World Cup 2010 South Africa has now been and gone, a feast of football for a month in the rainbow nation. Here are a few memories of the good and bad for the first World Cup of the decade. The Good Paul the Octopus – the world stood still in amazement and in humour, (in […]

Italy has been punished, thanks to their poor performances Italy has lost ground in the FIFA and UEFA rankings. La Gazzetta dello Sport is reporting that Italy has fallen all the way down to 11th in the FIFA rankings, behind Chile and Egypt. This is an anticipation that will most likely be confirmed the 14th […]

Buffon has been troubled by his back for just about three years, and when he had to pull out of the World Cup just 45 minutes in the first match, it was time for Buffon to get an operation. Buffon was operated in Milan because of his herniated disc and the operation went perfectly, a […]

Genoa have plenty of options for their search for a keeper, while they've practically sealed the deal with the Corinthians keeper Felipe, they could be rethinking their plans a little bit. This is thanks to the new rule on player transfers which could hit Serie A teams, reducing the slots to only one non-European player […]

With Italy out of the 2010 World Cup, we have plenty of time to plan for the future and avoid any mistakes we made in this tournament. So it's important to know what Italy did wrong, the mistakes that cost us dearly in the World Cup, making us end up last in the group, behind […]

As the World Cup is attracting all headlines related to soccer, there's always a small echo of transfer market news which now, after Italy's elimination from the World Cup, becomes much more than an echo for Italy fans. And as you read about transfer rumors and deals, you hear the names like Di Maria, Maicon, […]

What should be considered a fair result; Slovakia were better, and Italy were poor, it's just as simple as that. In the end Italy ends up right where they deserve to end up, the bottom of the table, behind New Zealand, Slovakia, and Paraguay. Italy has not played well throughout their three games, only turning […]

The Azzurri have played their first match, and while some will view the 1-1 draw result as a bad thing, the match was actually filled with positives for Italy. Although we've seen Germany demolish Australia 4-0, I think that the Azzurri match was unique, it finally felt like I was watching a World Cup match. […]

Lippi has announced his final squad of 23 he will be taking to South Africa, while there aren't too many major surprises, there were two exclusions in the attacking department which seem a bit strange. Here's the final 23-man squad: Goal-keepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari) Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci […]

One positive to come out of Italy’s disastrous Confederations Cup adventure was the emergence of Giuseppe Rossi. Having been on the fringes of the Azzurri squad for some months, he finally made his breakthrough against the nation of his birth, putting himself firmly in the shop window this summer. Having begun his career in the […]

As the final of the Confederations Cup approaches, the tournament for one team in particular has been an unmitigated disaster. Coming into the competition, as World Champions would surely mean an easy route to the semi-finals at least, however Italy capitulated in almighty fashion. A somewhat fortuitous victory over the USA followed by an embarrassing […]

In the eyes and opinions of many of you, I am about to defend the indefensible: the decision of Guiseppe Rossi to play for the Italian National Team instead of the United States National Team. This issue came to head this week, with many calling Rossi a Judas or Benedict Arnold, because on Monday Rossi […]

Goal.com and SI.com's South American guy Greg Sica will chat with the guys about the upcoming CONMEBOL qualifiers as we as the most recent developments in Copa Libertadores play. Juan also interviewed former ESPN International play-by-play man Randall Álvarez to talk about the upcoming CONCACAF quallies as well as his latest project back in his […]

It was supposed to be a classic. Two of the top teams in Europe, Italy and Spain, with some of the best footballers in the world on display. But what we saw was a dire game featuring two teams more focused on avoiding defeat than trying to win. Other than the Romania against France game, […]

One of the pleasures of going to see a live match in England and continental Europe these days is the lack of fan segregation. After leaving Wales in 1984 and returning to England in 2006 to attend a professional match again, I was shocked by how fans were allowed to mingle together in the streets […]