Wow what a game .. being down 2-0 to cyprus would have hurt even if the game meant fuck all .. but i was screaming when gilardino tied it up .. and can't believe we won in the end. They played pretty shit for 75 minutes. Gilardino is our hero especially after the last game which put us through. I think this team still needs to iron out the kinks. Looking forward to seeing who progresses from the playoff matches.

FORZA AZZURRI!

Gilardino has officially become our new hero .. unlike luca toni who he's beeen compared to .. gilardino has found success in both the league and the national team scoring in both. Last WC i thought toni was going to score all our goals and that wasn't the case at all and he did even worse in the euro's after that. I think Gila and Pazzini will be a great combo up front.

The fans jeered the team all game until they finally scored which made Lippi furious. If i paid to go see a game regardless of whether it counted or not i would hope to see all the stars on the field .. so to see an experimental lineup and an unmotivated/losing one as well .. i would boo them too.

I think on lippi's defense, it's great to see him experiment because clearly the players from the last WC don't have it anymore and some fresh talent is needed and I think the free meaningless game was a perfect opportunity to test out a different lineup which clearly would not be effective.