Latest / The Calcio Guys / Recapping Azzurri Friendlies in the US - Ep. 219 Ft. Joe & Nick

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Recapping Azzurri Friendlies in the US - Ep. 219 Ft. Joe & Nick · The Calcio Guys

• 0:00
  H h Fratellialia Fratelli de culchu. Guys, it's a full house here tonight.
• 0:31
  I Giano, Johnny Nicholas joined by two skeedual two special guests this week,
• 0:36
  Joe Cappuccino, Nick Danni. Guys, how's everyone doing? H Yeah,
• 0:46
  yeah, we're here, man. I'm still recovering. I'm still like,
• 0:50
  I'm still trying to gain traction from White someday, Dude, that time,
• 0:55
  that time looks good. Anybody that's not gonna spend this on video,
• 0:59
  Joe is all right, nice, a nice little wind burn, but look
• 1:03
  like right, yeah, Joe's out there from Amy. Joe's in at the
• 1:10
  Miami game. Nick was at the and he has and he has less of
• 1:14
  a time than Joe. So Joe was beautiful as always, and uh Nick,
• 1:17
  Janny same same as well. But the guys, we're so happy to
• 1:21
  have you on. Johnny is muted and he's trying to talk, so yeah,
• 1:26
  you're muty happy to be here. I love I love you guys.
• 1:34
  Two nineteen of the podcast, and we still gonna get the mics, right,
• 1:38
  guys, bear with us. No, Johnny, you're muted. Yeah,
• 1:46
  we see your beautiful smile. But that's yeah, we got to clip
• 1:49
  that equip it E clip it? How about now? Oh good, okay,
• 1:56
  I figured what the issue is? Okay? Uh. For anyone who
• 2:02
  is listening on podcast version, head over to our YouTube channel to see this
• 2:07
  in video format to see our beautiful faces. But the reason we're here today,
• 2:10
  guys, obviously, Italy played in the US for the first time in
• 2:15
  was it over twenty years with a couple of friendlies this past weekend against Venezuela
• 2:20
  and Ecuador, and they played in Miami, they played in New Jersey.
• 2:23
  We got a representative from each, So you guys have big responsibility representing all
• 2:28
  the Italian fans for the games. I guess we'll start with Nick since his
• 2:35
  game was it was on Thursday in Miami. Tell us what it was like
• 2:39
  for you to be there. I know this wasn't your first Italy game,
• 2:43
  but tell us about your emotion, your experience of the game. Yeah,
• 2:46
  dude, it was, I mean surreal, right. I think anybody that
• 2:52
  follows the show that that interacts their dream to see this team, right,
• 2:55
  it's we've all have the same passion. We've all followed, you know,
• 3:00
  the ATSUITI since we sure since we were kids. So to be able to
• 3:04
  see it, especially to not have to travel to see it, I think,
• 3:07
  is a rare opportunity. So, you know, I was. I
• 3:10
  was one of those guy friend of mine who's an inter Miami season ticket holder,
• 3:14
  got me that pre sale code, Like I was there minute one,
• 3:17
  you know, on the pre sale buying the best tickets. I could so
• 3:22
  definitely excited to do it, and it was. It was a It's an
• 3:28
  awesome experience. I mean, I think you guys, have we've talked personally,
• 3:32
  you've heard me say, I think the cultural culture it's a little bit
• 3:36
  lacking in South Florida. I think there's there's a long way to go in
• 3:40
  the sense that you know, I get jealous. I see everybody interacting right
• 3:44
  like uve A Club has you know everywhere New York, Montreal, Toronto,
• 3:49
  California, Wherever, Milan inter same thing. But down here, I haven't
• 3:53
  really found that yet. So to see excitement, you know, around Yatsudi
• 4:00
  or around one team one game, it was really nice to see. It
• 4:03
  was definitely, you know, we first got out there, and I don't
• 4:09
  know if anybody's familiar with we're inter Miami plays and Fort Lauderdale. It's kind
• 4:14
  of a weird setup. It's a stadium that was a USL stadium, you
• 4:17
  know, second division. It's been retrofitted to host the MLS. It's in
• 4:24
  the middle of a bunch of warehouses and some residential areas. It's like right
• 4:28
  off of a highway exit, so difficult to tailgate. So I don't know
• 4:32
  exactly how much tailgating was going on, but once you got into the stadium
• 4:36
  itself, it was it was great. I mean, the Venezuelan friends brought
• 4:42
  it, they had Sudi fans brought it. Definitely mixed crowd. I would
• 4:46
  say. At first I thought we were going to be overrun a little bit.
• 4:49
  It was looking like it was going to be about seventy thirty. But
• 4:51
  as the game went on, it started to fill in and it was fifty
• 4:55
  to fifty and I think, just good atmosphere, right. Nobody took it
• 5:01
  too seriously. Everybody was happy to be there. Everybody was chanting. Uh,
• 5:05
  everybody got along. I mean where I was sitting, I was surrounded
• 5:09
  by Venezuelan fans, but no issues whatsoever. Everybody was just happy to be
• 5:15
  watching the game. So I think it was a great step and and obviously
• 5:20
  you know with Messi being down here obviously not related to that a Zuti,
• 5:24
  but just that I'm hoping that the the soccer culture starts to elevate and having
• 5:29
  games like this and having games the Copa Medica coming up. I think we're
• 5:32
  on the road to doing that. And I saw positive signs for sure.
• 5:36
  And you were behind the net. If I'm a mistaken, right behind,
• 5:40
  got a perfect view of Donalduma making that penalty kick save. You saw ball,
• 5:46
  saw two goals, a Venezuela goal and the winning goal for RIDETEGI perfect,
• 5:53
  so and you got a souvenir. If I'm a mistaken, anybody that
• 5:56
  wish we were to keep it? But it was so so at the Red
• 6:01
  Before, I say, I was saying this to a couple of people before
• 6:05
  I moved to Florida. I was a New York Red Bull season ticket holder
• 6:09
  for about five years, had very similar seats to where I was sitting at
• 6:13
  this game. In five years, I think we got a ball Like the
• 6:16
  last season, finally one of these shots came our way and we were able
• 6:19
  to grab one. You have to give it back, obviously, Yeah,
• 6:21
  yeah, but you know, being at this game, in seventy minutes got
• 6:26
  the same amount. Like was RASPADORTI I think had the shot that went wide,
• 6:30
  hit off of two people and just bounced right in front of us where
• 6:33
  we were sitting. That was amazing, and it was it was a great
• 6:36
  It was a great souvenir quote unquote as I said, and you got a
• 6:40
  picture on of it. And I believe you were with another former guest of
• 6:44
  ours if I'm mistaken, yep from the interviews podcast. Yeah exactly. And
• 6:49
  was that his first time seeing the AURI. I believe, yeah, yep,
• 6:55
  definitely. And uh that's you want to talk about a trooper that he's
• 6:58
  a guy that flew in you know, that morning game to the game,
• 7:00
  I think flew out like the next day, so literally traveled just for this
• 7:03
  game. Excellent man. And and that's what it's about. I think what
• 7:09
  we learned, like from our point of view here in Montreal, and just
• 7:13
  or anybody that wasn't able to attend these games. I think just the community
• 7:17
  aspect, the togetherness, if it be the Italians, if it be uh,
• 7:21
  you know, the Ecuadorians of Venezuelans, whatever it may be. I
• 7:25
  think just a sense of community and and and the love for culture, I
• 7:28
  think is really what brought us together. Obviously we're biased for for for the
• 7:32
  Italian aspect of that and and that's kind of why we're all here tonight.
• 7:35
  And obviously we have, like next ot a big passion for all this.
• 7:38
  But you know, from the passion that I saw in a Chase Stadium from
• 7:44
  Afar, and we're going to segue in, and I know Johnny has some
• 7:46
  questions for Joe to segue into. Obviously at Red Bull Arena the same type
• 7:51
  of passion and some action too, even though it wasn't what we spoke what
• 7:57
  we maybe would have hoped for in terms of quality, And we'll get into
• 8:01
  that later, but we've join in the four to to segue Joe in in
• 8:05
  terms of what his experience was at Red Bor Arena and the tailgate and everything
• 8:09
  in between. Well, that's that's the first thing I want to start off
• 8:13
  with about the tailgating specifically, you know, like obviously this is like I've
• 8:18
  I've attended games in Italy and you know, like prior to the game,
• 8:20
  there's a lot of people in the streets, they're at the cafes having a
• 8:22
  coffee or you know, eating and kind of getting prepped for the game.
• 8:26
  You got some you got some ultras starting to chant in the streets and whatnot.
• 8:28
  Now we have a North American flare to it, you know, like
• 8:31
  a tailgating before a football game, and this time it's footballing in the European
• 8:35
  sense. Like how was that? Like was it something instead of just you
• 8:39
  know, maybe I don't know, like like hot dogs and stuff and beer
• 8:43
  on the grill and maybe you had there was more than I mean, first
• 8:50
  of all, it's good to see all you guys. It's great to see
• 8:52
  you guys. Meet man. The tailgate was I mean the great the game.
• 9:00
  Being there for the game was great, but the tailgate was seriously the
• 9:05
  best part. We were talking before the before the show about all of this
• 9:09
  that I said the same exact thing. It was mind blowing. The support
• 9:16
  for you know, dian Zuti, that were there people. I was there
• 9:20
  super duper early, like Marcella. Marcella from Juventus Club Empire State was the
• 9:26
  one who got me my ticket and I stayed with her and we like we
• 9:33
  drove in together. We left it maybe like ten thirty to get there right
• 9:37
  at eleven o'clock. When I think that that was even well before the tailgate
• 9:46
  was actually supposed to start happening, but people were already there, like they
• 9:50
  were already at Tui fans like they're setting up. I can't even I'm having
• 9:58
  a hard time articulating every thing that I saw because it was just like unreal.
• 10:05
  I don't know if Europeans can fathom what a tailgate actually is entirely.
• 10:15
  Like I saw people with people had they had like they were there were guys
• 10:22
  like throwing tossing pizzas in the air, like they had wood fire pizza ovens.
• 10:26
  They had grills, they had espresso machines, they had like anything that
• 10:33
  you could have asked for was pretty much there. And I mean the Ecuadorans
• 10:37
  were also, they were they were going all out too. They had like
• 10:41
  they had their giant charcoal grills. They had like meat roasting on spits and
• 10:46
  stuff. I was like, where am I right now? Because it was
• 10:52
  just like it was. It was mind blowing and it was just awesome to
• 10:56
  see so many, so many peopleeople who I've I've both like seen on Twitter
• 11:03
  like in real life, like everybody from the East Coast was there, So
• 11:07
  it was it was just it was really awesome. Yeah, you guys,
• 11:16
  that would have been huge. But and you know, obviously, you know
• 11:20
  Nick said. Nick mentioned a point about, you know, the the soccer,
• 11:26
  the cultural culture in South Florida obviously up here in the East Coast.
• 11:31
  Well you know, it's obviously being a former New Yorker, but you know,
• 11:35
  the Italians. I was not surprised to see that tailgate as it was
• 11:39
  seeing all the videos, seeing all the pictures, if you know, if
• 11:43
  it be you know, from my f t V, if it be from
• 11:46
  our boys at the footy culture that came from in Toronto, from Toronto,
• 11:48
  I saw all kinds of just people that we've connected with, you know,
• 11:52
  through through through this podcast. It was truly amazing to see it from Afar,
• 12:00
  you know, from football tennis before the game too, to like like
• 12:05
  Joe said, like everything in between, you know, uh, the Grony
• 12:09
  spirits, Like I saw it all like it was. It was honestly,
• 12:11
  it's as if you were in Italy, but it's still in New York,
• 12:13
  you know, or Jersey. So you know, it was just it was
• 12:20
  really cool to see because I think, you know, not only the Setia
• 12:24
  and we covered Setia pretty much every week, right and obviously with a touch
• 12:28
  of the Zudi. You know, I think North America like the Italians especially
• 12:33
  because again we're speaking about that. I have to see this, have to
• 12:37
  see this type of affection for not only the national team, but the club
• 12:41
  level teams. You know, there's so many different you know fan clubs that
• 12:46
  attended you know, these these events, right uh, you know, based
• 12:50
  out of their their their study at clubs brought them together with the Azuri,
• 12:54
  right, So it was a spectacle and and and one thing I just wanted
• 12:58
  to say, you know before we kind of get into maybe the atmosphere in
• 13:03
  the in the stadium and how the match went on, and we spoke about
• 13:07
  it obviously you know last week and such, you know, the tribute to
• 13:11
  Joe Barone before before each match. I think that was a huge thing.
• 13:13
  Guys. I don't know if if anything really I saw we obviously saw you
• 13:18
  know the picture and kind of maybe the moment of silence. Was there anything
• 13:20
  more to that? And how special was that to be a part of,
• 13:26
  you know, such a such an icon in in culture. And obviously you
• 13:28
  guys are both Italian Americans, you know, touching you guys as well,
• 13:31
  and I think it was. It was really beautiful to see that and for
• 13:35
  him to be for him to be remembered, Joe and whatever. Yeah,
• 13:43
  I think you mentioned it. You know, it was a moment of silence
• 13:46
  that I don't know that they they said much more right. I think it
• 13:50
  was it was up to people to know who he was, which I imagine
• 13:54
  all the Italian fans do. But you know, you know that it was
• 13:58
  a nice announcement. You know, it was at a request of the Italian
• 14:01
  Federation and I had his picture up there, and it was like pretty damn
• 14:05
  close to a full minute. I mean it was you know, a lot
• 14:07
  of times you see these moment of silence, you know, ten fifteen seconds,
• 14:11
  and that's that this this felt, at least to me, like it
• 14:13
  went on a lot longer. I think everybody was super respectful. Obviously a
• 14:18
  you know, tragic event, and glad we got to be a part of
• 14:22
  a you know, doing a little something special to commemorate the man. During
• 14:31
  my game, it wasn't exactly a moment of silence. Everyone just started clapping.
• 14:37
  So he he was a native of Brooklyn, so I think that everyone
• 14:43
  was showing him a lot of a lot of love. You know obviously something
• 14:46
  very very sad, but you know it was. It was a nice tribute
• 14:52
  to someone who was a big presence in the cultural community. Beautiful guys,
• 15:01
  I just before we continue, I just want to share some messages we got
• 15:05
  on Instagram because we posted guests today on both Instagram and Twitter at the couch
• 15:09
  guys asking people who are at the games what their experience was was like.
• 15:15
  And I'm really happy because we did get quite a few messages and obviously a
• 15:18
  lot of people had a great time, and I just want to share some
• 15:20
  of those with you. Magic Dan Leo with a tailgate with friends and friends
• 15:26
  was amazing. Don Marsala emotional watching Italy play for the first time. Seeing
• 15:31
  seeing the Adzuiti in person was a dream come true and made more special by
• 15:35
  fans. Event is Baltimore, which I think that's pretty cool because both of
• 15:39
  you guys just said it. The fans made it a great atmosphere as well.
• 15:43
  Uh Ill January five to one, four ten out of ten overall experience
• 15:46
  from from pregame to final whistle, it was a great atmosphere, exceeded expectations
• 15:52
  into Miami Stadium. Your prices are insane, though, maybe I'll have to
• 15:56
  ask Nick about that after we got seventeen dollars. Yeah. Michael biack Case
• 16:04
  from Friend of the Show Lessadi Sabato also very cool to observe the tactics and
• 16:08
  pay attention to how Spiletti wants each player to play. Love the atmosphere as
• 16:12
  well, and she also said it was amazing a strange feeling seeing the guys
• 16:17
  in real life. I tried to go to the meet and greet as well,
• 16:19
  but got there late and saw some of them as they were leaving Vin
• 16:22
  the Chin. Amazing game in stadium. The parking situation really is no good.
• 16:26
  I don't know we should be talking about either game. Yeah, it
• 16:30
  could be any any sporting event. There's no parking. The parking's horrendous son,
• 16:34
  which exactly was at the Florida game. Absolutely amazing experience to see Donnaruma,
• 16:41
  Michael mcketty, patriotic R Charletta and then simply Fortsa from Italian Mom fifty
• 16:48
  four. So thank you everyone who sent in messages. We really appreciate it,
• 16:55
  and you know what it is. It is great to see everyone have
• 17:00
  a great time with these games, and also for the Zudi to acknowledge all
• 17:03
  the Italian Americans and by extend, Italian Canadians too, because guys, let's
• 17:08
  be real, a lot of Italians immigrated to North America, not that long
• 17:12
  ago, fifty six years ago, maybe you know some Italian American families,
• 17:18
  maybe a bit longer than that, but there's a good Italian American population left.
• 17:22
  And it was nice for Spletty to knowledge that, say it is for
• 17:26
  all these all these Italian Americans. And at the same time, you know,
• 17:33
  I know sometimes here in Canada we like to joke around that maybe Italian
• 17:38
  Americans aren't as patriotic, but you guys showed out especially. I saw,
• 17:42
  I saw those blue jerseys at the New Jersey game. I saw that the
• 17:45
  singing during the national anthem. I missed the national anthem during the Miami game,
• 17:49
  so I can't I can't talk to how that was, Nick, but
• 17:52
  I'm sure it was great too. It was solid. I would say,
• 17:56
  you definitely heard it, you know, with nothing compared to the Venezuelan anthem
• 18:00
  unfoor. It must have been where I was sitting to I mean, like
• 18:03
  I said, I was, I was definitely in like the Venezuela section.
• 18:07
  But it was. It was okay, well nothing compared to New York,
• 18:10
  but we did all we're we're reading national anthem singing who knows the lyrics?
• 18:18
  And who? How how loud was it? And and and everything between Anyway,
• 18:21
  I don't know, I know I was singing in my like for for
• 18:25
  the Sunday game obviously was Poe Sunday, right, So I was a non
• 18:26
  this house and and uh you know, in in the in the spare and
• 18:30
  in the spare room with the TV, and I felt like I was in
• 18:33
  between Joe and Nick, right, you know, like singing the national anthem,
• 18:36
  so uh, you know it was. It was beautiful to see and
• 18:40
  a great a great picture that even the Azuli posted their official official page Italians
• 18:45
  do it better. Weave it to New York right to put up that type
• 18:48
  of sign, right, So yeah, I loved it. It was.
• 18:51
  It was honestly beautiful to see. About the game itself this time, we'll
• 18:59
  start with Joe because we're starting with Nick last time. But about the game
• 19:02
  itself, Italy two nothing Pillar Greening came out right away with that that beautiful
• 19:07
  goal and then another beautiful goal right at the end. So the goals are
• 19:10
  at the two extremes, this time by Burrella. But what did you make
• 19:12
  of the game, Joe? I mean it's a I mean it's a friendly
• 19:17
  obviously, so you know, you take you take all of this with a
• 19:21
  little bit of a pinch at Sault. The the thing that I mean,
• 19:29
  I get what Spiletti was trying to do. This is the time where you
• 19:33
  really tinker around with stuff. You know, he was playing with a back
• 19:37
  three, seeing what he could get away with, see what players are going
• 19:41
  to, you know, work best where, and just kind of feel everything
• 19:45
  out a little bit more. Again, this is just it's all. I
• 19:51
  don't want to say it's all for nothing. You do glean some information from
• 19:53
  these games, but it obviously it doesn't count towards anything, right. I
• 20:00
  mean, I I don't want to sound like a Debbie Downer, but I
• 20:04
  wasn't. I wasn't that encouraged by everything that I saw. There were some
• 20:10
  positives that I did take away from, you know, going into the Euros
• 20:15
  this summer For me personally, the biggest positive for me out of player wise
• 20:23
  was Belenova. I saw a lot of good energy from him being our right
• 20:30
  back. I think that he's I think that he's going to cement himself as
• 20:36
  that in that starting spot there. He just has that energy and that athleticism
• 20:42
  that kind of reminds me a little bit of like, you know, how
• 20:45
  how key Spinat Solo was for us in our Euro run a few years ago.
• 20:52
  I'm thinking that he can have the same effect here because you know,
• 20:56
  we want to push up the flanks. He's the guy who's going to do
• 21:00
  it. So I was really encouraged with that. I was also really encouraged
• 21:04
  with Plagini. I think that he's he's certainly on the upswing, you know,
• 21:10
  along with the rest of the guys at Roma from Derossi, So I
• 21:15
  think that's that's translating into the national team and hopefully it you know, sustains
• 21:21
  through the summer. Other than that, you know, but I love it
• 21:26
  will be. But I love he was, you know, pretty good.
• 21:30
  I feel like the rest of the rest of the guys were kind of just,
• 21:37
  for lack of a better word, they were just kind of like lolly
• 21:38
  gagging around, you know, just trying to you know, just try to
• 21:42
  play the game. But obviously nothing too serious, right, So it was
• 21:48
  like it was that kind of that kind of vibe going on, not really
• 21:53
  encouraged by Manshinian defense. But yeah, that was That's that's pretty much it.
• 22:02
  Do you, Joe, I mean, you know, you brought up
• 22:04
  some good points and obviously saw you got you saw two debuts for the entire
• 22:08
  national team. You mentioned one in Belanova, the other one Vicadio, but
• 22:11
  tow the sticks, which were obviously big moments for for for them too.
• 22:17
  I don't know if that's a bold take to save Belanova's cement like that.
• 22:21
  For me, that's that's that's an interesting conversation to have. I think he
• 22:25
  definitely showed some some brilliance, like you said, and I think he deserves
• 22:29
  a spot. That's area that's very possible. So I mentioned last week and
• 22:34
  anybody who just didn't listen last week, I mean, I mean I was,
• 22:38
  I know what, I knew, these were friendlies. But for me,
• 22:42
  I wanted to see, you know, dominance, and you know,
• 22:45
  the results were what they were and we're gonna obviously bring into the next game
• 22:49
  later. But I didn't really see that dominance. I think that the emotion
• 22:56
  like the tailgate and and and all the fans and the national everything was was
• 23:00
  brought up, but unfortunate I don't know personally, and you guys can correct
• 23:06
  me, because you guys were in the seats and had the eyes on the
• 23:08
  game, uh, you know from the pitch there. But I didn't see
• 23:12
  that. I didn't see that dominance. And I don't know if they took
• 23:15
  these friendlies eyes just friendlies, because I would have liked to have seen more.
• 23:18
  Joe, you agree, disagree? Like where do you where do you
• 23:22
  see yourself on that? Yeah? No, I mean I from that perspective,
• 23:27
  from like the player's perspective. I certainly think that they were taking this
• 23:32
  from like, you know, this is a friendly, like we're not going
• 23:34
  to kill ourselves, you know, trying to play these games. The fans
• 23:37
  obviously didn't take it that way. They were they were thinking, and you
• 23:41
  know, chanting the whole time. Seriously, I mean like behind the goal
• 23:45
  line they were chanting the whole time. But yeah, I think that you're
• 23:52
  you're right andreada it was just like, uh now, no real dominance,
• 24:00
  no real dominance. And you know, it's like these games are kind of
• 24:04
  hard to I don't want to say they're hard to analyze, but it's it's
• 24:07
  hard to to really figure out because there's no, there's nothing at stake.
• 24:15
  There's just there's no meaning. We're just we're applying what we think might happen,
• 24:22
  right, So it's I think that that's how the players seriously took it
• 24:27
  as a friendly. They're like, we're just going to go up there,
• 24:32
  We're going to listen to the coach, you know it, We'll get subbed
• 24:36
  off like at intervals whatever. I think that they're just trying not to get
• 24:41
  hurt pretty much. I mean, the Ecuadoran players were like bulldozing us at
• 24:45
  some points from what it looked like. But you're right, you would expect
• 24:52
  you would expect, I think a little bit more in terms of game control
• 24:56
  from a squad like Italy. But that's not exactly what we saw. So
• 25:00
  is that something to be concerned about. Not one hundred percent sure, because
• 25:07
  it is a friendly. So who's the same man? The only thing I
• 25:11
  want to add to that, like, I wonder how much leeway these guys
• 25:17
  got from spell A d Saying Hey, you're in the United States for a
• 25:18
  week, right, Typically these games you're still in your home country or you're
• 25:23
  somewhere in Europe. It's a short two day trip, three day trip.
• 25:26
  They were here for what at least a week, right, if not longer.
• 25:30
  So I just I'm trying to I don't know if I'm trying to make
• 25:34
  excuses for them, but you know, how how much does that play into
• 25:37
  it? I just kind of wonder do you feel like, I know you
• 25:41
  said no PlayStations. I know he said that they weren't allowed to have PlayStations.
• 25:45
  Okay, yeah, it's not anymore. Do you feel like trips like
• 25:49
  these kind of help build camaraderie right before major tournament? Do you think something
• 25:53
  like this will actually be a major factor for the team going into the summer.
• 25:57
  Sure? Hope. So that's a good question. No, No,
• 26:02
  I would I agree with Nick. I guess we can go around, but
• 26:04
  I would agree as well. I mean, anything to in my eyes,
• 26:07
  it's like anything to bring these guys together, because again we're not obviously on
• 26:11
  a hundredercent sure who's in who's out. And again maybe we can discuss that
• 26:15
  a bit further after this, but you know, I think anything that brings
• 26:22
  somewhat of this core together as brothers, as as you know, as guys
• 26:27
  ready to go to war for this national team, I think is a positive.
• 26:32
  I don't know Joe Yo Nick absolutely, Like, I mean I think
• 26:37
  that that was the one thing that we certainly had with the euro winning teams,
• 26:41
  Like if you saw the the documentary on Netflix and stuff, that was
• 26:45
  one thing that they constantly went back to was they had like inside jokes that
• 26:49
  they were playing all these songs like you know, they they were yeah exactly,
• 27:00
  yeah what was this hug that was like started playing that and then it
• 27:07
  just all of a sudden, they just took it and that became like the
• 27:11
  facto anthem for the team like that, yeah, as well the ones like
• 27:22
  but you're right, like anything to get these guys together. And another point
• 27:27
  that was made was, yeah, we still don't know who's going to be
• 27:32
  in and who's out, but really, any any chance to like get these
• 27:36
  guys, you know, together and get some kind of chemistry going, it
• 27:41
  can't be a bad thing. Music video, it's wild. It's so dumb.
• 27:53
  It's so low budget too, it's so ridiculous. I felt like,
• 27:57
  we don't like here in that and San Leonard or something. It's great,
• 28:06
  and yeah the music video. The music video is even better, but so
• 28:11
  is this song. Okay, turn it off coffee, right man? This
• 28:26
  is bringing back memories from three years ago. But in terms of the team,
• 28:29
  Camarie, I don't know how they can build it. They can't play
• 28:30
  PlayStation together, guys, I don't know. Like I think that that was
• 28:34
  just that was just a rule that Spiletti. I mean, the guys are
• 28:37
  probably went out, you know, drinking or whatever I have or something that
• 28:47
  I think that they did. I honestly think that the team did go out
• 28:51
  at one point in New York, because I was getting messages like, oh,
• 28:57
  this players over here, this players don't here. Can you make it
• 29:00
  over here? And I was like, I can't. But yeah, I
• 29:04
  think that they're they're doing it their own way, and maybe things will change
• 29:10
  as we get closer to that euro date. First of all, I want
• 29:15
  to say that when always hits, it always hits, no matter what.
• 29:19
  I never skipped it whenever I'm listening to it. One thing I want to
• 29:26
  ask, though, more of like formation, because we've you know, there's
• 29:30
  always been an issue. Maybe Nick, you can also get involved in this
• 29:33
  too, Like it always seems like, okay, we don't have like a
• 29:38
  solidified plan just just yet. I think we're working towards something. You guys
• 29:42
  obviously saw you know different things, and you know, and obviously at the
• 29:48
  end results, you know, like at the end of the day we said
• 29:49
  it was a friendly. We can't say it's it means too much or they
• 29:53
  weren't playing at their best efforts. But what do you think is more effective
• 29:56
  for Italy going forward? So I'm going to play the positive side I think
• 30:02
  of these two games because I mean, you guys know me, I've come
• 30:04
  on the show and I've said it, Joe, this maybe the first time
• 30:08
  you hear me rant about it. I hate the four to three to three.
• 30:11
  I think it's a terrible formation. I think it's especially terrible for the
• 30:15
  international game. I think it's really easily defended. Obviously, we went on
• 30:21
  a magical run a couple of years ago, so we can debate the merits.
• 30:25
  But to me, I just don't think it suits this team anymore.
• 30:27
  So to know that we were going in experimenting with some new players with a
• 30:32
  different formation, I think there's a lot of positives to take from these two
• 30:36
  games. I mean, you know, how many times have we seen Italy
• 30:38
  play a friendly, or play a handful of friendlies and come away without a
• 30:42
  win, right or draw, or really not take anything seriously. So the
• 30:45
  fact that we did see two wins to me as a positive. And you
• 30:51
  know, look, you can look at Venezuela there traditionally a baseball country,
• 30:55
  but I think their football team is on the rise. I think this is
• 31:00
  one of the better Ecuador teams that we've seen over the past twenty years.
• 31:03
  You know, both of these teams have some solid players playing in Europe,
• 31:07
  playing in the MLS, and I think they're both physical. Joe, you
• 31:12
  made good mention of it, right, like a lot of fouls from Ecuador.
• 31:15
  I think, you know, Venezuela kind of brings that same hard nos
• 31:18
  energy, so big, physical, organized teams or teams that we needed to
• 31:26
  play and I'm glad that we did, and to walk away with two wins.
• 31:30
  I'm pleasantly surprised with it. You know, is this going to be
• 31:33
  the final formation? I don't know, but I think you know, you
• 31:38
  shout out a couple of good players. I think out to Tagy for me.
• 31:41
  You know, listen to strikers only as good as their service. But
• 31:45
  this guy just seems to finish goals. You know, he's got incredible instincts.
• 31:49
  You know, does he have the most skill in the world. Maybe
• 31:52
  maybe not. You know, I think he can grow into it. I
• 31:56
  think he's skilled, certainly, but man, he wants the ball, he
• 32:00
  knows where to be, he finishes his chances. So that was definitely encouraging.
• 32:05
  Man, I don't know how we've been on the podcast for a half
• 32:07
  hour. You haven't heard me, bitch that I didn't see your Slini at
• 32:09
  all. Didn't feature in my game, gotten maybe like ten minutes of game
• 32:14
  time total in two so I feel bad for him that I wish he got
• 32:20
  a little more time. But no, I think Joe made a good point
• 32:24
  about Belenova. I think man Georgino for me, like it pains me to
• 32:30
  say it because you want to move on from a guy like that. But
• 32:34
  he's still an impact player and he's been on a really good run with Arsenal.
• 32:37
  He came on and he basically turned the game around in Venezuela, so
• 32:43
  shit, he looked good. But other than that, you know, I'm
• 32:47
  trying to think of who else really stood out from from the Florida game.
• 32:51
  Donalduma obviously what the penalty say, but it was really the Teggy Show.
• 32:58
  And outside of that, a couple of disappointing performances like Udogi for me,
• 33:02
  had a really really nothing game. You know, I was hoping he would
• 33:08
  show a little bit more and I know he's kind of cooled off after the
• 33:13
  hot start he had a Tottenham, so that that was disappointing. But I
• 33:16
  don't really think of who else really stood out to me Venezuela. In the
• 33:22
  Venezuela game, Uh yeah, I don't know. Me not a bit of
• 33:28
  Venta. I mean not really. It it wasn't it wasn't a strong performance.
• 33:36
  Yeah, I know the midfield was was interesting in that game. I
• 33:38
  think, Nick, I don't know, like you said the Retegie Show,
• 33:42
  obviously, I mean it's it's it's it's clear now five five starts, he
• 33:45
  has four goals, like I said earlier, and we've spoken about it when
• 33:50
  he first pursted onto the scene with with Italy. I mean, this guy
• 33:52
  came off the street and scored two goals in two games, right, So
• 33:54
  it's it's it's something you know that we're we're we didn't expect, but hey,
• 34:00
  we have it. And maybe since we're on that topic, and I
• 34:04
  know it's obviously always the biggest topic and I like to bring it on with
• 34:07
  with with new guests every time, I mean with with with Italy. But
• 34:10
  you know, the nine obviously, the big nine, the number nine position,
• 34:14
  and who's gonna who's gonna take it? Like is it a debate for
• 34:16
  you guys? Is it a question? I see something online? You know
• 34:20
  it's it's Reteg you, Oh no, it's by him, Yet he needs
• 34:23
  to prove there's other there's other guys like I maybe Joe go first, and
• 34:28
  and Nick you can follow, but like, is Retegi the guy for the
• 34:32
  number nine for you? Or or or is there something else that you you
• 34:36
  want to see up up top for Italy? I mean personally, I don't
• 34:43
  see any. I don't know who else we would take, you know,
• 34:45
  Skamaka. It's frustrating with him. It's frustrating with him, and it's frustrating
• 34:53
  with him. Right, So it's like Italy is really short of like a
• 34:58
  clinical number nine and has been for years, and Bobule wasn't who we all
• 35:04
  wanted him to be with the national team, could never translate his club form
• 35:08
  to the national It's like like whatever, So I'm fine with Strata. The
• 35:16
  the thing that I heard like being spoken a lot about around the tailgate and
• 35:22
  stuff was like switching to a false nine formation just because you know, we
• 35:29
  have we have we have shorter guys, we have guys the well. But
• 35:36
  again, I'm not entirely convinced that that would be a route to go.
• 35:43
  So honestly, just like Retaketa and maybe Skamaka is a backup unless there are
• 35:52
  other guys who I'm I'm neglecting. I really can't think of the outside of
• 35:59
  those two us. But like, who else is is an out and out
• 36:01
  striker that that we could that we could take. Who's having a good season
• 36:07
  or who's you know, doing halfway decent? I can't. I can't really
• 36:13
  name any. So, yeah, I think the midfield is going to be
• 36:16
  doing a lot of a lot of work. He's probably going to be exhausted
• 36:22
  whatever happens, whatever happens there, I'm not I'm not certain, but yeah,
• 36:27
  it's going to be reteg for me, I couldn't agree more. I
• 36:30
  don't even think it's that difficult, unfortunately. I mean, like, I
• 36:35
  understand that where where we're trying to get, but what are the alternatives?
• 36:38
  Skamaka is not it as much as anybody wants to believe it is. He
• 36:43
  hasn't scored over his career, just plain and simple, right, he had
• 36:45
  one semi decent season a Saswallow hasn't done it for the national team. Espadoti
• 36:52
  is not it for me. I agree. I mean, I think if
• 36:57
  that is on a different team this year and he's you know, he's he
• 37:00
  was injured for a little bit, but got to remember, you know,
• 37:02
  he's on a relegation team that just came up. Gunmanson next to him is
• 37:06
  outstanding, don't get me wrong. So they've they've started to form that partnership.
• 37:09
  But if he is on another team, a better team, he's probably
• 37:15
  close to twenty goals, Like he's that type of player. I don't know
• 37:17
  that he gets it necessarily, you know, this year, but I think
• 37:21
  he has twenty goal potential very very soon. So I just to Joe's point,
• 37:29
  I don't see a viable alternative, And especially if we're switching from a
• 37:31
  four to three to three if our talent right now is a little bit deeper.
• 37:37
  If it's guys like Kiaza and we can debate kiss all day long,
• 37:40
  but if it's Pelgaden, who's going to be on this kind of form,
• 37:45
  you know, let's let them create the chances, let's let them carry the
• 37:50
  ball. And he's definitely the guy right now that I want on on the
• 37:53
  end of this service. I don't think there's less I'm missing. He sniffs
• 37:58
  still goal. I think he's hungry, right, I think he has something
• 38:00
  to prove. And what I like about him is that, uh, he
• 38:02
  wants to be there, and he wants to wear this shirt, and he
• 38:06
  and he's committed. And listen, guys, I know we've always said about
• 38:09
  all you know it is bringing this this Brazilian, that Argentinian. This at
• 38:15
  the end of the day, you know, they're they're proud to wear the
• 38:17
  shirt. They're gonna fight for this shirt. They're gonna want to put their
• 38:21
  best foot forward in this shirt. There's not much more we can say,
• 38:24
  guys. And for what I like about Itegy is that he's, uh,
• 38:29
  he's hungry. Uh, you know, he sniffs the goal. He's there,
• 38:34
  he's and and I I'm gonna I'm gonna shout out our buddy Peter from
• 38:37
  my f TV and he mentioned this about you know, he has that he's
• 38:42
  the Italian number nine. But with that Argentinian, you know, grit and
• 38:45
  green and he's gonna fight for every ball and and really backtrack and and and
• 38:50
  get involved in other ways and rather just being a target man. So yeah,
• 38:54
  to the next point as well. And I don't think maybe all the
• 38:57
  skills are there, but as a complete power. I think with the group
• 39:01
  efforts, I think it can, it can hopefully, you know, go
• 39:06
  the distance. Really we also think, well, because I was I was
• 39:10
  considering, like, you also have to go with what's currently working and what
• 39:14
  has been actually, like you know, finding any type of success, you
• 39:16
  have to go with hot hand. You have to always ride the hot hand,
• 39:20
  you know. So uhteg he is basically what that is. I like
• 39:24
  what you brought up, Adriana about the fact about like you know, he
• 39:28
  wants to play friendly but has Argentina and flair because he doesn't have that those
• 39:30
  stereotypes of playing Calchow in Italy growing up. He doesn't have, uh those
• 39:35
  predispositions uh to fully respect, not not not do that. He does it
• 39:39
  purposely in a bad way too, like let's say, respect of a defensive
• 39:44
  type of formation or to really follow strategy. He is he has wiggled boom
• 39:49
  like you know, he's he lets himself get creative and try to find a
• 39:52
  different source. And I like that he's young and young players usually have more
• 39:57
  they're more prone to trying out the diferent things might they might lead to costly
• 40:01
  mistakes, but they also can lead to you know, really risk reward risk
• 40:06
  reward risk award. So so long as that mid this summer is going to
• 40:12
  be very supportive of him and you know, really get him the service that
• 40:15
  he needs, I think he'll be a very service serviceable striker for for for
• 40:22
  for Italy. Because skamaka. Going back to that point, even though we
• 40:25
  haven't a like like we just passed a bit. I made that joke that
• 40:30
  he moves like a fridge. He feels like a fridge is playing on the
• 40:34
  pitch. It's just it just it's heavy, it's clunky, U skin Skin,
• 40:37
  Skinner. He needs to people to support him at all times, just
• 40:45
  like a shame. It's a shame because he has all he has all the
• 40:47
  attribute And I'm really still holding onto that because I I want him to do
• 40:52
  well, but we all do. But I think it's not But I think
• 40:58
  right now is his current does not justify any any play with him, and
• 41:02
  I fully believe that going forward to hit. He should be the option and
• 41:07
  if you want to use it aspect, he has the sub use him as
• 41:10
  qu I think. I think that like Aspa coming off the bench will be
• 41:15
  you know, pretty considerable. I believe that. So that's just the only
• 41:21
  input I want to I want to give essentially towards this conversation. Not that
• 41:24
  because everybody brought up fantastic points, I don't feel like as if I have
• 41:28
  even more to contribute to it. Yeah, I think obviously RITII right now,
• 41:35
  he's a guy moving forward. You know, he's eas earned his spot.
• 41:39
  You know. I think what I would just be concerned with him is,
• 41:44
  you know, four goals in five games, obviously fantastic, But I
• 41:50
  just hope it's not like a hot streak and that's it and he comes to
• 41:53
  the Euros and he cools down and teams figure it out. Obviously, teams
• 41:58
  are going to figure it out. And I think what what Italy needs also
• 42:00
  is a backup, a good backup striker, a guy who if red Teg
• 42:05
  can go ninety minutes or if you bring on a second guy to help him
• 42:07
  out, is going to have success, whether that's Respradori or even Skamaka.
• 42:12
  You know, uh, Italy needs figure it out, because as good as
• 42:15
  I think Reta is right now, I don't know if he's like the guy
• 42:20
  where he's going to score every single game in the Euros. So I'm happy
• 42:24
  for him, I you know, on one side, I'm also looking at
• 42:29
  the Goalsie scorer scored against Malta and two against Venezuela obviously not the biggest,
• 42:32
  you know, best opponents, but he also scored against England at the Maridona,
• 42:37
  So you know, I don't think you could use that. Yeah,
• 42:39
  okay, classes in session Jenners, I don't know about went up something that
• 42:49
  uh adri ad your point before I give my little CONTESTI yeah, no,
• 42:52
  no, And and just because we were talking about formations and I know Joe's
• 42:57
  game and even well both the games, I mean we saw the information.
• 43:00
  We finally saw this in this which was once you know, uh proposed you
• 43:05
  know, three four two one, and are we going to see it?
• 43:07
  Are we not? We saw it? So talking about the Retegie point,
• 43:10
  and also I think it's also important to know that like who's behind them in
• 43:14
  that in those in that two right behind them as the striker and I think
• 43:17
  there's flexibility there, right, and I think that will also help or hopefully
• 43:22
  help, you know, the goals to come, because like Joe said,
• 43:25
  you know Appello, Greeny, Yeah, okay, scut off off the off
• 43:30
  the set piece of of that, that whole scramble there. But he's shown
• 43:34
  that he's able to right now, at least with Roma, he's shown that
• 43:37
  he's been able to convert and be more of a contributing player going forward.
• 43:42
  So I think it if it be, I mean I said it on the
• 43:47
  show before, I said, you can throw anybody up there as long as
• 43:50
  you have other other other service around them and to put the ball on the
• 43:52
  back of the net. But for me, I've been on the Retegi train
• 43:54
  for a while now and I want him to be up there. And I
• 43:58
  think the pieces behind him in that too. If it be you know,
• 44:02
  a Pelgrinian and Kieza, if it be a flat or Selini Raspadoria, I
• 44:08
  mean I think, Daniel, I don't know, but yeah, right,
• 44:14
  but you know, I think the options there are are flexible and are still
• 44:19
  quality enough players too. To the next point, to our next point,
• 44:24
  you know, if he does cool down, if something does is if he
• 44:28
  isn't on his game that day, there's still service behind him that is quality
• 44:31
  enough to go forward, to take on a man, to to score that
• 44:36
  goal, to put in that good ball. So yeah, no, no,
• 44:39
  Jenna, I'll let you go on because I know we can continue.
• 44:44
  At your point, every time Italy has found success in international tournament, there's
• 44:47
  never been that just one guy. We we said it before the group.
• 44:52
  It's always a group effort. So like we don't have to have it to
• 44:54
  take you score in every game. If we're getting contributions from all the other
• 44:59
  players, it's it's and Italy just in general from their history, from their
• 45:04
  history of there's six major international mindu seven if you want to consider the Olympics,
• 45:10
  I don't think there's ever been just that one individual player that just really
• 45:14
  took charge and carried them to victory. There's always collaboration effort. Now,
• 45:17
  I get your point in saying that, you know you want the reliable striker.
• 45:21
  You want the guy that okay if he if he's out there, you
• 45:23
  can have confidence for him to score when you when you need him to score.
• 45:28
  But that only needs to exist in countries that don't have that strong I
• 45:36
  guess culture supports system history. I don't like obviously, it just helps sometimes,
• 45:40
  you know, you just genetic lotteries. Sometimes you just like, hey,
• 45:44
  well this Italy is the first whole country, so they just had the
• 45:46
  capabilities of developing talent and a more focused environment. But that's neither here nor
• 45:51
  there. Essentially, he doesn't have to always feel that pressure of being that
• 45:55
  guy. You could definitely take charge and definitely, you know, make make
• 46:01
  it, make the absolute effort to probably try to go for the golden boot
• 46:05
  if he wants to. Who knows, you know, like but at the
• 46:08
  end of the day, if he's not going to score, you got anybody
• 46:10
  who's capable of you know, like Barella is. It could score Peligrini,
• 46:15
  who's found new life under de ROSSI can score. Uh. It just it
• 46:20
  could come. If Georgino gets an opportunity instead of just passing the ball sideways,
• 46:23
  he could score. You know, I was kid, I'm kidding.
• 46:28
  I'm saying that as our geno, as a Georgino enjoyer, essentially that I
• 46:32
  just want to make sure that it's not just that tagy et Al, It's
• 46:37
  it's he's a supporting character and a very strong cast or cast with a very
• 46:43
  deep history. So I I just want to make sure that that gets said
• 46:46
  out there. That's all. I just want to move on to another subject.
• 46:51
  But before you do, I just want to bring up Paularossi did score
• 46:52
  six goals in the nineteen eighty two World Cup, so you can make the
• 46:55
  argument he carried he carried it. None of us were old enough. Yeah,
• 47:00
  I have seen that, right. So was it three goals against Brazil,
• 47:04
  two goals against Poland and then another goal in the final? Uh respect,
• 47:12
  Yeah, yeah, exactly, Bell and Tlly. You're right, Jennie,
• 47:15
  you're right. But I want to talk about the other end of the
• 47:19
  pitch. Goalkeepers. Both of you guys saw each goalkeeper play Donner Ruma Vicario.
• 47:25
  Uh. Nick, you mentioned before you saw the penalty save from Donna
• 47:29
  Ruma. But then on the other end, Joe, you saw clean sheet
• 47:31
  from Vicario. I mean, realistically, it is Donner Ruma's job to lose.
• 47:37
  But you know, guys, we do this podcast, have debates done
• 47:42
  Room versus Vicario, Which which one do you trust more? Heading into the
• 47:45
  tournament? Joe, I will let you go forward. I'll put me on
• 47:51
  spot. I mean yeah, I mean it is don Rouma's spot to lose.
• 47:55
  You were right? Uh So, like, is there point in me
• 48:00
  trying to try to debate that? No, But I will say is an
• 48:06
  incredibly talented goalkeeper. I think that this is one position. Well we are
• 48:10
  just absolutely flush with talent, Like we have Dona Ruma, we have even
• 48:21
  Di Monza, who's having a monster of a season, you know, but
• 48:28
  have we Like Italian goalkeepers are like cheese. They're just like the top of
• 48:35
  the top, you know what I mean, It's like the best so liket.
• 48:42
  Yeah, it's just like it's so realistically, take your pick. It
• 48:46
  really doesn't matter who's between the sticks. We got we got a guy who
• 48:52
  can cover that. All being said, I think done Ruma is is still
• 48:57
  that guy. But I wouldn't be surprised if Becadio really, if does get
• 49:04
  more time for the though, I wouldn't be surprised. Yeah, I have
• 49:10
  to agree. I think we have to remember too, right, this is
• 49:13
  this is a reigning euro champ, right, he just he's been there,
• 49:17
  He's they're not gonna pull him out just I think for that experience alone,
• 49:22
  just for the the shot stopping alone. Right, He's just a physical spatsmen
• 49:27
  he's what six six six, I don't even know if it all he is
• 49:30
  six y five exceptional penalty kick saver. I mean, these are the things
• 49:35
  you need in a tournament over the course of a tournament. So I think
• 49:37
  it's still his spot. Is there a little bit to be desired from a
• 49:44
  move the ball around standpoint? Yeah, but I don't think that's going to
• 49:47
  get fixed between now and the tournament. So lets we have a game where
• 49:52
  he makes like two really big errors or something like that. I think we're
• 49:55
  going to be seeing Donaldoma, guys. Just to put a little a pause
• 50:00
  on the convo that I'm just gonna have to say goodbye because I have to
• 50:02
  leave for my playoff game for my men's league. For though, uh Nick
• 50:07
  Joe. Always a pleasure having you guys on. Really happy to see you
• 50:09
  guys doing just not face to face. Hopefully that that changes soon, but
• 50:15
  I really do appreciate you guys coming on and sharing your experiences. Obviously the
• 50:19
  show is not over. I just have to go, but I just want
• 50:22
  to say a property good vibe before leaving. Hey, go in, go
• 50:24
  in, I will try, I will try, Jenny for some good luck.
• 50:30
  I just wanted to make you listen to this point. Yeah, the
• 50:35
  motivation you're acting like a z if I don't have this, somebody playlists in
• 50:39
  my car already ready to go. Window it was that's a greasier windows down
• 50:46
  blasting, ready to go all right by guys. Jo U Yeah, go
• 50:55
  on to the next point there. I just wanted to add in before before
• 51:00
  we have to say goodbye to Johnny unfortunately for the rest of the show here.
• 51:04
  But yeah, I think like it was when Buffon was around. I
• 51:08
  mean, any goalkeeper besides a bouffone in his time and now at Donald Ruman
• 51:15
  his time. It just unfortunate, right, I mean, it's just it's
• 51:20
  unfortunate that these two guys were just you know, spectacular phenomenons in their own
• 51:27
  right, right, and they just they wouldn't give up that net, right.
• 51:30
  It was just one of those things like these are. I mean,
• 51:34
  Donal Ruma is not the legend that that Buffon is or was, but you
• 51:39
  know, just to buy the longevity of the potential longevity of his career,
• 51:44
  Guys, this guy came on to the scene of sixteen years old. We're
• 51:45
  still talking about him. I think it's ten years, Like it's almost ten
• 51:49
  years, we're talking about him like it's it's it's I think it's why he's
• 51:52
  twenty five now. I think I don't know he's right, so that time,
• 51:57
  he still has plenty of time, right, like you know, if
• 51:59
  he put is as long as as before dead guys we're talking another what almost
• 52:04
  twenty years like that, that's it's it's it's crazy, right, So you
• 52:09
  know, I don't know, it's it's unfortunate for guys. I think underneath
• 52:14
  these types of players, But I think all do I mean even by saying
• 52:21
  that, I think, like you said, Joe, there there is there
• 52:23
  is a merit there for some of these other guys, right, Like a
• 52:28
  Vicadio like he's he's you know, we knew him at mpoint right and we
• 52:32
  saw him you know, in Italy and unincredible saves, acrobatic like it almost
• 52:39
  looks like a hockey goalie out there sometimes like just making like throwing himself around,
• 52:44
  making these incredible saves. Making that move to the premier league and for
• 52:49
  the prem heads to kind of like turn around and say like, oh fuck,
• 52:52
  like this guy came from where? Who is he? Vicadio? Like
• 52:54
  he's amazing, Like well, why have we never heard about him. Unfortunately,
• 52:59
  you know, the prim Has have their their own binders and and they
• 53:01
  don't. They don't. They don't pay attention to to anything but outside their
• 53:05
  their their country. So I think, like rightly, so I think if
• 53:10
  we have to pick right now, I would go obviously Donalduma. I think
• 53:14
  it's it's for me, it's still a no brainer until he until he does
• 53:17
  something that really I would say to to to lose his job personally, Like
• 53:23
  I mean, I don't think it's gonna go and and not to say,
• 53:27
  oh yeah, I don't like Donalduma. So we're gonna have to go with
• 53:29
  Vicadio. Oh he doesn't play well good with his feet. Okay, we're
• 53:32
  going with Vacadio. Guys, he made how many saves for us? He's
• 53:37
  he's he's he's saved us in in games. He's he's uh you know like
• 53:40
  Nick said, uh, you know, saved penalties in in in the euro
• 53:44
  final, right to win us the damn thing. So Viccadio is there for
• 53:50
  me. You know, I would have liked to have seen provad I know
• 53:52
  he got injured, I think, and he's nine hundred percent. So for
• 53:55
  me, he's another he's another one that's fantastic. I think second is obviously
• 54:00
  is up and coming. He's still young, Medet is social, but he's
• 54:05
  still again quality enough for I think any other nation would take a guy like
• 54:07
  him. So yeah, I don't know. I think it's on lock.
• 54:12
  Personally for the goalkeepers. I hope we don't take four because I don't understand
• 54:15
  what we ever take four, But I think three will suffice because we don't
• 54:20
  have enough attackers. Yeah yeah, right, there you go. I mean,
• 54:23
  imagine Ruma up front, like, just cross the ball into him,
• 54:29
  he'll score. Looking at you know, Italy. In the actual tournament,
• 54:37
  the group is very similar. If you guys remember you were twenty twelve.
• 54:40
  That tournament had Spain, Croatia, Ireland. This tournament Spain, Croatia,
• 54:45
  Albinia. I believe the first game is against Albinia, and then if I'm
• 54:51
  not mistaken, it's Spain and then Croatia. But I could be wrong.
• 54:54
  I have to fact check that. What do you guys think of this group?
• 54:59
  Like what are your expectations of these games? And it's the group we're
• 55:05
  always in, right, It's the group we're always in somehow, some way,
• 55:10
  man, I don't know that I'm going to say anything groundbreaking, but
• 55:13
  obviously need three points from Albania. That's not negotiable, you know, that's
• 55:17
  it's to me, another tough team. I mean, fortunately, you know
• 55:22
  it's like neutral ground, right, It's not like we have to go travel
• 55:25
  to play them because that would be difficult. But you know, another physical,
• 55:31
  organized, starting to improve with technique type team, but still a team
• 55:37
  that we need to be So to me, three points there is no negotiable.
• 55:42
  Spain, you know, they're still Spain at the end of the day.
• 55:45
  I mean, I guess maybe they're looking at Italy the same way,
• 55:47
  right like we might be in a quote unquote down period but in terms of
• 55:52
  talent, but we're still Italy at the end of the day, So I
• 55:55
  think anything can happen. I just you know, I don't know that they
• 56:00
  necessarily scare me the same way that they did last tournament or any of the
• 56:05
  last five tournaments. But is it a sure thing that we get points?
• 56:08
  Absolutely not. And then Cratia is another team. I mean, I don't
• 56:14
  know who they're going to call at the end of the day. I think
• 56:15
  they're at a weird mix of some guys that have aged out and some younger
• 56:20
  players that maybe we're all not so familiar with. I know, I was
• 56:23
  checking the roster for the friendlies and kind of like, Okay, I mean,
• 56:27
  all the names look and sound the same, so but I'm just kind
• 56:32
  of like, Okay, is this good for us or bad for us?
• 56:36
  Right? Like, there's there's something to be said about knowing what you're up
• 56:38
  against. That's going to be a wild card. But I mean, I
• 56:44
  feel like we need to win two games to get out of this group.
• 56:45
  I think that's the tall task. But if we have aspirations of making it
• 56:51
  out and winning the tournament, you need six points. Joey, Yeah,
• 56:58
  I mean I think Nick kind of hit it on the head. It's just
• 57:01
  like you gotta go get those points at Albania three. There's no other way
• 57:08
  around it. That's got to be a w Spain and Croatia. Those points
• 57:13
  are going to be harder to come by, so you really gotta, you
• 57:15
  know, buckle down and try and scrape by whatever you can, you know,
• 57:21
  because nothing is guaranteed. And again, like Nick said, our Spain
• 57:27
  in Croatia exactly the you know, scary teams that you know we've come to
• 57:34
  come to see before. Maybe I don't think so, but that doesn't necessarily
• 57:37
  mean that I think that that would be a big mistake underestimating them. So
• 57:45
  yeah, you know, there's still quality teams. They still have a lot
• 57:49
  of really good players, and they can still do damage. And I think
• 57:52
  this also goes to how we kind of currently feel about the Italian national team,
• 57:59
  sort of being a little bit and flux, not feeling exactly confident in
• 58:05
  some aspects of the game, you know, having gone from a couple of
• 58:08
  different coaches, and we're not seeing like we alluded to in the beginning of
• 58:15
  the show, like we're not seeing the the dominance that we did from from
• 58:20
  these friendlies, or you know, we're not seeing the play style necessarily.
• 58:24
  So yeah, there's a lot of things that could influence this group and hopefully
• 58:32
  it just falls it his way. Italy is notoriously slow at starting tournaments,
• 58:38
  so like true, like it just feels like it's going to come down to
• 58:43
  the last game, right, feels down, this is going to be no
• 58:49
  idea Italy in a tournament. I think anything is possible, right, We've
• 58:52
  we've come to know that, I think just this nation in a tournament and
• 58:55
  and really the sky's the limit. Anything as possible. I think when just
• 59:01
  to add all onto your points, and you guys make great points, I
• 59:04
  mean, just to add to it. I mean, you know, when
• 59:07
  we're when we're looked down on, when we're maybe quote unquote underdog, maybe
• 59:12
  under under the radar. Personally me, I eat that up. I love
• 59:15
  I love it. I love it like i'd rather that even though we are
• 59:20
  it's sad to say, but even though we are the rainy European champions,
• 59:22
  we're probably still gonna have that type of tag on us, which honestly,
• 59:27
  like I said earlier, I don't care. I mean, break it on
• 59:30
  like I think we all know how prideful Italians are, and you know,
• 59:36
  in a in a tournament setting, I think anything is possible, especially if
• 59:40
  and when they get out of a group. I think it's really it's really
• 59:44
  any any anybody's game. Yeah, I don't think maybe we we we probably
• 59:51
  scare many, uh you know, many many other, many other countries,
• 59:54
  and again that's that's fine. We know what we have and I think we
• 59:58
  kind of understand where we're at. Nobody really expected us to do anything last
• 1:00:00
  time, and again I don't want to. I don't want to hold onto
• 1:00:04
  that past because we are obviously always ways from that. And but just to
• 1:00:08
  remember kind of where where we had started with this journey under a Mancini.
• 1:00:15
  I mean, nobody really took us seriously. Then nobody expected much. You
• 1:00:19
  know, do we say we shocked the world? Maybe? Uh? And
• 1:00:22
  and and you know we go into this tournaments as a ringy champion. So
• 1:00:28
  I don't know, I think that no, no, no, I mean
• 1:00:30
  to cut you off. Remind I'm drawing a huge blank. Who was the
• 1:00:34
  third team in the group in the last tournament. I know we had Turkey,
• 1:00:37
  we had Switzerland, who was the third team? Yeah, Will so
• 1:00:42
  like you can make comparisons kind of to to in Albania to uh Croatia,
• 1:00:49
  right like we played teams kind of in that same vein that there was no
• 1:00:52
  Spain in that group. But you know you kind of have to, like
• 1:00:55
  you said, you don't want to hold onto it, but you have to
• 1:00:58
  remember, like we hit a point in that tournament we dismantled the teams we
• 1:01:01
  were supposed to and I think, or at least we played like it right
• 1:01:06
  whether the end result or the or was there or not. I'm just I
• 1:01:08
  have the vivid memory of like the three nil win to Turkey in my mind,
• 1:01:14
  Like, if we come out of the tournament the same way, same
• 1:01:15
  mentality in that first game, that should set us up for where we need
• 1:01:19
  to pay. It's gonna be huge. It's gonna be huge. I think.
• 1:01:22
  I don't know. People are saying, oh, man, we're playing
• 1:01:23
  Albania first, Like is that a good thing or a bad thing? Like
• 1:01:28
  I think it is where it is, like you're gonna have to play the
• 1:01:30
  team anyways, right, like you have to put your best fast forward Joe
• 1:01:34
  said, or I think I don't remember Joe or nixt said, you know,
• 1:01:36
  it will usually obviously starts sowing tournaments and we've we've come to see that
• 1:01:39
  a lot, and obviously that's that's that's something to think about and something to
• 1:01:45
  obviously always be quote unquote worried about. But at the end of the day,
• 1:01:51
  I mean, if you play, if you play a Spain first,
• 1:01:53
  a Croatia or in Albania, you know what your end goal is. You
• 1:01:59
  know what you want at the end of these guys have to play the win,
• 1:02:01
  right, you don't pay to lose, right, So it's I don't
• 1:02:07
  know, I'm as many as much as people are probably maybe a bit you
• 1:02:10
  know, uh, maybe negative towards it, or maybe not as confident.
• 1:02:16
  I don't think we have any right or not any right, any any reason
• 1:02:21
  not to be somewhat optimistic. I'd rather see it on that side than than
• 1:02:24
  than on the negative. Yeah, we we're far from a perfect federation,
• 1:02:30
  we're far from a perfect country, We're far from a perfect national team.
• 1:02:35
  I understand all that, But guys, when when when the anthem goes on,
• 1:02:39
  when the when the lights are on, when the tournament starts, I
• 1:02:43
  think all that kind of goes goes away, and and we're ready to We're
• 1:02:45
  ready to fight. And I'm eager to see how how this thing kicks off.
• 1:02:51
  And yeah, man, but like these guys said, the points have
• 1:02:55
  to be there. All this going and guying about the team is only talk
• 1:03:00
  at the end of the day, on the pitch is what matters. So
• 1:03:04
  I'm interested to see how how that kicks off, in how Spalletti really handles,
• 1:03:07
  you know, tournament football on an international stage, and what I like
• 1:03:13
  to that first game June fifteenth against Albania. It's in Doormant, It's the
• 1:03:16
  famous dormant arena that Italy be Germany and in two thousand and six. So
• 1:03:21
  we've talked about this on the show Giano. Having the German back in Germany
• 1:03:25
  eighteen years later, it's gonna bring back memories, I know, obviously,
• 1:03:30
  you know, like there are two other games I think it, like,
• 1:03:35
  like was it Leipzig and I'm not even gonna pronounce it. The teams,
• 1:03:40
  the city's name, gels and Kirchens. I'm sure that's how you pronounce it.
• 1:03:49
  Yeah, definitely. Obviously Italy didn't play there, but you know there's
• 1:03:52
  a chance that if Italy makes the final, it's back in Berlin, It's
• 1:03:55
  back at the Olympic Stadium and it's cool, man, it's cool. It's
• 1:04:00
  it's it's gonna be fun to see obviously, you know. Moving away from
• 1:04:05
  just the Adzuti UH. The three other three last teams UH qualified this week
• 1:04:12
  there was a playoffs I think it was Georgia, Ukraine and Poland. So
• 1:04:15
  we have the final groups. I'm gonna quickly go through them. Group eight
• 1:04:19
  Germany, Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland. Group is Italy's group spaing Croatia,
• 1:04:25
  Italy Albania Group see Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia and England, Group D,
• 1:04:30
  Poland, Netherlands, Austria and France, Group E, Belgium, Slovakia,
• 1:04:34
  Romania, Ukraine and Group F Turkey, Turkey, Georgia, Portugal and Czech
• 1:04:41
  Republic. It seems like like for sure Italy is in the Group of death,
• 1:04:45
  There's there's no question about that. It seems like, you know,
• 1:04:48
  England who their their group? Like again, you know, magically in England
• 1:04:55
  is in an easier group. Obviously no such thing as easy and professional sports,
• 1:04:59
  but whatever. But guys, is there a team that you think could
• 1:05:04
  could you know, what is your favorite to win the tournament? Because for
• 1:05:09
  me, you know, it's always France there. They're always up there.
• 1:05:12
  Obviously losing the World Cup final, uh two years ago, probably left the
• 1:05:15
  better tasting their mouth. Germany obviously as hosts, you know they they you
• 1:05:23
  definitely have to put them up there. But it besides those two teams,
• 1:05:27
  I don't think there's a real clear cut favorite. Sure you could argue England,
• 1:05:30
  but we're not gonna we're not gonna need England on this on this podcast.
• 1:05:33
  We don't think they're a real favorite. They lost a final at home
• 1:05:38
  three years ago. They're not a favorite. I don't know if Italy could
• 1:05:42
  win it. I mean they could do. I think they will probably not,
• 1:05:44
  but I'd love to hear your guys opinion. You first, meg One,
• 1:05:50
  Yeah, I tend to agree. I think where I'm going with that
• 1:05:54
  is where where are the goals coming from from? Many of these other teams,
• 1:05:57
  right, Like you mentioned France, France I think is the most sold
• 1:06:00
  at top to bottom team, and Bope obviously has the pedigree. Germany being
• 1:06:04
  at home is going to be a huge advantage for them. Every other team
• 1:06:09
  has holes. But the thing I noticed about this tournament as you went through
• 1:06:13
  the teams, there's not really a weak team. I mean, Group F
• 1:06:15
  I guess is kind of the weak is maybe right, Turkey, Georgia,
• 1:06:19
  Czech Republic, Portugal. But like, there's not one game up to bottom
• 1:06:27
  that I can see where It's like if somebody lost to somebody else, I'd
• 1:06:31
  be like, oh my god, that's a massive shock. I think it's
• 1:06:35
  really like, even with so many teams, right, they've added teams to
• 1:06:39
  this tournament, everybody's improved. I don't think there's necessarily an easy out.
• 1:06:45
  So that's what I'm most looking forward to seeing. But yeah, I think
• 1:06:47
  outside of the usual suspects, it's hard to make a case for anybody else
• 1:06:50
  because I don't really know where the goals are coming from. Yeah, Joe,
• 1:06:57
  Yeah, that's a that's a really that's really good points mate. I
• 1:07:00
  was gonna say France just because they're they're freaking France, that we all know
• 1:07:10
  the qualities that they have, right, we could say, I'm not gonna
• 1:07:13
  say England, not just because you know, Nicolino was like, don't say
• 1:07:17
  England, but we have they seem to have like a pretty good road to
• 1:07:24
  you know, they have a good path set up for them already. We
• 1:07:27
  can go and dive into conspiracy theories later. And we've said Germany, they're
• 1:07:32
  they're at home, and they're not necessarily pushovers in these tournaments. They they
• 1:07:38
  are Germany. You know, all of these teams have earned the right to
• 1:07:43
  be there. There are no easy games, and any one of these teams
• 1:07:46
  can upset one of the bigger teams. So it's like these are the best
• 1:07:54
  teams some in the world pretty much aside from like Argentina and Brazil, let's
• 1:08:00
  be honest, So like this is this is the cream of the crop group
• 1:08:08
  brutal Man Poland, Netherlands, Austria, France. That's a tough group.
• 1:08:13
  Yeah, they could eat each other a lot, it is. Maybe,
• 1:08:15
  yeah, another group of death. Maybe. I don't know if he's going
• 1:08:18
  to one of those teams is gonna go exactly Yeah, No, guys,
• 1:08:24
  great points all around. I mean, I think it's obviously tough, Like
• 1:08:27
  the favorites are always going to be the favorites, right, I think I
• 1:08:29
  think it's also more like who's going to be that like dark horse under underdog
• 1:08:32
  team that's really going to go to surprise, go the distance, like you
• 1:08:36
  know, remember like Yure twenty twenty twenty twenty one, whatever however you want
• 1:08:42
  to call it. I mean, France got knocked out right like that that
• 1:08:44
  pass to the final when France was such a favorite, like became open because
• 1:08:48
  of a miracle. I don't know if you want to call it a miracle,
• 1:08:51
  will say it how what you want. But we go Switzerland, right
• 1:08:54
  who who took them out? Right? So you know, again anything is
• 1:08:59
  possible. The favorites, like I said, are always are always going to
• 1:09:01
  be the favorites. The odds are always going to be the odds. Nick,
• 1:09:04
  you can, you can, you can brush us up on that when
• 1:09:06
  it's closer to the game time. But you know, I think that will
• 1:09:12
  always be there. For me, it's it's I'm curious to see who's going
• 1:09:14
  to be you know that that's one who knocks how To, who knocks how
• 1:09:19
  to France? Like I just alluded to, like who's who's going to be
• 1:09:23
  that team, Like who's gonna who's gonna win it all when when nobody expects
• 1:09:27
  it like in Italy? Right, So you know it really is is a
• 1:09:30
  toss up. I think the groups are strong. You know, obviously there
• 1:09:34
  are some weak weaker quote unquote opposition. You know, I guess obviously good
• 1:09:40
  for Georgia to get in there. You know Scalia that we that we see
• 1:09:44
  in our in our league. Is a big moment for him for his country.
• 1:09:48
  I think it's the first time ever if I'm not mistaken, that they
• 1:09:51
  that they make the Euros. So with his coach also bring in a nation,
• 1:09:57
  uh you know, Slovakia to to to the Euros. So yeah,
• 1:10:01
  man, it's gonna be interesting. Obviously I'm biased. Man, I'm not
• 1:10:08
  gonna go for anybody else. I'm not gonna say anybody else, Like,
• 1:10:10
  well, I'd be realistic and say, yeah, France has every fighting chance
• 1:10:13
  to make it there absolutely, you know a Portugal, uh, you know
• 1:10:18
  Germany? So yeah, So I guess in England again, bashi them.
• 1:10:24
  They're they're gonna still be around you how far I don't know, but they'll
• 1:10:28
  be around. I think the two things do we? I mean, we
• 1:10:32
  have to mention a team like France, a team like England now that they
• 1:10:35
  have consistency with the with the core group of players and with the coach,
• 1:10:40
  right, I mean, how many times do you not see the same coach
• 1:10:43
  from one tournament to the next, let alone you know, two or three
• 1:10:45
  tournaments, so right, definite, Yeah, no, no, it's it's
• 1:10:51
  a good point. And again, some of their some of their key players,
• 1:10:56
  right have have have been around and have been producing, and they have
• 1:11:00
  some young talent that's obviously out of this world in some cases, you know
• 1:11:02
  you mentioned in like we don't have that forty class on our on our team.
• 1:11:06
  We don't have that phenomenon on our team. Unfortunately for Italy we just
• 1:11:12
  need him for a month. Whoever it is, yeah, exactly right,
• 1:11:15
  And and we spoke about it earlier anybody who didn't tune in earlier. But
• 1:11:18
  you know, that group, that group is is really what you know,
• 1:11:24
  I think carries this this this national team. And yeah, and you know
• 1:11:28
  what, I again, I don't know if you guys put the same faith
• 1:11:30
  as I do in a guy Expelette, but I don't know. I I'm
• 1:11:36
  putting my faith in him. He was able to do incredible things. Uh,
• 1:11:43
  you know with a NAPO last season. And again people are gonna say
• 1:11:45
  it's a fool, it's this, it's that, it's whatever. I think
• 1:11:47
  the guy is. I think the guy understands where he's at, what he's
• 1:11:53
  what he's doing, this journey, this this national team. He said all
• 1:11:58
  the right things. Now think it's time to obviously do all the right things
• 1:12:01
  and and and make Italians, you know, proud again. Right, you
• 1:12:05
  know, this is a this is a nation who fucking missed out on the
• 1:12:10
  World Cup again, Guys, like we have to stop making that a trend.
• 1:12:14
  And hopefully Spoletti is that guy to to to ride that ship, uh,
• 1:12:18
  you know, into the future. So man, he showed up,
• 1:12:23
  right, he took the job. Yeah starts there. No, that's true,
• 1:12:28
  that's true. You know, just one thing I kind of wanted to
• 1:12:30
  to bring up maybe before we we end up wrapping this up. Funny funny,
• 1:12:38
  funny enough, you know we we we spoke a bit about Georgino,
• 1:12:40
  right, you know, and and not wanting to say it, but having
• 1:12:45
  to say it because he did kind of step up, you know, quietly
• 1:12:49
  in these two matchups. You know, we've said it on the show before
• 1:12:55
  and in the past. You know, like Midfield was like a big,
• 1:12:58
  a big rich to us. We've had, we had so many options.
• 1:13:01
  I mean, I think the whole to NOWITY think kind of sort of screwed
• 1:13:05
  things up a bit. It hurt. Will it hurt in the end,
• 1:13:11
  We don't know, but it definitely hurts in the sense that you know,
• 1:13:14
  a quality player won't be there, right you know, is there guys like
• 1:13:20
  that you want to like I don't want to say, like who are going
• 1:13:24
  to bring to the Euros because I think it's still it's still early, but
• 1:13:27
  like, is there names that like you want to see there and kind of
• 1:13:30
  maybe like guys that you don't want to see, like maybe guy will give
• 1:13:33
  like a couple of players that you want to see at the tournament or or
• 1:13:35
  would like to see involved in this, in this, in this journey,
• 1:13:41
  in the in this tournament, and maybe guys that I don't know, maybe
• 1:13:45
  it's not it's we had time to move on. It's not it's time to
• 1:13:47
  look at different direction. Like is there anybody that that kind of comes in
• 1:13:51
  your guys minds in those terms. I don't know if Joe's thinking Nick stinky
• 1:14:01
  I was because you mentioned I don't want to cut you off, Joe,
• 1:14:04
  but you mentioned it, So I don't know if there's anybody else like that,
• 1:14:11
  you that you kind of want to see in there, maybe off the
• 1:14:13
  off the off the list, like have been having him and have been having
• 1:14:18
  really good seasons at Torino, so like there's no reason that they shouldn't get
• 1:14:23
  called up. I know, didn't he have a He had a stinker against
• 1:14:29
  Venezuela. I didn't exactly see it, but yeah, still deserves a call
• 1:14:35
  up just based upon club form. I would. I saw Candiazo play for
• 1:14:42
  a split second against Ecuador, and he's having a really good season with you
• 1:14:46
  there. I'm not even just saying that, because man, he really was
• 1:14:53
  with I think that he could be a really effective player for the national team.
• 1:15:00
  God, I had one other name and maybe it'll come to me,
• 1:15:05
  h players who I don't want their Manchini, I don't think. I don't
• 1:15:13
  think he has any business being on the on the national team when we have
• 1:15:16
  we're pretty set with centerbacks, I think. But yeah, I mean I
• 1:15:26
  would say we kind of need to move on from Georgino, but it's just
• 1:15:30
  like who else, who else takes it? Loca doesn't provide the same thing.
• 1:15:34
  You know, Brella doesn't do the same thing. It's pretty much it's
• 1:15:39
  pretty much Georgino, you know. So like as much as I would say
• 1:15:44
  we need to find somebody else, it's like that we don't have that other
• 1:15:50
  person yet. So it's like, yeah, that's it really stick with them?
• 1:15:57
  Yeah, Nik, Yeah, I agree. I mean you almost have
• 1:16:01
  to go more physical, more athletic, as physical and as athletic on d
• 1:16:05
  as possible, because I like, in my mind imagining the roster, I
• 1:16:10
  don't know that like who really stands out a stony? Maybe I don't know.
• 1:16:15
  Before you continue, Nick, is the three four two one, And
• 1:16:17
  I don't know if Joe grees or disagrees, but like, is that the
• 1:16:20
  formation? Because I personally I like it, Like I like that yes,
• 1:16:25
  this wasn't perfect, But like, if you're envisioning like a lineup and who's
• 1:16:29
  in who's out, are you guys basing it off of that formation? Because
• 1:16:32
  I'm kind of leaning towards that. I want to kind of get you and
• 1:16:35
  I'm trying to and you great question, because that's that's what I was going
• 1:16:40
  to ask you guys like that, we're almost putting five defenders on the field
• 1:16:44
  if you go to that formation, because how on the planet to start a
• 1:16:47
  team without DeMarco right on the left at this point in time, like he
• 1:16:50
  has to be on the field. Yeah, absolutely, you know so that
• 1:16:57
  it's it's so weird, right you want to bring guys like him, like
• 1:17:00
  Belenova. I mean, I guess by default doj These guys that are fast,
• 1:17:05
  that are physical, that can drive the ball is almost more important than
• 1:17:11
  you know, it's it's almost more important in this modern international game. So
• 1:17:16
  yeah, it's tough. I mean, I'm really trying to envision who the
• 1:17:20
  other midfielder is because I think Badella is obviously there Georgenio for me, he's
• 1:17:26
  on the team, no question. I mean, is he starting, is
• 1:17:29
  he not? Who's who's the missing piece, because, like I said,
• 1:17:32
  it feels like there's almost going to be five defenders on the field, or
• 1:17:35
  at least four, so I wonder. I mean, I just don't know
• 1:17:40
  who that missing piece is. We haven't found it from like Vedati, from
• 1:17:45
  Tonali, from from some of these guys who were maybe a little better with
• 1:17:49
  the ball. That's the big question mark for me. I think I would
• 1:17:58
  personally have liked to see him test maybe like a four to two three one,
• 1:18:01
  because I think, like I said, we have we have wing backs
• 1:18:05
  that are very very strong, and I think we have attacking I guess we'll
• 1:18:10
  call them attacking midfielders or wingers. But you slide in a Kis Peligrini.
• 1:18:16
  I'll sound biased saying it, but somebody like Orsolini on the right, you
• 1:18:23
  you know, that's how you accommodate these attacking players, I think, And
• 1:18:30
  I think there's you know, we have quality for guys to slide in there.
• 1:18:33
  I think it's funny to say because he doesn't play every game for inther
• 1:18:38
  but somebody like Rats could could play in a lot of different positions. I
• 1:18:45
  think. But Ella, you could move him forward if you needed to,
• 1:18:47
  you know, depending on a game situation. I think somebody like I get
• 1:18:53
  a lot of shift for this, but I don't care. I shamelessly love
• 1:18:55
  the guy. Else. Shaid Awe is still showing me a lot because he's
• 1:18:59
  a guy that works really hard defensively and he doesn't care that he's not getting
• 1:19:02
  ninety minutes every game. But he could still carry the ball, he can
• 1:19:05
  still cross the ball. He still probably has five six seven goals this year.
• 1:19:10
  Playing under Mourinho, I think we have that caliber player. You know,
• 1:19:15
  we talked a lot about Aspadarti. He can play behind the striker.
• 1:19:18
  So I don't know if this is the be all, end all formation.
• 1:19:23
  I just like, in my mind, I'm missing a cluster of players,
• 1:19:26
  like just who's that final midfielder, Who's that final attacking midfielder if we need
• 1:19:31
  a goal, I just don't know who it is. I think I think
• 1:19:34
  also the But like with the three four two one setup, I think that's
• 1:19:40
  still I don't know if it offers maybe the same in terms of in terms
• 1:19:45
  of you know, like tactically and all that, but I still think it
• 1:19:48
  offers. It offers something to be seen and to be had, because you
• 1:19:55
  know, for me, it's I'm still like where you're unsure about that final
• 1:19:58
  piece in the midfielder or or maybe attacking midfielder wing or whatever. I'm kind
• 1:20:03
  of like for me, it's a bit even still on the like the defense
• 1:20:05
  like trio, like if if because I've seen, I've seen, I've seen,
• 1:20:11
  well you guys saw a firsthand, but just by watching, I mean,
• 1:20:15
  Spelletti you know, kind of went with multiple like he was food enough
• 1:20:18
  to change formations, like he started with that that the before two one.
• 1:20:24
  He kind of went with more of a you know, I don't know if
• 1:20:26
  it was a four. I don't know if it was like a four four
• 1:20:28
  two or four three three whatever it was, but he he changed, you
• 1:20:31
  know, a bit like in these formations. So I think the floridity is
• 1:20:36
  important. I think obviously the players are are are the be all end all
• 1:20:42
  in in terms of you know, the performances on the pitch, but with
• 1:20:45
  that three three four two one, I think it is important, you know,
• 1:20:49
  and I think it is I think it could work with this with what
• 1:20:51
  we have currently, just because of you mentioned the de Marco, you mentioned
• 1:20:57
  Joe, uh, you know, Comy Sova. I personally think even Adorenzo
• 1:21:04
  can do it. But you know, going up and down those flanks and
• 1:21:06
  and and bringing that attack that we might not have and adding to it right
• 1:21:13
  and and putting in that ball. You know, DeMarco's left foot is you
• 1:21:16
  know, as much as he's an intasta a quality and I can't stand that.
• 1:21:21
  You know, he has a fucking left foot. Guys, he could
• 1:21:24
  put in the ball. He can score right and you know, he's amazing
• 1:21:30
  and he puts in that service. So I think that's why I think the
• 1:21:33
  three four two one works because I think for what for what we have and
• 1:21:38
  and the players that that can that can go into these positions, I think
• 1:21:41
  it's it's it's I think it's quality. You know, for me, it's
• 1:21:45
  still the three at the back. I don't know, like a bustony Joe
• 1:21:50
  mentioned which which is which is encouraging to see his his growth, you know,
• 1:21:57
  I like, I like Scalvini. But again, as think I was
• 1:22:00
  going to ask you, guys, many I watch him with Italy, I
• 1:22:05
  feel like I'm I'm missing the hype or something. I don't know if it's
• 1:22:10
  just me, but I like, I don't know, No, I think
• 1:22:14
  he's a defender, takes time to develop, right, I agree, John's
• 1:22:17
  he's still rougher on the EDGENC. Yeah he's still yeah, he believe.
• 1:22:20
  I don't know if he's twenty twenty one. I don't have to double fact
• 1:22:24
  check that, but or actually maybe he's still ninety. No, he's not
• 1:22:28
  still nineteen. I think he's just think somebody he just he just in twenty
• 1:22:32
  in December the same fuck, so he was really just nineteen, right,
• 1:22:38
  you know, get give him, give give him a bit of that wish,
• 1:22:41
  But I don't just a player that I've liked. Obviously, many guys
• 1:22:45
  are hyping a guy like called Fiordia Bologna who's looked incredible, and you know,
• 1:22:49
  maybe he deserves a look at You never know. I know he's at
• 1:22:54
  Withini, but hey, you never know. But just going back to the
• 1:22:58
  whole deformation thing and what we have, I think the players that are there
• 1:23:01
  are our quality. We mentioned earlier with the attack you have that that three
• 1:23:06
  four two one. Those guys in between, those guys behind our striker are
• 1:23:14
  number nine for me, are fluid and we have options there. In my
• 1:23:17
  eyes on paper, the delivery on the page has to translate for all this
• 1:23:23
  to be you know, justifiable. But you know, I don't know.
• 1:23:27
  I think you know, you know, Nick mentioned the four two three one.
• 1:23:30
  I think it could work too. But I still think both those formations
• 1:23:33
  offer the same type of hopefully end up you know servicing. Uh you know
• 1:23:39
  this this this national team in the in the same direction in terms of you
• 1:23:44
  know, chances, in terms of goals, in terms of you know,
• 1:23:46
  defense, because you know, you go attacking, you're going you're going with
• 1:23:49
  obviously three at the back. You come to the fen that becomes a five
• 1:23:51
  right five at the back, So and you need those wing backs to be
• 1:23:57
  up and down, maybe not for ninety minutes, but for a majority of
• 1:24:00
  the game. Yeah, we see a DeMarco play that for in there.
• 1:24:03
  We don't see that in a DeLorenzo obviously, I uh or actually know we
• 1:24:10
  do actually a bit I think see that, but a little bit a little
• 1:24:13
  bit right, so we do. I think they're both capable, and I
• 1:24:18
  think, you know, the options off the bench could be capable as well.
• 1:24:20
  I don't know. For me, it's still the defense trio. If
• 1:24:25
  he does stick with that, I think that's where I still I'm still not
• 1:24:28
  sure. And who's next to Brella? I think unfortunately it's going to be
• 1:24:32
  a Georgino. I think you know spell that he just trust him enough to
• 1:24:35
  put him there. And if he's still hot with arsenal by by by June
• 1:24:41
  fifteenth, Guys, like it or not, I missed all these fucking penalties.
• 1:24:45
  We're not in the World Cup because of him. Many people are gonna
• 1:24:46
  say he's going to be lining up for the national team, saying the anthem,
• 1:24:50
  playing on the pitch and so on and so forth. Right, So,
• 1:24:54
  I don't know if you guys agree with with the defense issue, not
• 1:24:57
  issue, but just I'm not sure who I do. Besides yeah, I
• 1:25:02
  mean I saw it. We're taking over, taken over Nick's their time here.
• 1:25:09
  But now I think Joe, sorry, I wanted to call out,
• 1:25:13
  you made a you made a great point right last tournament with Spinazzola, right
• 1:25:15
  like that drove the offense for how many games. I think, look at
• 1:25:19
  the last tournament. We had success before that with the World Cup, Za
• 1:25:23
  drove a lot of that offense. We performed better over the course of a
• 1:25:28
  tournament. I think when you know, when we have that formation suited to
• 1:25:30
  some of these wing backs, and if we have the talent in that position,
• 1:25:34
  which we're talking about a guy like DeMarco, that does we got to
• 1:25:38
  play to that strength. I think we have to anything more, but I
• 1:25:44
  don't know about it anything else in terms of defense, like in terms of
• 1:25:46
  maybe other players like you mentioned, I think Bystonia is maybe the only quote
• 1:25:51
  unquote luck. But anything else, it's just that the So I'm also going
• 1:25:59
  by what I saw in the Ecuador game, and for me, Bastoni,
• 1:26:03
  Mancini and Darmian are not it. They're just that it just doesn't work.
• 1:26:09
  There's no wait, sorry say that again. Who you said? So it
• 1:26:14
  was Bostoni, Machini, and Darion at three center backs, and for me,
• 1:26:23
  it just doesn't. It doesn't work like that composition just doesn't. I
• 1:26:28
  mean, sure, yeah, you kept the clean sheet, but yeah,
• 1:26:30
  it's a friendly Also to me, that is, I don't feel comfortable going
• 1:26:36
  into an international tournament with a back three. To me, that seems that
• 1:26:42
  it doesn't. It just doesn't sit right with me. I feel like we
• 1:26:45
  would be leaving ourselves open to a lot. And I think that we were
• 1:26:51
  also causing some problems in midfields. Uh kind of because of that too.
• 1:26:59
  I feel like we we would flow a little bit better with a four to
• 1:27:02
  two three one. I think that gives us a little bit more flexibility.
• 1:27:06
  We still have that the power wingers, if you want to call them going
• 1:27:13
  up and down the flanks, Georgino and somebody, Georgino and Brella like a
• 1:27:17
  double pivot. I feel like that that works fine. And then you could
• 1:27:24
  slot Pelagreni in the number ten like right behind the striker, and then the
• 1:27:28
  wingers get wingers, attacking mids whatever you want to call them, fluid,
• 1:27:31
  let them do whatever they want, and then we just have a striker up
• 1:27:34
  top. I feel like we have the personnel to play that way. But
• 1:27:40
  that's just those are That's my two cents on that. But yeah, again,
• 1:27:45
  it all depends on who gets called up and what is actually going on
• 1:27:49
  in training, Like will he actually use the three four to two one to
• 1:27:56
  be seen? I don't know. I just didn't like. Everything else was
• 1:28:00
  fine, but that back three was That was one of the weakest parts for
• 1:28:05
  me. It's what you're saying and before and the yes, that's that's what
• 1:28:12
  you're saying. Realistically, Bustone is the only one who really plays consistently in
• 1:28:19
  a back three out of all of those guys. Right. I mean Darmian,
• 1:28:23
  sure he has, He's just not a center back for me, He's
• 1:28:28
  he's not, He's a full back. So it's like, why put him
• 1:28:31
  there? He's in the but I don't know for the right for the wrong
• 1:28:39
  reasons, but to be there. Right. So that's another name that again
• 1:28:43
  I think we should move on from. But it might be Yeah, thirty
• 1:28:48
  five, we looked at him for six I think I mean, like in
• 1:28:54
  an absence of and it's a funny comparison I guess to make like in an
• 1:28:58
  absence of Bonucci or or like Gillani or somebody like you need a guy like
• 1:29:02
  that. I feel like, right, you need that older been through a
• 1:29:06
  tournament defender. But I don't know. I mean, I don't think plays
• 1:29:12
  in a back three, right, he plays in a back three, so
• 1:29:15
  like I would feel more comfortable with that. Aside from BOSTONI I don't.
• 1:29:20
  Those guys just don't play in a back three consistently. I feel like it
• 1:29:24
  would be if we were in an actual tournament game that would make me really
• 1:29:28
  uncomfortable. I would be looking at them and be like, what are you
• 1:29:30
  doing? So it's like, okay, yeah, interesting, we guys,
• 1:29:36
  we could go on all day about formation stuff, but we'll have to wait
• 1:29:40
  another what two and a half months in a bit June fifteenth, I guess
• 1:29:45
  at twelve pm will probably see the first official lineup for Italy game against Albania.
• 1:29:50
  But no one will be happy, right, No one won't be happy.
• 1:29:56
  You can't make everybody happy. It's crazy such to the first game.
• 1:30:00
  Look, why why is he there? Why is he not there? Exactly?
• 1:30:04
  Hold on, I bet I could bring us all together before you move
• 1:30:09
  on to wrap it up. Somebody give me one reason, one argument why
• 1:30:14
  Isanola deserves to be on this team. I don't think anybody can do it.
• 1:30:19
  Nope, injured, I can't noured again, that frustrating, frustrating guy.
• 1:30:30
  Because the quality was there, I think it still could be there,
• 1:30:34
  but it's unfortunately that the haircut, the this, the that, the problem,
• 1:30:39
  the changing teams, the mother it's too many, too many. One
• 1:30:44
  of the chants that was going on in the behind the goal line was like
• 1:30:47
  go back to Turkey. I think you will. Austin Villa already said they're
• 1:30:55
  not renewing this, they're not exercising the contract or whatever, so we'll see.
• 1:31:00
  Man. That is frustrating. But Nick, uh, I think I
• 1:31:04
  think that's pretty much all we had uh for for tonight. Just honestly,
• 1:31:10
  guys, from myself, our Nick Johnny Husa, trying to win a trying
• 1:31:15
  to win a game, trying to win a final, uh, honestly playoff
• 1:31:18
  game, sorry not final. Excuse me forget. Yeah, we just can't
• 1:31:25
  tell you guys enough for your time. Uh, It's been an absolutely pleasure
• 1:31:29
  to chat with you. Guys. We we do chat regularly, so it's
• 1:31:32
  it's an extension of that. We We always appreciate your time. We appreciate
• 1:31:38
  your insider trading obviously, like Live from the Stadium recaps both in in Florida
• 1:31:45
  in in New Jersey. I'll want you guys take the four before we wrap
• 1:31:48
  it up. Anything you guys want to plug, let Joe go first.
• 1:31:51
  We'll go left to right because I'm seeing him left to right, Joe and
• 1:31:56
  then Nick. Just the four is yours. Anything you always want to plug
• 1:32:00
  before is yours, guys. I'll plug only a couple of things. So
• 1:32:05
  I think a lot of you guys know I'm a member of the AGUC so
• 1:32:10
  we're on consistently, so I come hang out. We're gonna be our next
• 1:32:15
  games against Lotzio, so we'll have a pre met show and a postmat show.
• 1:32:20
  Probably won't be on Easter Sunday, but I'll get confirmation from that.
• 1:32:26
  And the only other thing that I'll say to anybody is go join an official
• 1:32:30
  fan club, not just like not just you they, but like any other
• 1:32:34
  official fan club whatever that you were a part of, Like, seriously,
• 1:32:39
  go do it because you will reap so many betefits from it. So I'm
• 1:32:44
  a member of Empire State Juventus Club and it's one of the best things ever,
• 1:32:49
  So I go do it here. So I attest to that. That's
• 1:32:54
  that's that's well said. I said all the time. I'm so jealous of
• 1:32:58
  it. If anybody that's listening is in South Florida, ship man help me.
• 1:33:01
  Let's start one. I don't even care which team. It doesn't even
• 1:33:03
  need to be for a team like just the Setia Club of South Florida.
• 1:33:09
  I don't know. Inventus Club is just my house. Like there's no Eventus
• 1:33:14
  Club Montreal that that's publicly open to accepting people. Be like every other Canadian
• 1:33:18
  and come to Florida and we'll start it together. It's basically it's basically baby
• 1:33:24
  Montreal out there. Yeah, it's definitely possible. Now, definitely envious to
• 1:33:29
  that. And I'll say, you know, closing thoughts on the game,
• 1:33:32
  I think I got the better game. Joe got the better tailgate experience atmosphere.
• 1:33:39
  So glad we both got a little of something, A pleasure to be
• 1:33:42
  on with you. Good too, good to be here, guys. Thank
• 1:33:44
  you as always for for having us, for having me at Kicks Picks Pod,
• 1:33:49
  Kicks and Picks podcast. The guys are mad at me because they recorded
• 1:33:53
  tonight while I was recording this, so I keep getting these text messages.
• 1:33:57
  You chose to couch your guys over us, Isn't that well said? This
• 1:34:00
  is an important discussion, So give us, give us a follow, give
• 1:34:03
  us a shout if you're into betting at all, or even if you're not.
• 1:34:06
  You know, we break down everything England, Italy, you know,
• 1:34:11
  have a little bit of fun while doing it. So appreciate you giving us
• 1:34:15
  a shout. So Nick, that's that's news to me because I didn't hear
• 1:34:17
  that early. I don't know if our Nick do about that, but honored,
• 1:34:20
  honored to have taken you away from your own that's that's a huge that's
• 1:34:25
  a huge praise. So yeah, you appreciate that, We appreciate that,
• 1:34:29
  We appreciate you staying on as long as you as long as we've been we've
• 1:34:31
  been recording this, and uh, west and guys, I knew I want
• 1:34:35
  like I know Nick had reached out to Joe and and I'm like, Westen,
• 1:34:39
  we need to get somebody else. This conversation has to be a good
• 1:34:42
  one. Try from the other game. Nick, Danny is our guy,
• 1:34:46
  like, he's our guys, and we knew we can, we can,
• 1:34:49
  we can, we can smuggle him away, I guess from his own show
• 1:34:51
  to get him all tonight. So, guys, it's honestly a pleasure.
• 1:34:56
  It's been. It's been a great convo. Guys. Go foward both of
• 1:35:00
  them because it's not only great work that they do, it's great people behind
• 1:35:02
  it. I always say it, uh, and I'll continue to say it
• 1:35:06
  because you know, it's it's really the content could be good and and enjoyable
• 1:35:12
  and watchable or likable whatever, but it's really the people that that make it
• 1:35:15
  that. So uh, Joe, Nick, go follow go follow them personally,
• 1:35:21
  Go follow their their their their shows, their accounts, and let's continue
• 1:35:26
  to grow this culture community on our end. Guys. We say it every
• 1:35:30
  week at the Culture Guys on all socials follow us please, it goes a
• 1:35:34
  long way. We appreciate all the support that we always get. I always
• 1:35:39
  say it as well, it's it really doesn't go unnoticed. For your audio
• 1:35:43
  version of the podcast on your favorite podcasting platforms. And subscribe on YouTube.
• 1:35:46
  Guys. It's so it's a little bit now we're trying to trying to get
• 1:35:49
  a bit step by step baby steps foot on this YouTube game. Uh sober
• 1:35:55
  shure. We hope to get We got hope to get some sort of traction
• 1:35:57
  on that. So subscribe on YouTube, post notifications, comment, share like
• 1:36:01
  it, subscribe whatever, all the good things, guys. Continue to do
• 1:36:04
  it for all video content of the Culture Guys show. And yeah, man,
• 1:36:10
  we'll be back next week to talk a lot more cultural and just before
• 1:36:14
  we let go, you know, happy Eastern Bona Pasca and enjoy with your
• 1:36:18
  families. Guys. Yeah, we'll be back next week to talk a lot
• 1:36:21
  more culture. Thanks for listening. John