Netherlands 0-3 Italy. The Azzurri's adventure at Euro 2008 could not have started worse. 3 goals like the 3 words which can be used to describe today's match: offside, counter-attack, and defense (or lack thereof). Why offside? The pivotal point of the match (Italy's poor performance aside) was without question the controversial non-call on Ruud van Nistelrooy's [.

Since their existence, the Italian national team has always worn "Azzurro", the shade of blue that is known in the English-speaking world as "Azure Blue". The color comes from the Royal family of Savoia, and all of Italy's national sports team wear it to this day. That's where the national team got their nickname, "Gli Azzurri".

Italy 2-3 Belgium: the Azzurrini's Olympic adventure ends in the Quarter-Finals. And it's such a shame too, because the gold medal (which talent-wise was well within the Azzurrini's reach, also because Brazil/Argentina were on the opposite side of the table) will remain a mirage for Casiraghi's boys.

1. The stereotype is pretty much true.

The stereotype in Rome is that in the city of Rome most people are Roma fans, while Lazio fans are all from the outskirts and from cities in the region of Lazio. For the most part, it's true, as most people I encountered in Rome were Roma fans, with a few Laziali here and there.

For all those of you who understand a bit of Italian (at least enough to scan through headlines of sports websites), the big boot's topic of conversation these past few days gravitated around a Dutch-Romanian "biscotto". Huh? Biscotto? Doesn't that mean "biscuit"? Indeed it does, but in the language of Dante Alighieri it also has [.

Since I'm in an "uploading-pictures" kind of mood, here are selected snapshots of Euro 2008's France vs. Italy match two days ago. Emphasis on "selected" (i.e. by me, because I thought they were funny and because I just can). Also, since every self-respecting picture should include a caption, I have provided two for each.

Well... you know what they say, right? "We got the three points, that's the most important thing". If only... While the saying may be true, this Italy team will not get very far by playing like they did against Cyprus on Saturday. A shaky defense, a serious lack of concentration, and a weak offensive thrust are [.

Lippi isn't the kind of guy concerned with critique or running after world records, and I'm sure most of us here would agree getting three points out of a match (such as Italy did today against Montenegro) is the most important thing. Yet, it must come as great satisfaction when someone tells you you've officially [.

(Post best served with this soundtrack - and it even has a footy reference.) Another day, another potential scandal in Italy. Luckily this one's a whole hell of a lot juicier than Calciopoli, and one which has been teed up right into the wheelhouse of the Italian papparazzi. An unnamed Serie C footballer has come out [.

Player of the Day: A tough one, because there are more than a few wearing orange who could be selected, but we'll give this one to the man between the sticks, Edwin van der Sar. For all the attacking the Dutch brought to the table, he made some great saves and kept the Azzurri from building any momentum.

Casiraghi's Under-23 side start the Games with an easy win, thanks to a wonderful goal from Giovinco and penalties from Rossi and Acquafresca. The Central American side missed a chance from the spot: Pavon sent his penalty over the bar. QINHUANGDAO (China) 7 August 2008 - Italy dominated the game with three goals of which two were penalties (though the second was rather generous) and had at least another three clear-cut chances.

Mission accomplished for Italy's U21 team. In order to qualify for the Euro 2009 knock-out round, a win or a draw against Croatia was necessary for Casiraghi's boys Tuesday, a task which the Azzurrini completed with brio. In truth, the final scoreline doesn't really reflect how this match played out, because of over 83 minutes [.

The Azzurri have arrived in Sofia Friday, around 8:00pm local time. The players were greeted by the usual groups of photographers, camera crew, and even a small group of Italian supporters, who will no doubt be present on the stands of Levski Stadium tomorrow, as Bulgaria host Italy for the South Africa 2010 World Cup [.

What can you say about Mario Balotelli? He may be arrogant, he may be overly confident, he may get too many yellow cards, but say what you want because the fact of the matter is that the 18 year old Inter striker is the real deal. Balotelli is easily Italy's best young talent and is definitely a future superstar.

Courtesy of U.S. Soccer Communications Center:
U.S. TO PLAY WORLD CHAMPIONS ITALY, BRAZIL AND EGYPT IN GROUP B
OF 2009 FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP IN SOUTH AFRICA
CHICAGO (Nov. 22, 2008) – The United States has been drawn into a powerful Group B along with reigning world champions Italy, five-time World Cup winners Brazil, and reigning African Cup of Nations winners Egypt for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup that will be played from June 14-28, 2009, in South Africa.

Now that was the kind of match soccer fans had been waiting for at Euro 2008. And after the utter crap that was France-Romania, we were all due. 3-0 to the Dutch, and while Italians can feel legitimately aggrieved at Van Nistelrooy's opening goal, there was nothing wrong with the other two the azzurri allowed.

Italian sports newspapers Gazzetta dello Sport rated the Azzurri players at the end of their European adventure. Along with Gigi Buffon, positive scores were obtained by Chiellini and Grosso. All the strikers flunked the test, while some midfielders could have done better. The overall form however, was never great.

AS Roma captain Francesco Totto has hinted he may come out of retirement to help the Italian national team in World Cup qualifying. The 31-year old who was a member of the 2006 World Cup winning team had retired from international play due to the effects of grueling league, European, Coppa Italia, and international schedules.

Ladies & gentlemen, the "We just won the World Cup" logo is born. For the first time in football history, a national side will be able to display a logo (a world cup on a white background, with the words "FIFA World Champions") on their shirts to reflect they are the current title holders. And [...]

So it seems to be a FIFA rule that each national team manager must submit a mega-list of 50 players that will be available for selection for World Cup qualifying games. I'm unsure about the rules of this list and if/when players can be changed or added (and info about these lists are hard to find, the list was unveiled by a Fiorentina website) but it does show you the players that the national team manager has in consideration.

In the modern game you always hear stories of players being prima donnas or trying to get a bigger contract or making a move to a big club just for the money, but Ciro Ferrara was a player who was none of those things. Ferrara was a model professional, a consistent performer, and even if he wasn't world renowned during his playing career he is simply one of the best defenders Italy has ever produced.

Two days away from the match against Montenegro, the composition of the Azzurri midfield still raises some questions: can De Rossi and Gattuso recuperate on time? Meanwhile, the vet (Zambrotta) and the rookie (Chiellini, although Euro 2008 pretty much catapulted him to 90%-vet status) share their views on the match to come.

Yup, you've read that right. Spain vs. Italy is in two days, and everyone prepares differently at "Casa Azzurri". Maybe Talentino has a "Hand of God" prepared for Sunday and wants the picture to look good... . Daniele De Rossi juggling: . Gigi Buffon Goalkeeping drills: . Alessandro Del Piero vs.

Don't let the above picture fool you. Despite the "friendly" intentions of Austria's nº16 on Gennaro Gattuso (sorry, couldn't resist...), Italy vs. Austria seemed, at times, anything but friendly. In fact as soon as they were up by two goals, the Austrians thought this could very well be exploit-day for them.

The Italian call-ups for their upcoming World Cup 2010 Qualifying matches vs. Bulgaria (October 11) and Montenegro (October 15) have been revealed. Italy coach Marcello Lippi just submitted the list of 23 players to FIFA, a list which as usual contains notable absentees and a few surprises. Goalkeepers: Buffon (Juventus), Amelia (Palermo), De Sanctis (Galatasaray) Defenders: [.

Today, the Italian Olympic team advanced to the Toulon International Tournament Final, defeating Japan 5-4 on penalty kicks in the semi-final. The Japanese frustrated the Azzurrini for 90 minutes, and Casiraghi's side dominated, but couldn't finish chances. Italy looked dangerous when the ball fell to the feet of Sebastian Giovinco (who should be voted best player of the tournament), but he squandered chances and chances he created were squandered by other players.

Pretty fun training session... SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Video of the Day: Azzurri Handball Practice", url: "http://www.mcalcio.com/video-of-the-day-azzurri-handball-practice/" });

Netherlands
vs
Italy

Monday, June 9th, 2045 CET
Berne (Switzerland) - Travel to Berne

THE BIG PICTURE

For starters, this is just a game in Group C, and all six will be worthy of watching with all three teams ranked in the top dozen in the world by FIFA.

After a match like this, one would normally do well to take a night's rest to carefully analyze the situation, see what went wrong, and what can be done to correct it. That is undoubtedly what Roberto Donadoni and his players will be doing over the next few days, to make sure that this debacle [...]SHARETHIS.

Let it be said that without the proper guidance even the best of ships can be run aground.That's what we saw this summer with the Azzurri,not to suggest that Roberto Donadoni cant become special.But at this station in his life he was unfairly tasked with this job.So on July the 1st the FIGC will announce the rehiring of Marcello Lippi.

All those pre-game worries seemed to be in vain. Did the Azzurri really gel against Honduras? I mean, those guys are just pushovers- what if Korea are a fitter, more technically gifted team? We had 2 penalties and only one goal from open play last time. Are we going to be able to score more from open play now?

You know the Rugby Six nations Championship? The one involving the England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales rugby national teams and taking place every year? Well, the French Football Federation (FFF) and Club France 2010 (the management company taking care of all things Les Bleus till the 2010 World Cup) have had this crazy [.

After their disappointing and controversial loss in the semi-finals, Italy grabbed the bronze medal in the FIFA Futsal World Cup Third Place final against Russia Saturday. It was hard-fought match full of spectacular plays, in which the Azzurri obtained their 2-1 win thanks to a last-minute goal by Saad Assis.

•Holy crap, Alberto Aquilani made it through a match! Quick, wrap him and cotton wool and put him away until the weekend.

•As Jeremy reported this morning, Cagliari are doing their level best to convince themselves (and anyone else who cares) that Pasquale Foggia isn't leaving the club.

For the past few days, many newspapers have been making predictions about what Roberto Donadoni's final roster for Euro 2008 will look like. These rosters are purely speculation and shouldn't be trusted at all. Although yesterday, the newspaper Informazione reported that television channel Antenna 3, a television station based in Lombardia, "discovered" Donadoni's real preliminary roster of 29 players.

Here are a few quips and quotes from the Azzurri who arrived at Coverciano to begin training.For the Italian press Cassano was the star of the day.
" Then, emphasising his words, he reminded journalists that Cassano "is only a lad, don't turn him into an alien." Donadoni to media who are questioning Cassano's selection to the national squad.

In accordance to the UEFA-imposed May 28 deadline, Italian coach Roberto Donadoni has made his final roster selection for Euro 2008: the 23 players who will representing the Azzurri this Summer have been picked and as many expected, Fiorentina midfielder Riccardo Montolivo was the player discarded from the manager's Pre-selection list.

For the first time in the competition's history, Italy's U-23 team has won the Toulon tournament (Festival International Espoirs de Toulon). The Azzurrini, who have succeeded to 4-time consecutive (and 11-time total) winners France as tourney champions, overcame their opponents Chile with a 70th minute goal by Fiorentina striker Pablo Daniel Osvaldo.

The so-called "Group of Death" was dead boring until the Netherlands started counterattacking like Bruce Lee. The second and third goals were some of the best team soccer I've seen in a long time.

Confused

Stuff I'm totally confused about:

• Baby blue socks?

Good thing that despite their big slap in the face on Monday, the Azzurri's morale hasn't dropped too much. The video below shows the Azzurri's latest practice Wednesday afternoon. Passing, juggling, a few keep-ups... nothing extraordinary. Minute 2:30 gets pretty entertaining though, when Alessandro Del Piero and Antonio Cassano start exchanging passes in the air.