Friday Recap: German Implosions, American Explosions... and the English

After this morning's somewhat underwhelming matches, here are some thoughts on yesterday's matches:

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Recap: Italy v Paraguay

Italy Loses to Paraguay: 1-1

Before I get to the game, I have to address the most startling development today for Italy fans. It was not our nation's tie with a very-beatable team, nor the first blood we allowed to be drawn by said team. No, the most startling, and worrisome development today was Gianluigi Buffon's exit from the net at halftime. It's not that Federico Marchetti played poorly in his place, but that Buffon, like the goalposts he defends, is the only physical foundation upon which Italy's game is built. It's true that the loss of Buffon would not change the form, skill or strategy Italy's attack, or defense. What it would change is our confidence in our defensive supremacy, our credentials to be champions. The best part about Italy's tight-knit juggernaut of a defense is the knowledge that upwards of 90% of what we let slip past is easily handled by Buffon. In the last World Cup, Buffon allowed no foreign striker access to the back of his net, reserving that privilege for Cristian Zaccardo and his own-goal. Buffon is a very visible safety net, a cushion, if you will, which comforts the entire team.

Apparently, Buffon had a "hamstring strain", though I'm not at all sure how. The Paraguayans managed all of three touches inside the box before their goal, and Buffon didn't jump for that ball. I hope that "hamstring strain" is just Lippi's language for, "I took him off because he didn't even jump towards Paraguay's goal, and I don't want you asking questions about that." Much of Italy may be a joke, including our laughable political system, which the ESPN commentators lampooned in today match, but Italians pray, every day, that God might keep one thing in our culture sacred (aside from food, obviously): Calcio. Football. And more specifically, our often-times miraculous dominance in it. I just hope that Buffon's "injury" is a sign from Lippi, and not a sign from the Almighty.

Then again, Buffon also ended his shutout streak for Italia in the 2006 Euro Cup. Perhaps more comfort is not what we need. As Italians, we tend to do best when we're put in a corner. If we perform, it's usually when we've let things go a tad too far, and our balls are on the line. We're the kind of people that, once punched in the face, proceed to start mouthing off at the asshole who did it. It's only when we're punched in the face a second time that we decide it might be a good idea to raise our fists and defend ourselves. For more on this theme, see my comments below on Di Natale, and the way Italy played today.

And how did today's game go?
Paraguay spent the first 20 minutes mounting absolutely no offensive effort, simply clearing the ball upon reaching midfield. Italy looked professional, with quick passes, clean touches, and deft maneuvering, making the Paraguayans look like schoolboys on the pitch. Fabio Cannavaro, who has played poorly in the last club season, looked well in command of himself, and the team. Lippi had him paying forward in more of a defensive midfield role, captializing on his tactical experience and letting the younger Domenico Criscito and Georgio Chiellini cover for his lack of pace. The only real chink in the armor came when Paraguay's Alcaraz scored an excellent header off a set piece in the first half. Alcaraz was Cannavaro's man, and Cannavaro clearly missed the coverage.
The midfield had it's ups and downs. Simone Pepe was very energetic and aggressive in his debut Cup match for Gli Azzurri. While his actual looks at goal were slightly less than inspired, his determined play on the wing slowly wore down Victor Caceres et al, and it'll be interesting to see what he comes up with throughout the tournament. Riccardo Montolivo, on the other hand, had a few opportune shots from just outside the box, and lacked both the power and the placement to finish.

Mauro Camoranesi came on in the 59th minute, and the offensive chemistry began to change. Minutes later, Daniele De Rossi delivered a brilliant volley into the back of the net from a corner kick, and Italy was back in the game.
In the 64th minute, the referee completely ignored what should have been an Italian penalty kick when Paraguay dragged down Alberto Gilardino on a break.
In the 72nd minute Lippi finally replaced Gilardino with Antonio Di Natale, the Serie A's top goalscorer last season. Di Natale didn't score, but his presence was immediately felt by Paraguay's defense. They drifted wider in spots to cover his unpredictble, and downright misdirecting movements. Another player to note,


In short, Paraguay deserved their goal, and it was beautiful. Italy should have scored more, and won the game. We have some creativity to stimulate, and we have a goalkeeper to worry about, but lest we get too disheartened, let's remember that this is almost we started our World Cup run in 2006: after beating Ghana 2-0, we tied the USA 1-1 with Zaccardo's own goal. Though it's not a particularly encouraging statement, I've seen worse from Gli Azzurri, and sometimes that's as much as Italy fans have to go on.

Leave your comments, correct the record, etc...

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Day 3 Recap - Germany v Australia & Ghana v Serbia

Just a few thoughts on today's other matches before bedtime. I've got to catch up on sleep before tomorrow's Netherlands v Denmark match, though I'm sure the Dutch offense will provide a much-needed jolt of Adrenaline.

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Slovenia v Algeria Soundoff, and Group C Developments

By far the most interesting narrative in this game was the story of Ghezzal, who came in for Algeria in the 2nd half and immediately made his presence felt with threatening headers and boneheaded play. Within a minute of jogging onto the pitch, he garnered a yellow card for grabbing a Slovenian jersey right in front of the referee. A few testy headers (and about 10 minutes) later, and Ghezzal was being sent off with the fastest succession of cards ever issued to a substitute. The play which finished the game for him was a ludicrous American-football style handball, as he looked like trying to catch a long over-the-shoulder pass into the box. Had he not gone off, and had Algeria been able to find his head off of a set piece, they might have been able to tie the game. As it was, though, we got what we expected from this game. Slovenia probably deserved to win, but their goal was a gift of poor goalkeeping from Algeria's Faouzi Chaouchi, and they will have work to do against the England. They are a very organized and disciplined team, that can apparently sit back and wait for attacking opportunities to present themselves. The USA will need to press their attacks and try to throw Slovenia off their system, and even though a 3-way tie is no longer a possibility, all teams will be wanting to play for goal differential, just to be safe.

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The Goal Post's Day 2 Recap - Good and Bad Goalkeeping, and an Asian Assault

Today was an interesting day in the Cup, with top teams that performed below expectations due to exceptional, or exceptionally poor, goalkeeping, and an excellent performance from South Korea in an under card match. I encourage you to check out The Goal Post's liveblog replays for play-by-plays and very colorful commentary. Here's my take on the day's matches, and what they mean:

South Korea v Greece

South Korea may have managed the first victory of the Cup, but they still have a tough road ahead of them to qualify, as Greece was definitely the lowest-seeded team in the group. Nigeria is a tough and physical team, and while South Korea seems to have perfected the dive tactic (many of their players have played for Italian clubs), I think that some muscling will go uncalled, and Nigeria will mount confident attacks against a weak defense that went largely untested by Greece. I really don't see Greece doing anything but tying, and even that would take some luck.

Argentina v Nigeria

Higuain had at least three excellent chances to score for Argentina, with well-delivered passes that he controlled on the first touch. On each occasion, he did the one thing that strikers are paid not to do: shoot the ball at the goalkeeper. Messi looked mesmerizing with his beautiful curving shots on goal, but his efforts provoked equally excellent displays of goalkeeping rather than goals. Some might say that Argentina looked weak in this game, edging out a mere 1-0 victory, but the score doesn't speak to their offensive effort. I'll admit that Argentina has some work to do, but they still looked strong. Their potential goals, and therefore the scoreboard, were mitigated by the outstanding performance from Vincent Enyeama, Nigeria's Goalkeeper.

As for Nigeria, if they can continue playing like they did in the last fifteen minutes of today's game, they can definitely beat Greece, and probably beat South Korea. Once they calmed down, and realized that that they had run with Argentina for 70 minutes while conceding only one goal, they started to attack with more confidence. Nigeria took a cluster of shots in the final fifteen, and some were on target. Perhaps they were just inspired by the world-class play from their keeper (Enyeama was challenged often, and was often up to the challenge), but at the end of the game Nigeria was looking ready to proceed through the group.

England v USA

Despite my earlier predictions to the contrary, England probably deserved to win this game. Not so much because they looked particularly powerful, but because the US really didn't produce much offense, and their lone goal was the product of horrendous goalkeeping. Robert Green will surely regret his loose ball-handling today. Also, Wayne Rooney played like he'd been drinking two six-packs of Castle Lager a night since landing in South Africa, and was often outpaced by the US defense. There were a few incredible opportunities that he flat out missed, and at one point he went up for a header that sailed wildly over the crossbar, and fell to the ground like he'd been shot in the head. He should heed the commercial he starred in, and write the future, not erase it.

The USA played fairly well, but Tim Howard excelled. Dempsey's goal was not the finest shot from the American arsenal, but they played with the confidence of a world-class international team (even if their execution was lacking). Luckily, England should be the hardest opponent they face in the group, but they need to score more than 1 goal per game if they're going to advance.

So those are the thoughts. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow. Check out our live blogs in the morning.

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