I'm not going to South Africa. So instead I'm gonna try and watch a bit if not all of every game at work, or at home or in a bar or wherever. On the telly. With a beer. And I'm gonna predict who I think is gonna win. And talk about football stuff. So there.

Thursday 24 June 2010

GROUP F FINALE: Italy 2-3 Slovakia; Paraguay 0-0 New Zealand

The game of the tournament, by a country mile. The Italians, deposed as World Champions by an Eastern European team that were everything their less successful but near neighbours Serbia and Slovenia weren't.

Slovakia went for it, created chances and reaped the rewards. They played like they wanted to win, not like they wanted to avoid being embarrassed. And as a result, they're in the round of 16.

Italy? A toothless defence of their title, though they played their part in this exciting game, capped with a wonderful chip. They'll be wondering whether Skrtel really did clear that ball before it went over the line, and whether the offside decision that went against them really should have. But Italy can't blame losing here for their failure to progress. The damage was done when they failed to beat New Zealand. Speaking of them, doesn't seem there's much to report from their game vs Paraguay, other than it was enough to ensure the South Americans win the group, something I failed to predict. Though I did predict Slovakia would go through... 1. PARAGUAY 2 SLOVAKIA 3 New Zealand 4 Italy