Francesco Totti announces his retirement from the National Team

Azzurri and AS Roma superstar Francesco Totti has announced that he is retiring from the National Squad. He said he is concerned about his long term health and thought it would be best to step aside at this point. Totti was only a few months removed from a horrific broken ankle when he played for the Azzurri in the World Cup last year. However he has not played for the National Team since then.

His announcement has ended nearly a year of speculation about his future. Of course this decision has sparked a full range of reactions from complete understanding to disappointment and even anger at the way he handled the situation. The National Soccer Federation (FIGC) had given him until the end of July to make up his mind due to upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers against France and Ukraine in September.


Totti says he is retiring from the Azzurri

Time to move on says Totti

Donadoni diplomatic about decision

He honoured us

Totti selfish?

And now more criticism

Time for a little touch-up

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since Italy defeated France in the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany. The night before the game, I decided to give Blogger a try and come up with a place that other Azzurri fans could come for news about the team. Little did I know that it would consume me for the next two months.

Unfortunately, things like a job and everyday life can get in the way of a fun thing. So my work on this blog has diminished quite a bit. But I will continue to update the site if I run across something interesting. I will also keep updating it as the next round of qualifying games and the actual Euro 2008 tournament approach.

So in honor and celebration of this anniversary, I have added a couple of new sections entitled 2006 World Cup Videos and 2006 World Cup Fun Stuff. They contain various videos, mainly from YouTube, that are compilations of the games and post-game celebrations and some of the goofier things that followed.

Being a big U2 fan, I really like the compilation video using the song "One". The "Azzurro" video is also a favorite and it is surprising that some of the players are actually good singers but they are Italian so I would expect nothing less! The little clip of Roberto Baggio at the end of it is pretty cool since he has been one of my favorites for a long time. And my youngest son is a big Nintendo fan and we think the Ultimate Zidane Headbutt Compilation is hysterical with all of the video game references in it.

A few of the videos have been posted here before but now quick access to the Zidane head butt incident and others is just a few clicks away. So please enjoy.

And to my pal Isis. Thanks for being a good friend and giving me top billing on your blog. I hope you always realize that "Laif is nau"!!!