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World Cup: Italy 1-1 Mexico
13.6 || unknown
Alessandro Del Piero took exactly 9 minutes to put himself on the headlines of every sports newspaper in the world by saving Italy from what would have been a disgraceful exit from the World Cup. However, it was Mexico that deserve all the credit as Javier Aguirre's men absolutely dominated the Italians for 85 minutes and rightly qualify for the second round as winners of Group G.
But, Italy don't have only the Juve front man to thank for their qualification. Edison Mendez and Ecuador did the unimaginable in a World Cup where upsets are now commonplace. They beat Croatia 1-0 in Yokohama to deny the Eastern Europeans even a chance of qualifying for the second round. In reality, had Italy lost 1-0, they would have still made it, but all's well that ends well for the two qualifiers. As the closing five minutes of the game indicated, the two teams were more than satisfied with the draw (the Mexicans passed the ball among themselves whilst the Italians calmly stood in their own half).
The game kicked off at a much slower pace than expected. Giovanni Trapattoni opted for the two-man attack with Totti tucked in behind Vieri and Inzaghi. However, his tactics still left a lot to be desired as an overtly defensive lineup once again lacked the bite and creativity in the middle of the field. Italy were overrun by a barrage of Mexican attacks and with Panucci (who started on the left) rushing between his defensive and offensive duties, Italy's three man midfield struggled to cope with the likes of Torrado and Arellano.
Javier Aguirre once again proved what a fine coach he is and Osasuna fans should be relishing the thought of having "El Vasco" on their bench next season. The former Mexican international's plans worked like a charm and his crowded 5-man midfield was brilliant, winning every 50-50 ball and running the Italians ragged. Up front, Jared Borgetti was the man on-song and he proved it by being a handful for the most touted defense at the World Cup.
Mexico controlled the game right from the start, but it was the Italians who had more shots on goal in the opening forty-five. Italy seemed to be playing their usual game of wait and strike (How on earth do you do that in a must-win game???) and were made to pay the price when the great Cuauhtemoc Blanco found Jared Borgetti in the box and the lanky striker struck gold with a "eyes-in-the-back-of-your-head" header, running to the near post and gently flicking the ball across and in to the top corner of the far post with Buffon nowhere near it.
However, Italy had their fair chances to score and should have taken the lead on a number of occasions themselves. Controversy again in the 12' minute as a through ball found Inzaghi in the box and the Milan striker made no mistake as he lifted the ball beyond Oscar Perez and in to the net. But once again, it was the cursed offside flag (though, it was a wee bit more debatable this time) that denied Italy the go-ahead goal.
On 19' minutes, the Italians had perhaps the best chance that they would have for the whole game as Inzaghi beautifully found Totti all alone in front of goal, but the Roma man (who was having a torrid day) incredibly curled it wide of the post from six yards out! Trapattoni watched in disbelief and Vieri stood with his hands on his hips as Totti could only manage a distraught look towards the heavens.
Italy had a few more chances with Zambrotta, Vieri and Totti all going close in the first half, but none of them could find the target, primarily due to the excellently marshaled Mexican back line. Mexico took the deserved lead with the Borgetti goal and could have made it 2-0 when a superb long-range effort from Salvador Carmona went inches wide of Buffon's right hand post.
That brought the first period to an end and Azzurri fans around the world were expecting Trap to realize what a blunder he had made by playing four defenders and three defensive midfielders. Del Piero and Gattuso were some of the names thrown out since Italy were most notably lacking creativity and fight in midfield. However, to the surprise and disgust of many (like myself), Trap chose to stick with his formula, instead simply instructing his men to push further forward. "El Vasco" had a simpler task at hand. His men were up in a must-tie game and were completely outplaying the opposition and having a pretty good time out there.
The second half took over from where it had left off. Mexico continued to control the game and started to look more dangerous on the counterattack as Italy committed more men forward. Only the news that Ecuador had gone 1-0 up provided some relief to the troubled Italian tifosi hearts. Trapattoni continued to look frantic and scream at the Italian bench, but did little to remedy the situation, until finally he decided to put first Montella, and then Coco into the game. The injection of the Inter left-winger injected some added pace into the Italian flank and they started to look more dangerous.
On 63', Italy surely created a world record as they had their fourth goal in two games disallowed (this time correctly…. amazing, isn't it?) as Montella's delightful chip was adjudged to have been scored from an offside position. Then on 71', Vieri was released for the first time in the entire match. But, as he raced towards goal, he miscontrolled the ball and was unable to get off a shot from what was a downright easy goal scoring position.
For Mexico, Ramon Morales and Joahan Rodriguez both had great attempts on goal from outside the box, but both went wide. However, the play of the game came much earlier for them. Jesus Arellano embarrassed one of the masters of the game when he nutmegged Maldini clean between the legs, then played a delightful one-two with Blanco, tapped it past Buffon and had the ball hacked off the line by a fabulous Fabio Cannavaro to deny Mexico the two-goal cushion.
The turning point of the match however was to favor the Italians. A very disappointing Totti was substituted by Juve Golden Boy Alessandro Del Piero in the 76' minute. The initial reaction was that it was too little too late and that Del Piero should have been given a shot at half time. However, DP needed no second invitation. He came on and changed the game completely. His ball control and accurate passing breathed new life into a decaying Italian effort and after taking part in some delightful passing, he did what no one (at least at that moment) thought possible. With a diving header, Alex Del Piero scored the equalizer that would salvage Italian pride and allow Italy to remain composed for the remainder of the game.
Italy qualified for the second round behind Mexico and will play either Portugal, US or Korea Republic. However, if nothing else, Trap will have learnt a huge lesson today. His tactics were defenestrated by Sr. Aguirre and if Italy hope to lift that beautiful World Cup trophy in a few weeks time, they have to work on a system that allows their wingers to push further up and contribute to the attack. And if today's performance is anything to go by, then Del Piero should find himself starting ahead of Totti for the 1/16 round game. For there is nothing more a man can do to earn a start than save his country from utter humiliation.
Every Mexico player was outstanding. Blanco was unusually quiet, but worked so hard to provide his midfield with support (wonder why Totti didn't do that!). Rafael Marquez was simply flawless at the back and 23-year old Torrado was once again the most impressive player on the pitch. While the former kept a giant like Vieri quiet for most of the game, the latter can count on being picked up by a big European club in the near future.
For Italy, Nesta and Cannavaro were simply amazing at the back. True, Italy had their moments, but it was more due to the failures of their midfield and the ageing Maldini. Cannavaro will be sorely missed in Italy's next game (he picked up his second yellow today), but Italian fans can smile that Nesta is back doing what he does best.
Now, the two teams shall wait eagerly to see who their opponents for the round of sixteen will be.
Mexico 1-1 Italy (1-0)
34' Borgetti, 85' Del Piero
Mexico: 1. Oscar Perez, 4. Rafael Marquez, 5. Manuel Vidrio, 16. Salvador Carmona, 6. Gerardo Torrado, 7 Ramon Morales (3. Rafael Garcia, 76), 11. Braulio Luna, 18 Joahan Rodriguez (19. Gabriel Caballero, 76), 9 Jared Borgetti (17. Francisco Palencia, 80), 10. Cuauhtemoc Blanco, 21. Jesus Arellano
Italy: 1. Gianluigi Buffon, 2 Christian Panucci (4. Francesco Coco, 63), 3. Paolo Maldini, 5. Fabio Cannavaro, 13. Alessandro Nesta, 6. Christian Zanetti, 10 Francesco Totti (7. Alessandro Del-Piero, 78), 17. Damiano Tommasi, 19. Gianluca Zambrotta, 9 Filippo Inzaghi (20. Vincenzo Montella, 56), 21. Christian Vieri
POST MATCH COMMENTS (Football Italia):
Alessandro Del Piero is on top of the world after scoring the goal that put Italy through to the Second Round of the World Cup.
"I couldn’t dream up a better World Cup match than this," said the emotional Juventus man. "Our objective was to qualify and we achieved that. Seeing how things were shaping up for us I’d say it went brilliantly."
Del Piero has come in for a great deal of criticism for not delivering on the international stage, but with just 15 minutes on the field he was able to net the crucial goal. He also held his arm up to the sky to salute his father, who died last year.
"I am simply speechless," he stammered straight after the final whistle of the 1-1 draw with Mexico. "It’s a fantastic sensation."
Once again refereeing errors almost cost the Azzurri precious points in this group stage, but Del Piero cast aside the controversy. "If we have been penalised up until now then that means luck will be on our side next time."
Refereeing co-ordinator Raffaele Ranucci also commented on those offside rulings. "I realise that FIFA wants to allow in referees from all areas of the globe, but perhaps there should be a course before the tournament in order to improve certain standards."
Giovanni Trapattoni admitted that justice had been served after seeing four goals dubiously ruled out in the last two games. "God does exist," he said after the relief of the final whistle. "With five or six clear scoring opportunities and another goal struck off our tally, I can do nothing but applaud my players for what they did today."
"I realise that mistakes can be made and it is difficult to evaluate certain offside positions," added the Coach. "But you can’t keep making errors against the same team."
The tactician was under pressure to give in-form Del Piero more room in the squad. "He was never out of the running, not in my mind. We spoke ahead of the game and Del Piero did what we all knew he was capable of."
The Juventus man took the place of Francesco Totti. "We were so unlucky today as after going so close Mexico scored with their only shot on goal," he said.
"We are just relieved to have recovered from that now. Alessandro has also done well," noted the Roma captain, "and we will always be united with the desire to progress in this tournament.
"It wasn’t a great performance," he added, "but today the only thing that counted was qualifying."
Gianluca Zambrotta was one of the first Azzurri in the post-match press room and praised his Juventus teammate.
"Del Piero is a champion, it’s not as if we discovered this now," commented the winger. "As soon as he stepped onto the field you felt his presence.
"The situation was not looking good for us from the start, then when Mexico scored it got even worse. After the break we stayed more concentrated and knew that Croatia were losing in the other Group G game."
Added Zambrotta: "We created many chances and hope that fortune smiles on us a little more from now on. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy but we never gave up. This team is excellent and very united."
Pippo Inzaghi started his first World Cup game but lasted only 45 minutes. "It was a great first half with so many chances, yet we went into the break 1-0 down," said the striker.
"From the bench they told us that Croatia were losing and that gave us a real boost. Just getting through the first round was important considering what happened to France and Argentina. Any opponent will do now."
Italy will face the winners of Group D, which could be either the USA, South Korea or Portugal.
Vincenzo Montella provided the cross for Del Piero’s decisive header but missed several chances himself. "We haven’t been at all lucky so far between hitting the woodwork and seeing goals ruled out for no reason," noted the Roma hitman.
"Italy have real strength in depth and today the substitutes made the difference. We all have a real desire to make our mark and anyone can come on and do well."
Alessandro Nesta was playing with a painkilling injection for a foot injury he sustained against Croatia. "I was alright in the end and we took steps to sort it out quickly. It doesn’t matter who we face next as this tournament has shown that all teams play good football."
His teammate Fabio Cannavaro will not be on the field in that second round tie as he picked up a second yellow card. "It’s up to the Coach to decide who plays and who is in good condition," added the Lazio captain.
Good Luck, we might meet in the finals.
. Tell me it was a f***ing nightmare. Let`s pray for Mexico-Ecoudor game to end with a draw, so Italy can play cmefortably next match 
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