The 2010 FIFA World Cup Thread #3/Sports Thread #3 For 6/14/10: Villar Mistake Saves Italy From A Defeat To Paraguay

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The Final Analysis:
Well, Italy's Man of the Match for the day is quiet clear............Paraguay's goalkeeper Justo Villar.

The stop stopper at now relegated Valladolid of Liga Adelante (from La Liga BBVA) showed one of the reasons why his team are now in the second division in Spain. A terrible goalkeeping error of coming out and not even coming close to getting a punch on the corner kick.

That latest goalkeeping gaffe in this tournament saved Marcelo Lippi from facing a lot of heat tonight, although he still may get that from the Italian press. Paraguay were very sound defensively despite Italy's presence in the first 10 minutes, as well as their surge after getting that fortuitous effort.

Both Paul da Silva and new Wigan man Antolin Alcaraz were strong in the middle today for the South Americans, and they deserved nothing less than a point.

Though Simon Pepe showed good work with desire to break down, and they got a positive substitution from the always classy (if less pacey) Mauro Camoranesi, there are just so many concerns for this Italian side.

In short, they are lacking that cutting edge. And even when Pirlo comes back, I don't know if he still has it to give that one final through ball. The AC Milan man can still hit a free kick with the best of them, so maybe that is what they just need to get out of this group.

But Slovakia will be really difficult to beat in this group, especially if they are on the form they are on.

Group F isn't a gimme at all for Italy. AT ALL.

Finally, the late Man of the match has been given, and it's well deserved:

The full review of the Group F opener.

And the match thread archive:
The lineups :

Italy: Buffon, Criscito, Chiellini, Cannavaro, De Rossi, Pepe, Iaquinta, Gilardino, Marchisio, Zambrotta, Montolivo

Paraguay : J. Villar, Morel R, Bonet, Vera, Da Silva, V Caceres, Riveros, Torres, H Valdez, Lucas, Alcaraz

Prediction: It will be a long day for Italy I think, and I do think considering the conditions, I really do think Paraguay will win this one 1-0 today. I just don't think Italy has any cutting edge in the final third with Di Natalie out, and as well as even getting that final ball since Andrea Pirlo.

For Paraguay, Santa Cruz is on the bench, thanks to some of his injuries and also because of Lucas Barrios replicating his club form for his mother's country.

The live thread, ladies and gentlemen.

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1st Half Thread:
Well, talk about another manager who has gotten his tactics spot on. Gerardo Martino, coach of Paraguay, has told his team to absorb all the Italy pressure so far, and they did that in the 1st 10 minutes of the game where Italy looked confident and sharp.

Once they survived italian domination in the beginning, the South Americans slowly started working their way into the game, using the edges with Vera and Bonet attacking young Domenico Criscito on the right.

And what can you say about Torres' wonderful delivery, with the new Wigan man Alcaraz powerful header over Cannavaro and Chelliani, leaving Buffon in no man's land.

A lot of angry Italians fans right now, and a lot of angry Italian players heading into halftime. Will they be able to control their heads, or will it get away from the defending world champions in this second half? We shall see what they are made of.