Match 11: Italy - Paraguay Post-Match Thread [R]

Yes, exactly.

 

I'm waiting for the "New Zealand is obviously the most tactical team in this group" posts now.

 

And we were rubbish at it, considering Italia's strikers were useless.

 

I read somewhere here that Italians were expecting Paraguay to hold and edge on meaningless possession or something like that and I think that is exactly what we got but Italy was the one with the meaningless possession edge, I think the 1-1 tie was a fair result and the shots on goal you are talking about are basically none existing from both teams, I think ESPN will have a hard time coming up with a 30 second highlight sequence, I think it was a horrible game from both teams but still a fair result.

 

I thought Italy looked much better through almost the entire match. Quite frankly, Paraguay seemed outclassed.

That being said, if not for English keeper, everybody would be talking about how the lone Italian goal came on the biggest goalkeeping blunder they've seen in years.

And hurt or no, that sure looks to me like he was someone complaining to the ref for a call ... Now I don't read lips and I don't speak Italian, but that did't look like somebody yelling in pain to me.

 

But of course it did.

And if he really was, then shame on him. It's a moot point.

 

You can play defensively and be in control of the game. Paraguay did that today.

 

Well, Italy can only grow and grow from here. They are still a fave of mine to make it to semis, and this game was not a horrible performance by either team, IMO.

I can see the lack of creativity without Pirlo, but also a clear improvement after Camoranesi and Di Natale came in. So in my mind this is a team to be feared and, looking at the bench, I'd put them as second strongest team so far after Germany.

But it's too early to predict.

 

Not really.

Refs review these things. If Italians cry wolf too often, it may come around to bite them in the end.

 

The scoreline is the only relevant stat after the final whistle blows, in my opinion. In this case it was 1:1

Which team "controlled" the match is a useless statistic. It might have been Paraguay, and good for them if they did. Their defense was really good. But the bottom line is neither could hit the back of the net more than the other.

 

Hm, OK. You have a point.

 

Not the brightest match(playing wise), but a dose of emotionally made it very entertaining specially after Italy tied.

 

Paraguay isn't playing defensive. Only in the last 20 minutes when Santana was injured and the rest of the Paraguay players look out of gas then they decide to play defensive and settle for draw. This is also the time when Italy piled on their stats. For most part of the game, both teams are going for the win.

 

Even if Italy end second in this group and play pitifully (which is not unlikely), I'd bet $100 they beat a much superior Netherlands in the R16 and keep going.

That's the thing with the truly great teams. They can keep going even if playing badly. And Italy (a team for which I feel no particular affection at all) is one of the greats.

 

That's possible, but if it doesn't happen, good luck to everyone else left standing in this tournament.

 

+1

In Brazil, we'd say that the Italian jersey has peso or "weight." Some claim that having won the world cup four times is irrelevant to their present performance. I say nonsense. Sure, '34, '38 and '82 have no direct bearing on this WC (obviously '06 does) -- but that tradition influences how they are perceived by their opponents, and the players' own sense of responsibility to perform under pressure.

It would be a mistake, I think, to read too much into poor performance in pre-WC friendlies, and conclude that Italy is crap.

 

Yeah, this is a good post. If you look at the history of the World Cup, "pedigree" is a major influence. Basically, that's almost all we (Italy) have going fr us this time around. The personnel is not on par with thd good/great teams we had in every tournament since '86. However, I think that you can only go so far with average talent, even if you are an Italy, Brazil or Germany.

 

I can think of times when "average" talent allowed a couple of those teams to "only go so far" as the championship match.

I'm looking at you, Germany 2002.





* and I'm assuming you're using "average" talent in a relative sense. Probably at least 100 countries have never fielded a side as good as an "average" Italian, Brazilian, or German side.

 

They plaeyd horrible.

Poor man marking.

No movement off the ball

No movement on the ball.

With Buffon posssibly out its going to be tough especailly if they play like they did today.

 

That's an added bonus to finally winning a WC: from that moment on, your shirt inspires some extra fear. So you have a better chance to repeat.

 

There's a gaping hole in the attacking forward position that will prevent Italy from achieving anything meaningful. Direct football only gets you so far until you run out of ideas.

I'm not a big fan of Cassano but he would have easily improved Italy's scoring ratio. Everyone talks about CRonaldo and Messi etc. and although these guys are standard world class greats - in terms of attacking football intelligence, Cassano is right on par.

 

good Avatar.

that is shameless

 

And the stupid thing? "It's not as if someone has stayed home who I felt could add to our technical abilites." Lippi's words to the press before this game.

Anyway in the prematch thread I predicted a dull, defensive game and hate that I was right, both goals scored from setpieces was no surprise, both teams barely looked like scoring any other way.

 

I think all the Azzurri fans are exaggerating and are using the predictable responses. We concided early and the starting formation wasn't right but we were better in the second half. I also disagree with the notion that this game was boring. This game was the match of the day and one of the better games of the tornament so far. I expected this to be dour and defensive but both teams created chances. This wasn't a classic but it was still attacking and good to watch.

Italy's line-up was better at the end than what it was at the start. Lippi must ditch the 4-3-3 and play with a 4-4-2 formation. Pepe and Iaquinta needed to swap positions and Marchisio didn't work as a #10. Iaquinta and Gila worked in the qualifiers because it was just them two in a 4-3-1-2. Camo's appearance made a difference.

Gila was on neutral. A statue would have moved with more cohesion.

Iaquinta was lost on the left on only did slightly better on the right. He can chase balls in the corners but he didn't do anything particularly effective. The Iaquinta haters saw why they hate him in the first place but in his defence, at least he won the corner that resulted in the goal.

Zambrotta was one of our best threats down the wings. He showed that at 33, he can still play well. It's questionable if he can do it for the whole tornament.

Canna was decent. He was out-jumped for the first goal but he stayed put in defence and stopped some attacks.

Chiellini showed why he is one of the world's best CBs, if not the best. A rock.

Montolivo was decent. This would be his best game for the seniors so far. Sometimes he backed out, which is typical for him. He did make some good passes though and he had three chances to score. With a bit more conviction and power, he would have scored.

For the Pepe haters out there, you can say all you want but he was one of Italy's best players last night. He made runs at pace, he would link-up with other players and he went into goal-scoring positions. He had a few chances that he could have done better with (his timing for the overhead kick might have been better) but it was a good corner kick for the goal. He looked comfortable on either wing, which Iaquinta wasn't.

De Rossi was solid but he can do better. At least he scored but the best is yet to come.

Marchisio made runs, chased balls and laid-off passes but Lippi was expecting him to create, which isn't his role. He's a DM or box-to-box midfielder.

The subs were right. Marchetti wasn't tested but Di Natale showed some pace and Camo gave more width. We were better when he came on.

From Paraguay's point of view, they did well from the set-piece but Valdez and Barrios didn't have clear-cut chances to score. They fell to their teammates. Valdez shouldn't start the next game. Paraguay were better in the first half and didn't force Marchetti into any big saves.

Overall, a good game and both teams can get better. Barrios and co need to test the keepers more. Lippi needs a better formation and he had it at the end. Now he must use that.