Italy vs Paraguay

Having had a stressful day, dj insisted that Mrs dj make spaghetti and bought some peroni to drink with the Italian game. I couldn't be bothered to watch the Netherlands Denmark game despite videoing it, I'm pretty glad I didn't now.

Italy have been my second team in international football ever since Italia 90. I think we went to Italy on holiday in 1989, and I discovered that I quite liked pizza after all, so I was something of a fan of the country already; to discover that they had also produced the best footballer in the whole world a year later in the form of Salvatore "Toto" Schillachi made a fan for life.

I know Italy have their shortcomings. The absurd love of playing for a 1-0. The fact that they believe the whole world is against them. The diving. Gennaro Gattuso. It may have been far better if I had become convinced that Michel of Spain was the best player in the world, and developed a love of them instead; but I didn't, I chose the Azzuri, and here we are.

It would be wrong to say that I was looking forward to last night's match. I wasn't. This is easily the worst Italian side in terms of talent that I have ever seen, with Gilardino nowhere near the standard of Schillachi, Vieri or even Inzaghi. The line of trequartistas seems to have completely dried up, although I was under the impression Di Natale would be a lock to start, having been excellent all season. Cannavaro is a shadow of the genuine all-time great he has been. So I wasn't expecting much from Italy: they would look to score first and then defend.

I also didn't expect much from Paraguay: as far as I can remember, they've been about frantic, scurrying defensive midfielders, the odd player who can pass, and resolute back fours.

So I suppose I can't complain too much about a shitty match in the rain where no-one looked like scoring apart from via a set-piece. It was fairly dull, although I thought Italy improved as the night went on, especially when they switched to 4-4-2. Whether they stick with that formation, we will wait and see.

Not a very interesting blog post this one, but then why would it be? It's about Italy and Paraguay. I have hopes for today's latter two matches though, especially seeing the Cholima in action.