, and the Faroe Islands.

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Lulu Toni has finally mustered up the courage to speak about first team spots in the Azzurri. Oh dear, that took quite a while, didn't it, futbolitas? And does anyone really care what Luca thinks about Amauri The Addled Angel? Bambiiiii, sei noioso!

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The 2002/2003 season wasn't as exciting as the past few title races, but it still was an interesting season. Probably the biggest news in the 2002/2003 season was the Italian domination in the Champions League, with 3 teams arriving in the semi-final (Milan, Juventus, Inter), ensuring that Italy would have at least one team in the final and maybe their first Champions League winner since Juve's triumph in 1996.

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On May 5th, 2002, most Inter fans were doing the same exact thing Ronaldo is doing in the picture. Inter had thought that they had finally gotten it right. They would finally win their first Scudetto since 1989. But it wasn't to be, and May 5th, 2002 is a day Inter fans do not like to remember.

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Juventus suffered another defeat which perhaps came as no surprise despite the fact Roma were rather not impressive until the penalty-kick which was converted by Francesco Totti. The Bianconeri did not deserve to lose the match but the players have certainly been struggling despite putting in a better effort against the Giallorossi.

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There were rumors this week that Sampdoria striker Antonio Cassano and manager Gigi Delneri had been involved in a training ground bust-up with shouting and Cassano had even threatened to never play again all season. Of course these were all unconfirmed rumors so we don't really know what went on.

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Continuing the Decade in Review, we now move on to the 2000/2001 season, another highly interesting and exciting season. For the first time in ages, the Scudetto was won back to back by teams not named Juventus, Inter, or Milan and for the first time in Italian calcio history the Scudetto stayed in Rome for 2 consecutive seasons.

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Simple post for today, just to keep everyone entertained and to get some discussion going. If you were Lippi- that is, the coach of the Azzurri- which player would you never call up?

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With the decade wrapping up, I thought it'd be a good idea to review every season of the decade thus far, starting with the 1999-2000. The review will highlight Serie A of course, but also Italian teams in European competition, and National team stories from that season. So we begin with the 1999-2000 season, the dawn of the new millennium.

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I don't have complicated relationships with any players." The words of Marcello Lippi. As the 2010 World Cup is quickly approaching Marcello Lippi will need to finalize his squad. Will it be flamboyant Cassano or the Rookie Balotelli? Maybe neither. Do Nesta and Totti come out of retirement to help the Azzurri to . Click to continue reading...

Last post, we discussed strikers on the Azzurri. The general consensus seemed to be that Borriello might deserve a shot if he can stay fit, though Quags is probably too inconsistent to do us any good. I think we can all agree that both are having a great season, and if they keep up their respective forms it'll be hard to ignore them.

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This one looks like the real deal folks. In September leaks of the Italy 2010 FIFA World Cup Puma...
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The new Italy home shirt for the 2010 World Cup hasn't officially been unveiled yet, but the above photograph shows a close-up of how the modern Puma shirt looks.

The new Italy soccer jersey is blue with red, white and green accent colors. The Azzurri shirt features a unique and trendy collar design with two different v-necks cut into the collar of the shirt.

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Hapoel Beer-Sheva's defense cannot be real. <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kYZ7i1WcW2M &hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0×5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320″ height="265″> The South American team of the decade. Click to continue reading...

Christmas time is here, which means Serie A goes on it's winter break, players go on vacation, transfer rumors start to heat up because of the forthcoming transfer window, and daily news runs a little thin. So I've decided to make a Serie A Christmas list, a list of what players, managers, and teams are asking ol' St.

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So, news today was that EPL side Manchester City have fired Mark Hughes and have hired Roberto Mancini as manager. Mancini, who had finally rescinded his Inter contract a few months ago, was free since he was replaced by Jose Mourinho at Inter in 2008. Since then he was still receiving paychecks from Mr.

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The Azzurri will be in Group F along with Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand. The Italians are notorious for their slow starts in previous World Cup editions but this group should not pose much of a threat. The key is to properly deal with all three teams, in particular Paraguay and Slovakia as those two teams can be dangerous.

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We all remember the Francesco Totti and Antonio Cassano partnership at Roma. Cassano had always stated that growing up he admired Totti and one of the reasons he went to Roma was to play alongside him. And then Totti took him under his wing, and the duo formed a deadly partnership, always speaking the same language on the pitch.

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There you have it, Italy in Group F, drawn with New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia. A relatively simple group and one Marcelo Lippi should take the Azzurri through with comfort.

Group F

Italy
New Zealand
Paraguay
Slovakia

They begin the defence of their crown in Capetown at the Greenpoint soccer stadium on June 14th 2010 against Paraguay before traveling to Nelspruit to face New Zealand on 20th June in the newly built Mbombela Stadium and finishing their Group F campaign in Johannesburg at the Ellis Park Stadium against Slovakia on 24th June.

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Photo by Alessio Damato

In an announcement Wednesday that will not come as much of a surprise to followers of soccer, Italy was named one of the top seeds for the 2010 World Cup, joining host nation South Africa, Brazil, England, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and Argentina.

The big news coming out of this announcement is the conspicuous absence of one team from "Pot 1″: 2006 World Cup runner-up France.

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World Cup fans, prepare to hear this song ad nauseum for the next seven months. K'naan's "Wavin' Flag" is the Official Anthem of World Cup 2010.

Related posts:

1. Italy 2010 World Cup Football Shirts: Leaked Photos Photographs of what looks like Italy's new home and.

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As we know by now, last fall Cassano released his autobiography (in collaboration with SKY commentator Pierluigi Pardo) entitled "Dico Tutto", and it immediately became one of the biggest bestsellers in all of Italy. People everywhere wanted to know what the crazy genius was all about, and they weren't disappointed because Cassano, as the title "Dico Tutto" (I'll say everything) indicated, really did say everything.

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This roundtable the guys discuss the Azzurri (Italian national team) who should play, who is...
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The Gazzetta dello Sport is arguably the most famous sports newspaper in Italy, selling more copies than rivals Corriere dello Sport and Tuttosport. It is world famous for it's pink pages and has been printed in pink since 1899. The current head editor of the Gazzetta, Luigi Garlando, has always been a critic of Lippi since his return to the national team, has always been pro-Cassano, and doesn't understand why Lippi hates to answer questions at press conferences.

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The pressure on Marcello Lippi to reconsider selecting Antonio Cassano to the Azzurri is unrelenting. It was only last weekend against the Netherlannds in Pescara , that a fan of the Sampdoria striker invaded the pitch wearing a t-shirt saying "Cassano in Nazionale" - no translation really required here! Click to continue reading...

A number of players can stake a claim for being part of the best team in the world at this early period of the European domestic leagues. However, very few players standout the way those listed below have in terms of their contribution to their team, their role as leaders, and certainly their crucial involvement in their respective clubs.

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I know, the Cassano-National Team debate is getting old and boring. But this was too funny. In the 5th minute of the game yesterday, a fan ran onto the pitch wearing a t-shirt with the Superman logo and with the words "Cassano in Nazionale" (Cassano on the National Team). He jogged around the pitch for a while and then made his way off the pitch and was promptly arrested.

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The Italy U-21's continued their very disappointing qualifying campaign with another loss, this time away to Hungary. The Azzurrini needed a win to get back on track, but now qualification is getting more and more difficult. The Hungarians won 2-0, with goals coming from Nemeth and Koman (both players played on the Hungarian side that knocked the Italy U-20's out of the U-20 World Cup last month).

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