The Azzurri to be honoured!

Azzurri heroes honoured
Saturday 6 January, 2007


The 23 World Cup winners and Coach Marcello Lippi will be given the title Cavaliere – an Italian OBE – by the President of the Republic.

The squad that battled against the odds to conquer the 2006 trophy in Germany will be handed this recognition in a ceremony on Monday.

“It has been decided to honour them with the title Cavaliere Ufficiale,” explained FIGC representative Gigi Riva.

“As a few members were already Cavalieri, they’ll be automatically promoted to Ufficiale. Lippi and Federation chief Giancarlo Abete will become Commendatore.”

In the absence of a royal family, Italy’s highest honours are handed out by President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, who was present in Berlin for the Final on July 9.

The system is based on the French Legion d’honneur and the Commendatore is the third highest honour that can be bestowed.

It consists of a silver and red cross hung from a green ribbon around the neck. The players receive the Cavaliere Ufficiale cross, which hangs from the left side of the chest.

Meanwhile, Zinedine Zidane is still feeling the effects of that Final, too, as he admits the dismissal for headbutting Marco Materazzi was the worst way to leave football.

“If I hadn’t already announced my retirement, perhaps I would’ve carried on for another year after that game,” confessed the former French international.

“I was horrible to end my career on a red card. I have to admit it’s very difficult to quit after this incident, because I’ll carry it with me for my whole life.”



FORZA ITALIA! SIAMO CAMPIONI DEL MONDO!!!!

fully deserved after they didn't get a proper presentation at the WC, they haven't got the recognition they should of got either.

It was more the 'Zidane headbutts Materazzi' final than the final that Italy won

Thanks Luis, nice to hear it from someone other than an Italian. And you couldn't have said it any better.

Marco Materazzi!









Gennaro Gattuso








Look he is either realy proud to be a Milanista or just ran out of clothes to wear...








Marcello Lippi, with Buffon and cheap Sepp Blatter... I am surprised he was there








Francesco Totti!

congrats. I'm a great fan of this Italian team, specially of Buffon, Marco Materazzi, and Gattuso. I hope you do well at the Euro Cup, though it's a mickey mouse tournment compared to the WC.


by the way, I'm the only Brazilian I know that think Italy deserved to beat Brazil in 82. that Brazilian team was overhyped as hell by some retarded pundits.

força, Azurra!

Thanks Todo. Good to hear people talking positive about the Azzurri for once. Means a lot

todo wrote:congrats. I'm a great fan of this Italian team, specially of Buffon, Marco Materazzi, and Gattuso. I hope you do well at the Euro Cup, though it's a mickey mouse tournment compared to the WC.


by the way, I'm the only Brazilian I know that think Italy deserved to beat Brazil in 82. that Brazilian team was overhyped as hell by some retarded pundits.

força, Azurra!

Euro is harder to win IMO.

Thanks for the pics Super Milanista!

right, that's why crappy teams like Denmark and Greece have won the WC but have no chance at the Euro Cup!

Forza Italia!Forza Milan! wrote:

todo wrote:congrats. I'm a great fan of this Italian team, specially of Buffon, Marco Materazzi, and Gattuso. I hope you do well at the Euro Cup, though it's a mickey mouse tournment compared to the WC.


by the way, I'm the only Brazilian I know that think Italy deserved to beat Brazil in 82. that Brazilian team was overhyped as hell by some retarded pundits.

força, Azurra!

Euro is harder to win IMO.

Thanks for the pics Super Milanista!

todo wrote:right, that's why crappy teams like Denmark and Greece have won the WC but have no chance at the Euro Cup!

Forza Italia!Forza Milan! wrote:

todo wrote:congrats. I'm a great fan of this Italian team, specially of Buffon, Marco Materazzi, and Gattuso. I hope you do well at the Euro Cup, though it's a mickey mouse tournment compared to the WC.


by the way, I'm the only Brazilian I know that think Italy deserved to beat Brazil in 82. that Brazilian team was overhyped as hell by some retarded pundits.

força, Azurra!

Euro is harder to win IMO.

Thanks for the pics Super Milanista!

Only European teams compete at Euros, so the standard is automatically higher.

During the past European Championships, how many teams were the standard of Togo, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia and Angola?

Sure, the World Cup has Brazil and Argentina, an added bonus, but apart from those countries is there a massive boost that the likes of Australia or Iran give to the World Cup?

At the Euros, big teams are placed with the likes of Sweden, Czech. Republic and Croatia from the outset.

Do you think Spain or Portugal really had to break a sweat to beat teams like Saudi Arabia, Iran or Tunisia? I know Spain made a meal of beating Tunisia, but the gulf in quality was obvious.

Teams like South Korea and Turkey can also get to the semi-finals of the World Cup (their 6th game, just like it would be their 6th game if they were to get to the Final of the European Championships), so to say that since Greece and Denmark can win the Euro, the tournament is inferior to the World Cup is inaccurate. I agree that winning the World Cup is more satisfying because of its history and the title a country gets – after all, World Champions sounds more redoubtable than European Champions.

I think the World Cup should be 24 teams at the most.

Totti looking cool as usual!

@forza

euro is harder at the 1st round.

wc is harder as a whole.

Still the semis was 3 European teams and 1 south american.. A European affair, clearly


nahh.. just winiding you up.. we should just limit the number of teams, take the 5 best from the Americas, 3 best from Africa, 1 Asian team and 15 European teams

todo wrote:@forza

euro is harder at the 1st round.

wc is harder as a whole.

Some games from Euro2000 and Euro2004 (knockout phases)- Eng vs Portugal, Italy vs Netherlands, Netherlands vs Portugal, France vs Portugal,

Some games from WC2002 and WC2006 (knockout phases)- Eng vs Portugal, Italy vs Germany, France vs Brazil, Portugal vs France, Netherlands vs Portugal,

Games from the first list are comparable AND in some cases identical to the ones from the second list.

If you concede that the group phase is indeed harder at European Championships (you've) and the lists are AT LEAST AS COMPETITIVE AS EACH OTHER (you haven't yet), then the European Championship must be the harder tournament on the whole.

Notice also that I haven't compiled an exhaustive list that would further strengthen my argument. For example, one can convincingly argue that even the lesser lights that make it to the knockout phases of the European Championship are far better than the ones that make it to the World Cup knockout phases.

For example, how many would argue that Romania, Former Yugoslavia (Euro2000) and Denmark are at least as good if not better than South Korea, Ecuador and Australia?

no, the 4 teams were european, deservedly.

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:Still the semis was 3 European teams and 1 south american.. A European affair, clearly


nahh.. just winiding you up.. we should just limit the number of teams, take the 5 best from the Americas, 3 best from Africa, 1 Asian team and 15 European teams

@forza

the knockout stages of the WC have 16 teams, while in the Euro there are only 8. of course you'll find worse teams among a group of 16. but do not forget that teams like south korea and turkey defeated european teams like Sweden and Italy.

and how about greece? south korea has more tradition than greece, and still the European superpowers let that crap team win the thing. I can assure you that would never happen in a WC, nor even in a Copa América!



but this thread is not about WC v. EC. it's about the great Italia that won the WC. Let's get back to the topic!

In the last 3 WCs Paraguay and Ecuador knocked out european squads at the WC group stage.

Now let's come back to the topic.

Congrats Italy!

todo wrote:@forza

the knockout stages of the WC have 16 teams, while in the Euro there are only 8. of course you'll find worse teams among a group of 16. but do not forget that teams like south korea and turkey defeated european teams like Sweden and Italy.

and how about greece? south korea has more tradition than greece, and still the European superpowers let that crap team win the thing. I can assure you that would never happen in a WC, nor even in a Copa América!



but this thread is not about WC v. EC. it's about the great Italia that won the WC. Let's get back to the topic!

Let's use your logic: South Korea beating Italy and Spain should be an indication that the WC is inferior in some way since you also say that Greece winning the thing is an indication that the EC is inferior compared to the WC.

Granted that South Korea didn't win the thing, but they played 6 games, just like Greece, and could have beaten Germany.

Also, Greece have a far greater tradition than South Korea when it comes to football. AEK Athens and Panathanaikos are prominent European clubs.

I agree, FORZA ITALIA SEMPRE!

but Korea was playing at home! if Greece had won an Euro at home, it would be a different story. not so humiliating for the competition.

club football is one thing, international football is another. you cannot talk about AEK to say Greece has tradition. Greece has nothing. they are crap, and still they won the euro.

I assure you nothing like that will ever happen in a WC. the big four club (we all know who they are) will never let them shitty teams conquer it.

I see people saying that the Eurocup lacks only Brazil and Argentina. man, you can't say "only" to those teams. can you imagine a world cup without brazil and argentina? or without Germany and Italy? that makes a bloody big difference!

We have to get to the Euro before we even think about winning it...

Fuck ups against Lithuania and France put us in a bad position and Scotland (with or without Smith) wont be easy in their own country...aswell as away to Ukraine!

Sepp Blatter is a midget.

Forza Italia!Forza Milan! wrote:

todo wrote:@forza

the knockout stages of the WC have 16 teams, while in the Euro there are only 8. of course you'll find worse teams among a group of 16. but do not forget that teams like south korea and turkey defeated european teams like Sweden and Italy.

and how about greece? south korea has more tradition than greece, and still the European superpowers let that crap team win the thing. I can assure you that would never happen in a WC, nor even in a Copa América!



but this thread is not about WC v. EC. it's about the great Italia that won the WC. Let's get back to the topic!

Let's use your logic: South Korea beating Italy and Spain should be an indication that the WC is inferior in some way since you also say that Greece winning the thing is an indication that the EC is inferior compared to the WC.

Granted that South Korea didn't win the thing, but they played 6 games, just like Greece, and could have beaten Germany.

Also, Greece have a far greater tradition than South Korea when it comes to football. AEK Athens and Panathanaikos are prominent European clubs.

I agree, FORZA ITALIA SEMPRE!

i agree i think the quality as a hole in the Euros is better. we lose two teams that are good but on the other hand we lose alot of bad teams which makes it euros of higher quality and less meaningless matches.i would rather win the wc but i enjoy euros more.