Can someone please explain why Italy are out ?

[SurreySeagulls]

They went out because they played booring football. They thought all they had to do was turn for their games and collect 3 points from each match, go back to the hotel and grease up their black flowing locks.

Hooray for Scandinavia

 

[Lush]

Italy are out because they are moody gits.

As are Holland, who will be out this evening IMHO.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

I'm glad Italy are out as I could just see them stifling the Czechs and going through on penalties. At least with the Scandinavians you know they'll try and attack. The Italians only have themselves to blame they were crap against Denmark, tried to sit on a 1-0 lead against Sweden and were utter pants in the first half against Bulgaria.

What the matches are proving at the moment is that if teams go for it by attacking they usually get some reward.

 

[Marshy]

Italy are out because they werent good enough to qualify.

 

[London Calling]

A cople of points here.

1.The Italians played decent football for about 30 minutes. Generally looked average the rest of the time.

2. Danes and Swedes, really went for it, played great football and went for a win.

Danish and Swedish women are better than Italian women with the Bulgars, coming in after the Alsatians.

LC

 

[SK1NT]

Italy are out because they are moody gits.

As are Holland, who will be out this evening IMHO.

Cant see holland going out, as they will win and germany wont beat the czechs!

 

[Skaville]

I think the interesting thing about the Italian's exit is that a 2-2 is effectively rated as a better result than a 0-0, which goes completely against Italian football mentality of defend, defend. defend. Surely they would see a 0-0 as the better result.

 

[Yoda]

They are out because they didn't put the ball in the back of the net enough.

They must have had 60 odd shots in the last 2 matches alone but only scored 3 goals

 

[perseus]

Cause they invented Pizzas. Anybody who invented overpriced new name for Welsh rarebit with tomatoes. Which is why the Welsh did not even get to Portugal at all.

(buffoon)

 

[zefarelly]

except pizza are an american invention

Italy are out because they're a bunch or premadonna tarts who didnt deserve to go through playing poncey negative footbal;l

hats off to Denmark and Sweden and even Bulgaria for playing with some pride last night despite being out already

 

[Marc]

except pizza are an american invention

wrong zef:

Who really invented pizza? The Greeks, Italians, or Mexicans? --Yours in food, Chris & Blair, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

SDSTAFF Dex replies:

Pizza is one of those foods for which we will never know a specific origin. For one thing, the definitions of pizza are many and varied. Putting stuff on flat bread as a meal certainly goes back as far as ancient Rome. The word "pizza" itself appears just before 1000 AD, in the area between Naples and Rome, meaning "pie."

There are traditional pizza-like dishes in Provence where bread (or sometimes a pastry) is topped with onion, tomato, anchovies, and olives. In the Middle East, lahma bi ajeen is a pizza base with minced onions, meat, and flavorings.

So we need to start with some definitions. Shall we confine our attention to American pizza, now found throughout the world? If so, no problem--it was invented in America in the 1950s. That's probably not the answer you were looking for, although the New World did make possible pizza as we know it today.

Instead let's define modern pizza as the tasty conjunction of flat bread, tomato sauce, and cheese. Most food historians point to Naples as the area of origin, and to Napoletana, the pizza of Naples, as the archetype of this type of pizza.

The word "pizza" itself is probably related to pitta (bread) so let's start with the crust. In ancient times, all bread was basically flat, and treated as a food in and of itself. The idea of bread as a carrier or holder of other food pretty much started in the Middle Ages, what we today might call an open face sandwich. It wasn't originally a new way of eating--the bread was a sort of place mat, to help keep the table clean during meals. Only the rich could afford plates, so a flat piece of (say) hard barley bread on the table was used to hold the meal, mostly meat and drippings. Bread was specially baked for that purpose. After the meal, sometimes the bread was consumed, and sometimes given to the dogs.

The closed sandwich has its origins in the 18th century, but that's a different story.

Next ingredient: cheese. Cheese itself dates back to prehistoric times and was probably discovered by accidental fermentation. Mozzarella, a soft, fresh cheese traditionally made from the milk of water buffalo, originated in 15th century Naples. Mozzarella nowadays is made from cow's milk. You can still find buffalo-cheese (or a blend of buffalo and cow cheese) in Salerno, but it's too expensive and delicate for pizza topping, we're told.

That brings us to tomato sauce--the New World's contribution to pizza, since the tomato was a New World plant. Initially Europeans regarded the tomato with suspicion and fear. It had a strange texture, was too acidic to eat green, and looked spoiled when ripe. It disintegrated when cooked, and was even suspected of being poisonous.

But eventually it caught on. New plants from America arrived in Iberia and spread throughout the Mediterranean. Italy probably got the tomato shortly after Spain--its soil and climate, similar to that of Central Mexico, helped the import thrive. The first written mention of the tomato in Italy is 1544; it was fried and eaten with salt and pepper.

By 1692, we have the first recipe for Italian tomato sauce, with chile peppers, so the modern pizza was just around the corner.

Alas, we shall never know the genius who first put together the bread, tomato sauce, and cheese. But that's how pizza (as I've defined it) came to be.

There are a many types of pizza, of course. Even in Naples, there is no consensus on what exactly constitutes a Neapolitan pizza. Burton Anderson writes that the most basic pizza is marinara--flat bread with oil, tomato, garlic, and oregano. It was stored on voyages so that sailors (marinai) could make pizza away from home. The pizza Margherita is just over a century old, named after the first queen of the united Italy, using toppings of tomato, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil--the red, white, and green of the Italian flag. We also have calzone (pizza with an enclosed filling), pizza maniata (kneaded), pizzette (miniature) and pizza bianca (no toppings).

Italian immigrants brought pizza to the United States, in the early 1900s. However, it was the 1950s when pizza caught on outside the Italian-American community, and quickly spread throughout the U.S. and became an international food, now found in every country.

 

[chips and gravy]

except pizza are an american invention

No, Americans took pizza from Naples and 'perfected' it

 

[perth seagull]

Because Italian pizzas are generally horrible. They are thin crusted and with no meat.

The Americans made pizza into something that you can actually eat.

 

[Gwylan]

No, Americans took pizza from Naples and 'perfected' it

Nah, the Americans ruined it. They put a thick base on them - what's that about, it's like eating soggy cardboard. And as for all those stupid toppings...

Pizza - thin crust, tomato, cheese and herbs. Perfect.

 

[pasty]

Pizza - thin crust, tomato, cheese and herbs. Perfect.

Perfect if you add pepperoni, spicy sausage, pork, beef and ham

 

[Jambo Seagull]

They are out because they didn't put the ball in the back of the net enough.

They must have had 60 odd shots in the last 2 matches alone but only scored 3 goals

not strictly true. They could have won that game 25-0 last night and still not get through. The rule is a joke. It only takes into account the games between the three teams on the same number of points.

 

[fatboy]

not strictly true. They could have won that game 25-0 last night and still not get through. The rule is a joke. It only takes into account the games between the three teams on the same number of points.

And what better way to distinguish between teams on the same number of points then head to head results?

Results against the group whipping boys shouldn't count, especially as after they have lost two games they are under no pressure and are more likely to get a result.

 

[Lush]

And what better way to distinguish between teams on the same number of points then head to head results?

Results against the group whipping boys shouldn't count, especially as after they have lost two games they are under no pressure and are more likely to get a result.

Or they are so down-hearted they give up and get tonked.

TOTALLY AGREE ANYWAY

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Italy have gone out of the tournament so they can take part in their national sport - constructing conspiracy theories

I worked with an Italian at the time of the last world cup. For 3 months he ceased his usual tirades against people from Rome (criminals) Naples (criminals) Milan (arrogant criminals) and all places in Italy except Calabria (his birthplace). Instead we got increasingly elaborate explanations of the schemes hatched by UEFA, FIFA, the WTO and every other organisation bar the WI, all calculated to prevent Italy's rightful crowning as world champions.

Take my word for it the Italians will be secretly loving it this morning.

 

[aftershavedave]

tonked

along with spanked as in "we spanked wolves 4-0" has to be my favourite football expression.

oh and the french also claim to have invented pizzas......