Japan 3-4 Italy
Not only was this game one of the best I've seen in 2013 thus far, but also it demonstrated once again that this Confederations Cup tournament continues to delight the neutral with its great football. The eventual result masks a fabulous performance by Japan in which they took the game to Italy, on paper the much stronger team, and really should've come away with the win.
The game started at a frantic pace as Shinji Kagawa picked out front man Ryoichi Maeda but the striker could only head tamely at the legend that is Gianluigi Buffon from eight yards out. But the fact that such a glorious chance was created so early on was a sign of things to come from the Japanese point of view.
Yasuhito Endo was earning his 132nd cap against Italy and he tried to mark the occasion with a goal, only to see his shot from the edge of the area go well wide, before Kagawa appeared to be fouled by Chiellini when running down the left side. The movement, composure and passing ability of Kagawa and Keisuke Honda looked as good as any on the pitch and the two most creative Japanese players caused havoc in the first period. Kagawa had Buffon worried with a stinging shot which the keeper tipped over the bar.
Japan seemed bound to score soon and so it duly came to pass, albeit controversially. Buffon tripped over Shinji Okazaki, and Honda gave Japan a deserved lead with a scruffy spot-kick. It was never a penalty against Buffon- but in giving it, how did the ref not send him off? Inconsistent and bad refereeing could be the only explanation.
Italy desperately looked for a way to gain any sort of foothold in the match. Former Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani got the hook after just 30 minutes, with the tiny box of tricks that is Sebastian Giovinco replacing him. Aquilani looked embarrassed rather than angry, but coach Prandelli was willing to try anything to try and stem the flow of the Japanese attacks. Considering a lot of managers, particularly in England, postpone subs until the break for fear of being thought of getting it wrong, Prandelli was somewhat refreshing in fronting up to an error in team selection and acting on it quickly. But before Giovinco or in fact any other Italian player could do anything, it was 2-0.
Yasuyuki Konno helped the ball into the box and, while Chiellini and Daniele De Rossi got in a tangle, Manchester United midfielder Kagawa spun on a sixpence and rifled home from 12 yards out. A superb goal and a deserved two-goal lead for the Asian Champions. It was a goal worthy of gracing any match, as he thumped it into the corner, leaving Buffon rooted to the spot. Italy had started the game dreadfully and Japan had punished them.
Japan, and Kagawa in particular, were expressing themselves, playing with freedom and the Brazilian crowd were loving it. It really does need repeating, that the link up play between Kagawa and Honda in the first half was terrific.
Italy could have been three down but schemer Endo's free kick was parried away smartly by Buffon, after Okazaki had slipped through challenges by De Rossi and Andrea Pirlo, before being cynically chopped down by Barzagli. But true champions find ways to get back into games even when not playing well, and Italy proved that when Pirlo whipped in a corner and De Rossi was on hand to attack the ball and head home from around eight yards out. It was poor marking, but good movement from Italy. The delivery was absolutely spot on, and De Rossi attacked the space well. Italy had been given a lifeline and almost immediately, as if buoyed by that goal, Emanuele Giaccherini hit the post with a low shot. Fortunately for Japan, half-time came before Italy could build up more momentum.
A calamity of errors from Japan followed in the second half though as Southampton's Maya Yoshida failed to stop Giaccherini from skipping past him on the left, Konno completely failed in his attempt to play offside, and the winger slid in a cross which Atsuto Uchida turned into his own goal from six yards out. Harsh.
Things got even worse for Japan when suddenly Italy took the lead out of nothing. Holding midfielder Makoto Hasebe was penalised for handball in the area, and although the ball did hit his arm, it was only a split-second after he blocked a shot from Pirlo, leaving him with no time to think. He could hardly get out of the way. Man City's Mario Balotelli though was calmness personified from the spot. Probably the most reliable penalty taker in the world gave the keeper the eyes before stroking the ball into the bottom left hand corner.
Now losing, Japan had to take some risks. Hasebe brilliantly tackled De Rossi in the centre circle to start a lighting counter attack, ending with Kagawa taking Chiellini out the game with a clever ball to the far post, but Maeda could only fire into the side-netting from a tight angle. Italy slowly reverted to a defensive formation to protect the result, but this only invited pressure, which led to the inevitable. After Honda had struck wide form distance, Endo put in a superb delivery from the right and Okazaki was left unmarked to plant a bullet header past Buffon. 3-3!
Japan had built up a head of steam once more and were attacking with confidence. It's not often that a match virtually passes by Pirlo but the Italian playmaker struggled to prevent the wave after wave of Japanese attacks. Honda, loved by the crowd for his flicks and tricks, ran at the parting, panicking Italian defence and brought another save out of Buffon from a rising shot from the edge of the box, it looked like that was going to fly in. As did another chance just two minutes later, when Balotelli lost the ball, Yoshida went running out with it and Hasebe's shot just flew past the post. A great hit but he just couldn't keep it down. It would have been a disservice to Japan at this point to describe the game as end to end when they were completely dominating, but there were chances for Italy, with a Balotelli snapshot forcing a neat save from the Japan 'keeper.
Unbelievable drama followed as the game approached the very end, as Okazaki's shot hit the post, bounced out and hit Kagawa, but his effort pinged off the crossbar and to safety. Italy duly punished such profligacy, as at the other end sub Giovinco converted Claudio Marchisio's superb ball across goal to make it 4-3 to Italy with just four minutes to go. De Rossi had orignally played it through, with Japan not seeing the danger signs.
Just when you thought this breathtaking game had no more to offer, Japan thought they had drawn level at the last when defender Yoshida bundled in from two yards after the ball came back off the crossbar from Okazaki's shot. However, Yoshida was ruled offside by the linesman, and Japan somehow had lost a game they had bossed, and with it were knocked out of the tournament, while Italy had made it to the semi-finals.
Player ratings:
Italy (4-4-1-1) Buffon 8; Maggio 6, Barzagli 6, Chiellini 6, De Sciglio 7; Montolivo 6, Pirlo 6, De Rossi 6, Aquilani 3; Giaccherini 6; Balotelli 8. Subs: Giovinco 7, Marchisio 7.
Japan (4-2-3-1) Kawashima 7; Uchida 6, Yoshida 6, Konno 7, Nagatomo 8; Hasebe 8, Endo 7; Okazaki 8, Honda 8, Kagawa 9; Maeda 6. Subs: H.Sakai 6, Havenaar 6, K. Nakamura 6.
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Saturday, 18 August 2012
London 2012 and England-Italy review
London 2012
The once in a lifetime event truly delivered. Even though i didn't get any Olympic tickets, it was still an amazing experience to have the Olympics in your home city. I was able to attend two events- the men's road race and marathon- and both were brilliant to watch. For all the criticism thrown their way, in my opinion, LOCOG and Sebastian Coe did a fantastic job. The home Olympics has ignited a passion among the British public for minor sports that hopefully can be maintained. This will be the key feature in deciding in the future whether the huge expenditure on the games was worth it. It would be horrible if the venues turn out to be white elephants- indeed, the Basketball arena is one which will be dismantled. The benefits of sport participation among the population are well known and it will be interesting to see if David Cameron follows up on his promise to keep up his investment in sport.
On to the actual sporting achievements, the medal haul of 65 was sensational.UK sport did set optimistic targets, but the team hit them. And the scary thing is it could have been even better- Dai Greene, Phillips Idowu and Mark Cavendish were just some of the big names who failed to win a medal. A total of 29 Golds was a fantastic return, and 3rd in the medal table was also a great achievement. It was also fantastic to watch superb performances from foreign athletes. Mainly, Usain Bolt, who again won three gold medals. it was also another Olympics, more gold medals for Michael Phelps, making himself the greatest Olympian of all time. I thoroughly enjoyed the athletics in particular, and will look forward to the 2013 world championships in Moscow.
England 2-1 Italy (Jagielka 27, Defoe 80) (De Rossi 15)
However, despite the great sporting event it was, I am hugely excited for the new premier league season and this was only ignited by the midweek friendly between England and Italy. Club managers must hate having a 'meaningless' international friendly only a few days before the season starts, but i for one think that its a valuable opportunity to have a look at new players and Roy Hodgson proved that by handing debuts to Tom Cleverley, Ryan Bertrand, Jake Livermore and the two keepers, Ruddy and Jack Butland. Inspired by the return of the excellent Michael Carrick, England kept the ball far better than I've seen for quite a while.
The once in a lifetime event truly delivered. Even though i didn't get any Olympic tickets, it was still an amazing experience to have the Olympics in your home city. I was able to attend two events- the men's road race and marathon- and both were brilliant to watch. For all the criticism thrown their way, in my opinion, LOCOG and Sebastian Coe did a fantastic job. The home Olympics has ignited a passion among the British public for minor sports that hopefully can be maintained. This will be the key feature in deciding in the future whether the huge expenditure on the games was worth it. It would be horrible if the venues turn out to be white elephants- indeed, the Basketball arena is one which will be dismantled. The benefits of sport participation among the population are well known and it will be interesting to see if David Cameron follows up on his promise to keep up his investment in sport.
On to the actual sporting achievements, the medal haul of 65 was sensational.UK sport did set optimistic targets, but the team hit them. And the scary thing is it could have been even better- Dai Greene, Phillips Idowu and Mark Cavendish were just some of the big names who failed to win a medal. A total of 29 Golds was a fantastic return, and 3rd in the medal table was also a great achievement. It was also fantastic to watch superb performances from foreign athletes. Mainly, Usain Bolt, who again won three gold medals. it was also another Olympics, more gold medals for Michael Phelps, making himself the greatest Olympian of all time. I thoroughly enjoyed the athletics in particular, and will look forward to the 2013 world championships in Moscow.
England 2-1 Italy (Jagielka 27, Defoe 80) (De Rossi 15)
However, despite the great sporting event it was, I am hugely excited for the new premier league season and this was only ignited by the midweek friendly between England and Italy. Club managers must hate having a 'meaningless' international friendly only a few days before the season starts, but i for one think that its a valuable opportunity to have a look at new players and Roy Hodgson proved that by handing debuts to Tom Cleverley, Ryan Bertrand, Jake Livermore and the two keepers, Ruddy and Jack Butland. Inspired by the return of the excellent Michael Carrick, England kept the ball far better than I've seen for quite a while.
Monday, 11 June 2012
3'rd day of the Euro's- group C underway
Spain 1-1 Italy
The third day of the Eurpoean Championships continued in the same vein as the first two as we saw brilliant technical football from both sides. It was a fascinating match that was probably had the most ability performing so far- unlike Holland, Germany or Portugal, who's big players were mainly quiet in Group B. Del Bosque played the 'false number nine' formation that he had experimented with in the latter qualifiers when David Silva was introduced into the starting line up, as well as the decline of Fernando Torres since his move to Chelsea. The injury to David Villa, golden boot winner in Euro 2008 and joint top scorer in the 2010 world cup forced Del Bosque's hand somewhat but the system certainly caused unique issues for the Italians, who themselves played a 3-5-2 system, which was a big surprise to many. The lovely fluid movement of Cesc Fabregas, David Silva and in particular Andres Iniesta was a delight to watch. Iniesta's dribbling skills were on show throughout and I lost count of the amount of times he picked up the ball and skinned his man. The possession game was struggling to break down the Italians in the first period, although Iniesta missed the best chance when spooning over after Xavi played him in. Indeed, actually it was the opposition who had the best chances, with Casillas making a world class save from a Motta header, and also beating away the brilliant Andrea Pirlo's free kick. The front pair of the talented but mad Balotelli and Cassano were troubling the back four with their pace, but the game didn't really ignite until the second period started. It was obvious the Spainsh had been told to step up the pace and Fabregas and Iniesta were both denied by the expert Buffon. Many had waited for Super Mario to ignite Italy's campaign but he fluffed his chance and was replaced soon after, complete with a strop. It was the veteran Di Natale, top scorer in Serie A in 09-10 and in 10-11 who scored after more fantastic play from the schemer Pirlo, who rolled back the years with a great performance, rivalling Iniesta in his influence. But the Spainsh continued and they scored when delightful passing on the edge of the area concluded in Silva finding Fabregas with an amazing pass which demonstrated the speed of thought of all the Spanish midfield. But they began to look a little toothless as the Italians broke effectively thanks to the Midfielders quick passing.When Torres and Navas were thrown on, there was a small reduction in possession and a bit more directness that allowed the Italians more space and the terrific Marchiso to break forward. But the Italian back three were lucky to get away with having a midfielder- De Rossi- in their defence. Torres twice utilised errors by him to race onto Xavi through balls, only for him to fluff his lines. The Italian formation was actually performing up well up till then. It is interesting that he switched it on such a big stage, but the stamina of the wing backs, Maggio especially, made it an attractive attacking formation as well. A draw was a fair result on both chances and use of the ball. On this evidence, both sides are to be feared in the tournament.
The third day of the Eurpoean Championships continued in the same vein as the first two as we saw brilliant technical football from both sides. It was a fascinating match that was probably had the most ability performing so far- unlike Holland, Germany or Portugal, who's big players were mainly quiet in Group B. Del Bosque played the 'false number nine' formation that he had experimented with in the latter qualifiers when David Silva was introduced into the starting line up, as well as the decline of Fernando Torres since his move to Chelsea. The injury to David Villa, golden boot winner in Euro 2008 and joint top scorer in the 2010 world cup forced Del Bosque's hand somewhat but the system certainly caused unique issues for the Italians, who themselves played a 3-5-2 system, which was a big surprise to many. The lovely fluid movement of Cesc Fabregas, David Silva and in particular Andres Iniesta was a delight to watch. Iniesta's dribbling skills were on show throughout and I lost count of the amount of times he picked up the ball and skinned his man. The possession game was struggling to break down the Italians in the first period, although Iniesta missed the best chance when spooning over after Xavi played him in. Indeed, actually it was the opposition who had the best chances, with Casillas making a world class save from a Motta header, and also beating away the brilliant Andrea Pirlo's free kick. The front pair of the talented but mad Balotelli and Cassano were troubling the back four with their pace, but the game didn't really ignite until the second period started. It was obvious the Spainsh had been told to step up the pace and Fabregas and Iniesta were both denied by the expert Buffon. Many had waited for Super Mario to ignite Italy's campaign but he fluffed his chance and was replaced soon after, complete with a strop. It was the veteran Di Natale, top scorer in Serie A in 09-10 and in 10-11 who scored after more fantastic play from the schemer Pirlo, who rolled back the years with a great performance, rivalling Iniesta in his influence. But the Spainsh continued and they scored when delightful passing on the edge of the area concluded in Silva finding Fabregas with an amazing pass which demonstrated the speed of thought of all the Spanish midfield. But they began to look a little toothless as the Italians broke effectively thanks to the Midfielders quick passing.When Torres and Navas were thrown on, there was a small reduction in possession and a bit more directness that allowed the Italians more space and the terrific Marchiso to break forward. But the Italian back three were lucky to get away with having a midfielder- De Rossi- in their defence. Torres twice utilised errors by him to race onto Xavi through balls, only for him to fluff his lines. The Italian formation was actually performing up well up till then. It is interesting that he switched it on such a big stage, but the stamina of the wing backs, Maggio especially, made it an attractive attacking formation as well. A draw was a fair result on both chances and use of the ball. On this evidence, both sides are to be feared in the tournament.
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