World Cup Soccer 2010: Revisiting Group F at South Africa 2010
Although the 2006 World Cup winners Italy were not in the form of their lives, but considering the opponents that they had in Group F, they were certainly expected to progress through the group without much of a problem. Instead, Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand all got the better of them to end their defence in utter disgrace as Italy failed to win even one of their three group matches.
Italy had to face many problems to solve with only eight players from their 2006 winning squad available in South Africa under Coach Marcello Lippi. Their key playmaker Andrea Pirlo could only make a substitute appearance in the last match due to an injury. Importantly, they were seriously lacking a real striker up front and an ageing defence at the back. Talking about defence, they conceded five goals in the three group matches, compared to two in the entire 2006 World Cup campaign. In the end, Italy became only the second defending champions, after France in 2002, to have failed to progress to the second stage of the tournament.
Italy 1 Paraguay 1:
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 Paraguayan goalkeeper Justo Villar missed his punch.
New Zealand 1 Slovakia 1:
Slovakia was making their debut in this World Cup as an independent nation while it was New Zealand’s second chance to get anything from the World Cup after the only previous appearance in 1982 ended in three defeats in a row. The first half lacked any real attempt on goal from both sides but Robert Vittek’s header gave Slovakia the lead in the 5th minute of the second half. Slovakia seemed to be in control for a win until Winston Reid grabbed the equaliser in the 90th minute of the match. At the end, all four teams in this group were level on a single point with the same goal difference.
Slovakia 0 Paraguay 2:
Paraguay proved to be too strong for Slovakia in every department of the game with goals coming from Enrique Vera and Cristian Riveros to complete Paraguay’s first win in the tournament. This win left Paraguay on top of Group F with their last match against New Zealand remaining.
Italy 1 New Zealand 1:
It was the biggest mis-match in World Cup history. But when the battle begun at the 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 Laquinta brought Italy on level terms in the half hour mark but could not keep up the tempo to get all three points.
Paraguay 0 New Zealand 0:
Paraguay only needed a draw from this match to confirm their qualification for the knockout stage, and a draw was what they got. But what happened in the other match between Italy and Slovakia meant Paraguay ended Group F on first position. New Zealand went home without conceding a defeat in their trip to South Africa and must be proud of what they had achieved despite having no professional league back home.
Slovakia 3 Italy 2:
Both Slovakia and Italy needed a win in this 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 fear their big-name opponents. Robert Vittek found the net twice but was unable to bring a change to the final result. Antonio Di Natale reduced the deficit for Italy before Kamil Kopunek restored Slovakia’s two goal advantage for a minute as Fabio Quagliarella scored Italy’s second. Paraguay will face Japan in the Round of 16 while Slovakia will tie up with the Netherlands.
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