The Official Azzurri thread 2

[Lombardiamia]

[Italiamia]

[stefano]

[arthurfonzarelli]

[p_maldini_3]

[Italiamia]

[stefano]

[Italiamia]

[Italiamia]

[stefano]

[Italiamia]

[p_maldini_3]

[Italiamia]

[stefano]

[maro]

Africa isn't a country, Avvocato. As Fonz said, for me, Lomba, though I would also add one further intangible: above all, it matters to me that the player is representing his first-choice of country. This quite clearly isn't the case with a player like Amauri - had he been picked for Brazil he'd have leapt at the opportunity. And this muddies the waters with Balotelli since, so far as I can gather from the media, at times he's toyed with the idea of representing Ghana or, at least, has played that card in the media. That, for me, is a no-no. Of course one can't legislate for this sort of thing, but to my mind it comes down to the terms in which the player seems to see himself: I don't think there's any question that Okaka considers himself an Italian and I should be delighted to see him represent Italy if he gets the chance. The blood argument is horse-shit for me except insomuch as it stands as a symbol for the way the guy considers himself.

[Lombardiamia]

[Lombardiamia]

[maro]

Lomba, I'm not wrong here - it has popped up in the media a couple of times that he's made comments flirting with Ghana. That the stories may have been malicious gossip completely invented by the journalists I'm very happy to accept and, similiarly, that they were born of a single throw-away remark he didn't mean seriously at all but which was leapt on by malicious journalists I'm very willing to believe; that those stories have been around is certainly true. That, though, is a complete red herring - the point here is that it's the argument which matters rather than how perfectly it applies to any particular individual. If they consider themselves Italians - and they have every reason to do so - and representing the Azzurri is their first and only consideration, then (other than the fact that Balotelli's a cheesily knob which makes it hard to support him quite aside from considerations of nationality and race) I shouldn't have the slightest ambivalence about supporting them for the Azzurri.

[maro]

Lomba, I'm not wrong here - it has popped up in the media a couple of times that he's made comments flirting with Ghana. That the stories may have been malicious gossip completely invented by the journalists I'm very happy to accept and, similiarly, that they were born of a single throw-away remark he didn't mean seriously at all but which was leapt on by malicious journalists I'm very willing to believe; that those stories have been around is certainly true. That, though, is a complete red herring - the point here is that it's the argument which matters rather than how perfectly it applies to any particular individual. If they consider themselves Italians - and they have every reason to do so - and representing the Azzurri is their first and only consideration, then (other than the fact that Balotelli's a cheesily knob which makes it hard to support him quite aside from considerations of nationality and race) I shouldn't have the slightest ambivalence about supporting them for the Azzurri.

[Italiamia]