Italy came, they saw and they crashed and burned at the final hurdle. The World Champions lost to Slovakia in a pulsating encounter that included 5 goals, a great off-the-line clearance, a disallowed goal and some brave refereeing by the assistant, Darren Cann, who must be the most hated man in Italy right now...
Like England, it had all come down to this final game for the team that picked up the world cup trophy 4 years ago in Berlin. Like England, Italy had taken only 2 points from their last 2 games and with Group F wide open, it was all to play for, to qualify for the last 16. Slovakia, who had come in having won just one point, had looked decidedly sluggish in their previous game against high-flying Paraguay, and were pegged back by surprise package NZ in the last minute of their first match. Italy felt that they could win it...they didn't really have a choice...they had to if they wanted to get themselves past the group stage.
Group F was so close infact, that even if Slovakia won in this game, NZ could still surprise everyone and qualify if they beat Paraguay. The experienced and fiery Gattuso started the game in place of Gilardino in Lippi's bid to secure the holder's place in the next round. The Italian media had already criticised Italy's laboured performances in the previous two matches. So imagine what it would be like if they went on to lose this game against the unfancied Slovaks, who had shown no real attacking intent or flair in their previous two games. Before the tournament began, betters everywhere would have probably waged their houses on Italy qualifying in what looked like a relatively "easy" group. But, yet again, this World Cup which has been so full of surprises up to this moment, threw up a right stormer of a surprise in what turned out to be the best game of the tournament so far.
From the first minute, we saw that the Italians had only one thing on their mind: win, Di Natale latched onto a ball in the first minute and took a shot only to see it go wide. But the attacking intent was clear. The game was immediately open from then on, with both sides going for it, knowing that they each had to win if they were to advance. Hamsik, the much talked about Napoli playmaker, has been disappointing in the previous games, but he impressed today, almost scoring in the 6th minute. As the first half unfolded, it was surprisingly Slovakia that were in the ascendancy. They had the most possession, were able to use the ball better, were eager to run at the Italians and a lot of the chances were falling their way, clearly frustrating the Italians.
Slovakia were playing some really good football, that we had not seen in previous games. They were passing the ball well, using the full length of the pitch to do so and were making the Italians work hard to win the ball back. Despite their chances, the first goal for Slovakia actually came courtesy off a Daniele De Rossi mistake, when his pass to his own player, was pounced upon by Kucka who picked out Vittek to score his second of the tournament. It was a great lead for the Slovaks but some sloppy play by the Italians which really cost them. It totally turned the game on its head as the Italians knew that they now had to get themselves forward and score, otherwise it was the end of the road. This inevitably left them open at the back and the Italians - masters of defending, were undone yet again in the second half.
Remarkably, 4 goals were scored in the second half in a 45 minute encounter that left you breathless. Maggio and Quagliarella were brought on by a desperate Marcello Lippi at the start of the second half, in place of Gattuso and Criscito. Gattuso had previously been responsible for a nasty gash on the knee of Strba, who looked like he was going to get replaced in the first half, by the youngster Kopunek, however, vitally, that substitution was put on hold as Strba felt okay enough to carry on.
Italy had made their changes putting on as many forwards as they could allow without weakening the back. And with 10 minutes off the second-half gone and still no change in the scoreline, it was time for the Italian legend that is Andrea Pirlo to make his mark. Having missed his previous two games because of injury, Lippi had one last throw of the dice to make. This was it. He could not go back because his 3 substitutions had been made. Pirlo, had to try and change things, whether he was fully fit or not. And, he certainly made a difference when he came on. Perhaps, it was something of a psychological affect, but Italy had their best moments in the game, once he had come on to replace Montolivo.
Slovakia, began to look shaky at the back, and were rattled by this new surge of Italian energy seemingly created by the power of one man. Italy came really, really close to scoring when Quagliarella took a vicious shot at goal, only to see a superb goal-line clearance by Liverpool's Martin Skrtel. The assistant, Darren Cann's vision was blocked by Skrtel's left leg, and it was really difficult, even looking at replays of it to tell, if the whole ball had crossed the line. Cann made the right decision because he couldn't give a goal if he himself was unsure about it. Whilst Italy cursed the refereeing at one end, Slovakia went on to the other end and doubled their lead.
Slovakia had a corner, which looked to be cleared by Chiellini, but the opportunistic and alert Vittek was on hand to slot it in at the near post. It was a shock to the Italians who had looked like they were slowly making their way back into the game, but it was pure joy on the face of the Slovakians who were now 15 minutes away from a sensational victory. The goal was yet another example of shoddy Italian defending, with both Cannavaro and Chiellini - said to be two of the most experienced defenders in the world - making terrible mistakes throughout the match. It was sad to see Cannavaro, the captain who had been so inspirational in 2006, unable to match the pace of the Slovaks in what was probably his last game at international level.
The game went up a notch as Italy refused to simply keel over. Instead if they were going out, they were determined to do so, fighting. Di Natale managed to get Italy back in the game, with the scores now at 2-1. Quagliarella did really well in weaving his way into the box, past the Slovakian defenders and was great at controlling the ball, before playing a little one-two with Iaquinta and shooting at the keeper. The rebound found its way to Di Natale who slot the ball in from close-range. Quagliarella was a great substitution made by Lippi and was probably their best man on the pitch. That goal caused something of an altercation between the Slovak goalkeeper, Mucha, who had earlier been warned by Howard Webb for feigning injury and time wasting, and Quagliarella. Howard Webb did well to sort it out and the game continued in much the same fashion it had before - lots of good attacking play, open end-to-end flowing football...and poor defending.
Kopunek, the substitute that had been getting ready to come on much earlier in the game, was finally brought on in the 86th minute and what a substitution it was! With his first touch, he scored with one minute of normal time remaining. Slovakia had a throw in and Italy were unable to clear it away, allowing Kopunek to take advantage of some hesitation, and get in between Cannavaro and De Rossi (who it's fair to say didn't have the best of games) before chipping the ball sweetly over the keeper. It was a bitter blow to the Italians, who needed only a point to qualify.
And to their credit, still they kept pushing, keeping the spectators watching right until the end of this fascinating contest. With 2 minutes of injury time played Quagliarella scored a wonderful goal, De Rossi doing the hard work to set him up before he scored a delicate chip from about 32 yards out. It was a beaut of a goal and you could see the tension on the bench as Buffon, Gattuso and the rest urged on their teammates to get that all-important third goal. And they almost got it as well but Pepe could only shoot wide of the post.
Finally, after 6 odd minutes of extra time, the final whistle blew and the Italians, followed the French, out of the competition. Not only did they go out, but they finished bottom of the group, under NZ who should be extremely proud of their endeavours in the tournament. The Slovakians were confirmed runners-up when news filtered through that the other game had ended 0-0. The Slovakians went mad whilst the Italians were in tears...it was a sad sight...
So where do the former champions go from here? Both finalists of 2006 are out and for Italy, it was Marcello Lippi who asked for all the blame to rest at his door. He was going to retire after the tournament had finished, and it appears that his retirement has come a tad earlier than they would have liked. Since the tournament began, Italy looked a shadow of the side that won the World Cup, four years ago. They are an ageing team and for many of the players, this was their last chance at glory in the world cup. But, Italy will come back, stronger than ever before. They will start afresh under a new coach, with some more youthful players and will come back fighting. It is sad to see yet another European team depart the competition but Italy can have no complaints. We saw them getting back into the game far too late on for it to matter...where had that Italy been all tournament long we wonder?
As for the Slovaks, well I doubt any of them thought that they would be going on to face Holland in the knock out stages, and from the way they played today, you wonder why they weren't able to do that in the previous matches and make life a lot easier for themselves. They can cause Holland problems, we've seen that they're capable of that, but they do have things to improve on. The last 16 encounter with the Dutch will prove very interesting indeed...
On a ground, where champions were once made, a long time ago in 1995, Ellis Park has now also seen champions fall, as the World Cup bids 'ciao' to the Azzurri...
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