By F. Migliore

It was a day of near upsets, controversial decisions and plenty goals. In the first games of group B, Monday proved beyond doubt that this is very much the group of death. While Italy eventually secured a comfortable victory, Brazil was made to sweat until the 90th minute and even then required the help of an unlikely source, the 4th official.

Quickly touching on the Brazil game, the South Americans where awarded a penalty for handball in the 90th minute, which any viewer would agree was definitely the right decision. Problem lies in the fact that the referee being unsighted and uncertain called for a corner and only after communication from the 4th official as to the hand ball, did he award the penalty. In essence I have no problem with this type of decision, the right result is achieved and the guilty party punished. FIFA though are not very clear as to the legality of this type of involvement from the 4th official. Is he or is he not is the question on many tongues today. The Egyptian camp has lodged a protest on exactly this matter, that being that they have no problem with the decision but rather the way it was made. So far FIFA has been silent on the matter, how it is finally resolved could very well be the major story of the group stages of the Confed cup for it will have ramifications in future matches and could very well see the introduction of greater assistance to the on field referee. Or it could not, as the only thing one can be certain of is the dithering of FIFA on matters of great importance. I for one believe it would be beneficial to the game to introduce some form of system which allows the correct decision to be made more often. How it is implemented is the tricky issue because it cannot be allowed to alter the pace of the game. Any which way FIFA goes it will have supporters and detractors and that is something they will have to live whit, they will never make everybody happy but as long as the decision is clear and consistent in all occasions, football will be better off.

Now to Italy, harassed and effectively neutralized by the U.S.A. in the first 30 minutes, also received assistance from the officials, this time the one on the field decided that a straight red was warranted for a late tackle. No one would dispute that the challenge was clumsy, but considering the clean nature of the game up to that point, red to me was a bit harsh. As commented by one of my Italian colleague, “orange would have been perfect”. The referee erred on the side of the Azzurri and effectively changed the course of the game. Even though the Americans took the lead through a deserved 40th minute penalty, the sense that the Italians would be too strong, especially being a man to the good was very clear. Yes it did take an inspired substitution, a fair amount of time and a sensational strike from Rossi, but the dominance Lippi’s men enjoyed was always going to bring results.

The entire second half was controlled by Italy, and with no offence towards the Americans, they do not have the pedigree or the mental aptitude to defend for the better part of an hour with a man down. In truth their opponents would be one of the few teams in the world capable of such a feat. Once Rossi got the equalizer American heads dropped and relinquished even further control which they partly regained after de Rossi’s thunderbolt. This not due to better play from the U.S.A. but rather from the perennial habit of Italy retreating once in the lead. Whilst chasing the game the Azzurri controlled the midfield with aplomb, once in front the up to then offensive midfield dropped ten yards to allow their opponents parity in the centre of the field. This was evident in the positioning of de Rossi himself, from just behind the strikers to just in front of the defenders in a matter of minutes. I to this day cannot comprehend why such a capable team would allow their opponents the possibility of survival by loosening the stranglehold, but this has always been the Italian way and I guess it will always be so.

The most positive aspect of the Italian performance has to be resilience shown coming back from a deficit, not always a strong suit. The calmness and maturity shown in dismantling the American defence is a truly good omen for a nation which in the past has shown lack of urgency or panic in chasing a result. Another encouraging aspect of the performance is the seriousness displayed in working towards a victory, clearly highlighted by the delight de Rossi showed in celebrating the goal which gave them the lead. Maybe it was in memory of the World Cup encounter in 2006 or maybe they are truly regarding the Confed cup as something they wish to win, either way it was good to see an Italian side dedicated to winning what they could have dismissed as an unnecessary extra bit of football in an already busy season.

The negatives are the usual ones for a country that produces keepers, defenders and midfielders by the truckload; the striker cupboard is not very well stocked. Considering the missed chances by the striker collective, this is as usual the largest headache facing Lippi. Both goal scorers played in midfield, Rossi may have the inclination of a striker but he was not playing up front, and this over reliance on the centre field players to find the winning touches, is as always the Achilles’ heel of the Azzurri. They got away with it in 2006, can they do it again? Possibly but there will come a time when the players upfront have to perform or be removed, by whom is the great debate.

Possibly though the most positive and match affecting decision was made years ago by a young man by the name of Rossi. In choosing Italy as his footballing nation of choice he denied a potential great to the Americans and he most definitely altered the result of this particular match. So maybe the referee does not need to take all the blame this time.

NOTE TO MEDIA - FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP: BRAZIL V EGYPT
 
FIFA have this afternoon written to the Egyptian Football Association regarding yesterday's FIFA Confederations Cup match between Brazil and Egypt.
 
FIFA had received a letter of complaint from the Egyptian FA following the match at the Free State Stadium in Mangaung/Bloemfontein. Whilst not disputing the correctness of the referee's decision to award a penalty in favour of Brazil, and show the Egyptian player Ahmed El-Mohamadi the red card, the Egyptian FA questionned the manner in which the referee Howard Webb came to his decision.
 
FIFA analysed the decision by going through all the evidence at its disposal, including the referee’s match report, as well as the additional statement that Howard Webb provided at FIFA's request.
 
A thorough analysis of the aforementioned documents revealed that the decision in question was achieved through teamwork between the match referee and his Assistant Referee Number 1, Mike Mullarkey, who confirmed the offence to the referee from his clear viewing angle.