How did Seven Nation Army take over Italy?

It's probably the most indie sports anthem ever, but if anyone was following the 2006 World Cup then they remember the simple, ever-so-catchy bassline of The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army. It ended up dominating the whole world of sports, but it became the beloved song of the Italian fans and players.

Juventus and Italian national team legend Alessandro Del Piero has long been linked with a move to MLS, and despite recent reports having him wind up with the Montreal Impact, the club's president set the record straight on the matter.

Joey Saputo admitted to having discussions with the 37-year-old Del Piero's representatives on two occasions -- last April in Montreal and last June in Italy -- while discussing a potential move to MLS, but offered that Del Piero has his eyes on the league's two major markets should he come to America.

So yesterday, the 16th of December, AC Milan celebrated (I don't want to know how) 112 years of a glorious and rich history spanning back from the club's foundation as The Milan Cricket and Football Club in 1899 to the present. As a tip of the hat to this fine sporting institution, I will dedicate this post to that faction of Milanese society that is eligible to play for another fine, some may say finer, institution, the Italian national team, one half of the pure and unabridged reason for this blog's existence, the other half being to spread evil rumours about a defenceless old lady.

Poor corporate oversight here. Meant to get this up on Saturday.

TSG's celebrated peanut gallery: Waldorf, Statler, and...I don't know Beauregard got together via email on Friday to toss out one-liners and multi-liners from the balcony on the Euro 2012 draw. It was TSG's Serie A expert and Italian national team expert Eric Giardini, joined by Ronan Quinn writing from Newcastle on Ireland.

Italy and Uruguay face off in just a few hours, and, providing the two sides don't resort to the type of defense necessary in a match termed a "friendly", this one promises a bit of excitement. Think about it: Mario Balotelli and Luis Suarez on the same pitch, facing off against each other. The possibilities for an epic showdown involving biting, kicking, tantrums and possibly a.

The Italian national team was dealt a double blow with the participation of Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano in Euro 2012 thrown into doubt, yet the emergence of Mario Balotelli could serve as the perfect remedy for coach Cesare Prandelli's concerns.

Balotelli had a slow start to the English season but he has been scoring regularly in recent weeks prompting Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini to praise him.

Inspired performances by Andrea Pirlo and Antonio Cassano lead Italy to a memorable 3-0 victory over an ordinary Northern Ireland side in Pescara. Qasa Alom reports AC Milan's Antonio Cassano was warned prior to the match that this would be his last chance in the national set-up after offensive comments to a journalist last week – and FantAntonio really didn't disappoint with a brilliant brace.

Ah, leave it to the Azzurri to tour the football pitch in style! Seriously though, you could set up a fashion runway right in the middle of Belgrade's Marakana stadium and the Italian national team won't look an inch out of place. Work it, bellissimo!

Claudio Marchisio The Juventus midfielder has been in great form this season; including netting a brace in their 2-0 win over AC Milan last weekend. He was often forced out onto the left-side of midfield in previous years and not deemed capable of orchestrating a midfield. He's proved his doubters wrong this season and also forced his way into the Italian National Team's midfield.

There are those with a "superstitious" edge claiming that VILLAREAL has a "curse" on the Number 9 - forward - position. This has been heightened by the injury to ROSSI who has injured himself while training with the Italian National Team. This leaves Villareal without a true forward. The other two forwards in the side Marcos Ruben ( out 15 days ) & Nilmar ( knee operation out 2 months) have also

TRABZONSPOR KEEPER.... TOLGA ZENGIN
First Trabzonspor in Italy than, Besiktas at home in Istanbul gave something to simile to Turkish football fans after Turkish football rocked with negative news about Turkish football...
They shocked the world and beat Inter in Italy 0-1.

Another great review from Papai...
There were two Italias on display last night, each showcasing a facet of the Italian National team that we have come to recognise over the years. The team in white was clearly in semi-holiday mode, and taking things lightly as it was just a friendly. The team in green displayed the characteristics so admired in the classic azzurri squads – tenacity, tactically nullifying an opponent, organisation and taking full advantage of whatever chances that came their way.

Photo by martin.canchola

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Young Torino defender Angelo Ogbonna has been called up by Italy coach Cesare Prandelli for the friendly match against the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday, so we invited Rob Gillman (the excellent Torino Blogger) to tell us more. Whilst the match against Giovanni Trappatoni's Irish side is only a friendly, and Ogbonna is by no means guaranteed to gain his first cap in the match, it certainly.

Manchester City is planning to make an offer to sign Liverpool Alberto Aquilani this summer. Roberto Mancini is known to be an admirer of the Italian international and hopes to lure the creative midfielder to Eastlands but will first have to persuade Kenny Dalglish to sell to a rival to their top four ambitions.

It is incredible to think that Italy, World Champions five years ago, were ever ranked outside of the top ten in the FIFA rankings. But, such had been their fall from the summit of world football that started after their horrid display in South Africa, that the Italian National team found themselves in sixteenth position last November behind the likes of Slovenia, Norway, Egypt and Greece.

Having Carlos Tevez injured for quite a while, has left Manchester City's coach, Roberto Mancini, in trusting the club's troubled striker, Mario Balotelli, as the front player that could be City's main goal source for the time being especially this Weekend as they set to face Manchester United in the FA Cup.

Marcello Lippi, despite a disastrous second spell in charge of the Italian National team, will always be held in high esteem by Italian worldwide. After all, this is the man that nearly immediately redeemed calcio in the face of a match-fixing scandal in the best way possible: by winning the World Cup.

Liverpool are preparing a clear-out as the Anfield side looks to generate funds for significant signings this summer. Kenny Daglish and director of football Damien Comolli have reportedly been considering which players in the club's squad they are willing to offload and perhaps unsurprisingly a number of those are players brought in by Roy Hodgson.

With the new found optimism for Italy's goalkeeping future beyond Gigi Buffon being highlighted yesterday, Qasa Alom takes a moment to reflect on the strange and sad tale of Federico Marchetti. As another International break draws to an end, it seems that Cesare Prandelli's new look youthful Italian national team have answered many questions and passed scrutiny with aplomb.

Much changed and much accomplished. Cesare Prandelli continues his brilliant run with the Italian National Team with a two-nil victory over Ukraine. What exactly can Italy fans take away from this? Here are six points worth noting. Cesare Prandelli is the new Tinkerman. A better one. Claudio Ranieri, the old "Tinkerman", has become somewhat infamous for tinkering in all the wrong.

The Italian national team did play yesterday, pulling off a comfortable 1-0 win away against Slovenia- the first time Gli Azzurri had ever won away there. Cesare Prandelli's rebuilding continues along a smooth pace, with more answers than questions being delivered. The Italian newspapers can only talk about that one game for so long, for so many pages, however, and the subsequent result is massive, massive amounts of transfer talk.

There's quite a bit to look forward to today, even without calcio this weekend. Cesare Prandelli and Italy will play in two games as Italy look to return to a superpower. The Offside podcasts have been updated as well and feature some great new content.

There's no Serie A action this week as European leagues take a break for some international football.

ROME, Italy — Roma have named youth coach Vincenzo Montella as their new manager, 24 hours after the resignation of Claudio Ranieri, the Serie A club announced on Monday. Ranieri resigned on Sunday in the aftermath of the Italian capital side's 4-3 loss at Genoa, despite having led 3-0, for Roma's fourth straight loss.

The Italian national team's first test in 2011 came with a friendly trip up north to Germany. Even though this was a friendly match, you can bet that it can be anything but friendly on the pitch between these two. Germany has been a strong football team for many years, and made back to back appearances in the the last two World Cup semi-finals.

Cesare Prandelli has a big test coming up, when the Italian national team faces Germany in Dortmund on February 8th. His list of 23 called up players features some new faces, along with a few returning veterans. Yet the squad which has been called up is missing some important players who are injured.

Chances are if you love Serie A then you keep up with the Italian National Team, or gli Azzurri. The national team has a long history on the national stage. Italy has won the World Cup tournament 4 times, only second to Brazil's five time championship record. The names Giuseppe Meazza, Alessandra Del Piero, Dino Zoff and Paolo Rossi have all worn the blue jersey at one time.

Three big stories this past week have perhaps set in motion a chain of events, the eventual results of which may have huge implications on both the Serie A title race this season and the future of the Italian national team. First among these, and easily the saddest tale is the season-ending knee injury suffered by Fabio Quagliarella.

After a winter break which seemed like an eternity, Serie A finally returned yesterday on it's annual Epiphany match-day. It was an great return with many interesting results, and showed that these next few months of Serie A should be excellent. Milan are officially winter champions (the last giornata of the first part of the season is Sunday), and that's a good omen for Milan fans, because out of the 16 times the Rossoneri have been crowned winter champions, 10 times they have go on to win the Scudetto.