Italy and France: Failure Stories of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
Although the 2006 World Cup winners Italy were not in the best of forms before the tournament (to make them favourites for retaining the world title), considering the opponents they had in their group, they were certainly expected to progress through to the Round of 16 without much of a problem. Instead, Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand all got the better of them to end their defence of their title in utter disgrace, as they failed to win even one of their three group matches. Italy had many issues that were left unresolved, with only eight players from their 2006 winning squad available in South Africa to coach Marcello Lippi. Their key playmaker Andrea Pirlo could only make a substitute appearance in the last match due to injury, they were seriously lacking a real number 10 kind of a player, and their defence was aging and in the twilight of their careers. Talking about defence, they conceded five goals in the three group matches, compared to only two in the entire 2006 winning campaign. In the end, Italy became only the second defending champion, after France in 2002, to have failed to progress to the second stage of the tournament.
Italy was left shell-shocked in their opening match of the tournament, when Antolin Alcaraz gave Paraguay a lead in the first half. The defending champions came out of the interval with more purpose and took control of the match. Their continuous threat paid off when Daniele De Rossi scored an equaliser after the Paraguayan goalkeeper Justo Villar missed his punch. The Italians faced New Zealand in the second match. On paper at least, there was no match between the two sides, but on ground the All Whites matched the defending champions in everything they had to offer. Italy conceded a lead in their second match running, this time to Shane Smeltz, after the Italian defence failed to deal with a free kick. Vincenzo Iaquinta brought Italy level on the half hour mark, but the Italians could not keep up the tempo to get all three points. Both Slovakia and Italy needed a win in their last group match to progress through to the next stage. Italy was understandably favourites to win it, but they met a very strong Slovakian side which refused to show any fear against their big-name opponents. Robert Vittek found the net twice before the match had a late drama but no change to the result. Antonio Di Natale reduced the deficit for Italy before Kamil Kopunek restored Slovakia’s two goal advantage for a minute before Fabio Quagliarella scored Italy’s second.
France’s record in the recent World Cups has been a story of extreme ups and downs. They failed to qualify for the 1990 and 1994 tournaments, won it in 1998, failed to progress through the group stages in 2002 and then won the silver medal in 2006. Unfortunately, this was the turn of another “down” and the same happened. The French squad’s off-the-field problems became evident for the whole world in their opening match against Uruguay when there was serious lack of teamwork and enthusiasm in the French team. Uruguay was the better side of the two but failed to capitalise on a number of chances created for a winner to end the match in a goalless draw. The French team was again the second best in their second match against Mexico. Their miserable display ended in 2-0 defeat and put them on the verge of a humiliating elimination from the tournament. Nicolas Anelka was sent home after this match after a reported bust-up with his coach Raymond Domenech, and the rest of the team went on a strike the next day following their teammate’s expulsion. Probably the lowest point in French football history came when they lost the third group match to hosts South Africa by 2-1. They could only score one goal in their three matches and get a single point in a goalless draw with Uruguay in the first match.
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