Public Speech

I’m here to talk about the Italian national football team also known as the Azzurris.  Azzurri Means Blue in Italian and the color represents the royal dynasty which unified Italy in 1861.  So fans rooting for the Italian National Team say Forza Azzurri which means Force to Italy or Power to Italy.  The Italian National Soccer Team is one of the best national teams in international football.  They have won four World Cup championships in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006, second only to Brazil who won the most World championships, they have also appeared in two other World championships in 1970 and 1994.  The Italian national soccer team also won the European championship in 1968 and they appeared in two other European championships in 2000 and 2012.  The team did not appear in the first World Cup in 1930.  However in 1934 they won the first World Cup championship they appeared in in a 2-1 win against Czechoslovakia.  In the next cup in 1938 the Italians managed to win the championship again beating the Hungarians and becoming the first team to ever win two consecutive championships.  However the 1942 and 1946 World Cups were cancelled because of World War II, and the Italians did not win another championship until 1982 defeating West Germany 3-1.  However they won the European Cup championship in 1968 beating Yugoslavia 2-0.  They also won in 2006 tying France 1-1 and then beating them 5-3 in penalty kicks when Fabio Grosso scored the winning penalty after France's David Trezeguet missed.  There were also some words exchanged by Italy’s Marco Materazzi and France’s Zinedine Zidane, resulting in Zidane’s expulsion from the game.  Although there was some turbulence and trashtalking in the game against France, the Italians came away with a well-deserved World Cup championship final trophy and secured their place once again in the world of soccer.  Although coaches and players on the Italian soccer league were accused of match-fixing they made it to the final game of the European Championship against Spain.  Although they suffered a punishing defeat at the hands of Spain losing 4-0, and they did not do so hot in the 2010 World Cup, the Italian team is looking promising today with players like Mario Balotelli and Riccardo Montolivo and they are getting ready to compete and once again be a powerful force in the 2012 World Cup. Forza Azzurri!

http://www.i-azzurri.com/specials/historical-games/item/71-italy-germany-world-cup-2006-semi-finals

http://www.helium.com/items/2258400-a-history-of-the-italian-national-soccer-team?page=2

http://www.soccer-fans-info.com/italian-soccer-team.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRsEVNpU6ik

* I believe that I definitely gave a very informative speech about the Italian national soccer team, and I feel like it was argumentative in trying to explain why they are such a good soccer team.  Although it was hard to do since they haven't done so hot in the past couple of years, I think I got the point across.  I think the videos definitely helped to enhance my speech, and it might have given people who don't know much about soccer or the World Cup a little more to work with.