by Francesco Migliore

Oops… I told you so. Yes, a rather childish statement but here it comes again, oops… I told you so. Be it for the fact that the superpowers of football do not consider this a serious assignment or be it the fact that Italy are going to struggle without a proficient striker, the message is pretty clear, nothing is certain in this Confed cup.

What turned out to be a rather dull game, no offence to Egypt, was always on the cards considering the frenetic nature of the competition. It is well and good playing two games in three days during the European season, that being a Sunday league game and a Wednesday Champions league game, but it is an altogether matter in international football played at altitude in the highveld. Recovery takes longer and this was clearly visible with Italy’s tame performance. To say they were slow out of the blocks is an understatement and while they managed to improve their effort in the latter part of the game, thanks to the urgency required of chasing the game, it would prove to be a step too far this time around. Against the Americans they managed to overturn a half time deficit, helped by the fact that they had an extra player, but against a solid 11 man team and an inspired goalkeeper it proved to be rather more elusive. In fact so elusive that the first major upset of the tournament was recorded.

The signs of an upset were on the cards from the half hour mark. Italy never dominated the game as they should have considering their favoured status and never really threatened during this period. And as is fairly common in games of this nature, the supposed underdog begins to find rhythm and confidence as the Egyptians did, this often spells trouble for the favourites. Italy’s defence was tested only once before the goal and the trouble was averted but for a timely tackle by Zambrotta. Sadly for the world champions, Cannavaro lost his man, Homos, from a corner, allowing the Egyptian a clear header from 6 yards out. The rest is history. One goal up Egypt shut up shop and held on to a famous victory.

Ok, maybe it was not that simple, it did require the superhuman efforts of El Hadary to deny the Italians an equalizer and several winners. The most frustrated man on the park would have been Iaquinta, for he found the Egyptian keeper impossible to beat on several occasions. Four or five times Iaquinta wasted good opportunities to level matters, a couple of these occasions involved himself and El Hadary and no one else. El Hadary came out on top on every occasion. But the best chance, in my opinion fell to Montolivo, a cut back pass played perfectly in to his path was side footed straight at superman, sorry El Hadary, whilst the keeper was scrambling to cover his exposed sanctum. A better striker (read Torres, Kaka, Robinho etc.) would have steered the ball comfortably into the net. Sadly the Azzurri do not possess a striker of such ability.

The fact is that the closest Italy came to an equalizer was from a Iaquinta cross which came off the crossbar. For once El Hadary was beaten, and yet the ball did not cross the line, is indicative of the problems Italy has in finding a world class goal getter. For the love of God, Toni is still a choice and I have yet to see him perform at anything better than hack level in national colours. This is truly a pity, for in the other departments they tick the boxes in style. Defensively Italy will seldom be a poor team and this was again the case. Other than their solitary error from a set piece, Buffon did very little, if anything at all, during the remainder of the encounter. In the midfield, Italy controlled the park, especially once they were trailing, but unfortunately, a little like South Africa, could not take advantage of their dominance. Opportunities created were spurned and wasted in the fashion of the venture capitalist squandering capital as if the good times are infinite.

Today we sit in a recession, the venture capitalist is broke and this is where the Azzurri find themselves. Up the creek with half a paddle. The group of death is very much alive. Any of the teams are still capable of qualifying for the semi finals and none are certain of their fate. Even Brazil, which is two from two, could still find themselves on an early flight home. Italy, bizarrely have their destiny in their own hands, a victory by two clear goals over the Samba boys would see them through on goal difference, irrespective of other results. Unlikely as such a result may seem after the loss to Egypt, it is not impossible. It is no more likely than Italy losing last night, and who would have predicted that?