Monday, 14th June 2010
Champions Held
 
Italy vs Paraguay
in Cape Town.
The 2006 World Cup
champions are out to defend their title.
Italy started well, playing fast and direct; maybe helped by the wet
surface in Cape Town.
Even with a double corner in the 20th minute, Paraguay kept three
players half-way up the pitch and were nearly caught out by an Italian break.
Both teams started losing possession far too easy and then Paraguay
earned a seemingly harmless free-kick, out on the right, six minutes before half-time.
There didn't seem to be any urgency in the Paraguay camp, then
Aureliano Torres curled the ball high into the rain and Antol�n Alcaraz rose above the
blue shirts to head the ball across Gianluigi Buffon and put the South Americans in front.
The Italians, who pride themselves on defence, found themselves a goal
down.
Half-time: 0:1
A surprising substitution at half-time was Federico Marchetti coming
on for Gianluigi Buffon.
When Paraguay started to sit back on their lead, Italy picked
themselves up, brought on Mauro Camoranesi for Claudio Marchisio and earned a corner that
Justo Villar totally missed. Daniele De Rossi was on hand at the back post to pull the
world champions level.
And true to form, the whole Italian bench celebrated as if they'd just
won the World Cup Final again.
Final Score:
Italy 1 Paraguay 1
 Goalscorers:
0:1 Antol�n Alcaraz (39 mins)
1:1 Daniele De Rossi (63 mins)
Man of The Match:
Simone Pepe - Some flash little touches of brilliance early in the game. Never gave up and
it was his corner that lead to Italy's equaliser.
Teams
 Italy:
1 Gianluigi Buffon; 3 Domenico Criscito, 4 Giorgio Chiellini, 5 Fabio Cannavaro, 19
Gianluca Zambrotta; 7 Simone Pepe, 6 Daniele De Rossi, 22 Riccardo Montolivo, 9 Vincenzo
Iaquinta; 11 Alberto Gilardino, 15 Claudio Marchisio.
 Paraguay:
1 Justo Villar; 3 Claudio Morel Rodr�guez, 21 Antol�n Alcaraz, 14 Paulo Da Silva, 6
Carlos Bonet; 17 Aureliano Torres, 15 Victor C�ceres, 16 Cristian Riveros, 13 Enrique
Vera; 19 Lucas Barrios, 18 Nelson Haedo Valdez.
Referee:
Benito Archundia (Mexico)
 Substitutions:
46 Mins (Italy) - 12 Federico Marchetti on for 1 Gianluigi Buffon
59 Mins (Italy) - 16 Mauro Camoranesi on for 15 Claudio Marchisio
60 Mins (Paraguay) - 11 Jonathan Santana on for 17 Aureliano Torres
69 Mins (Paraguay) - 9 Roque Santa Cruz on for 18 Nelson Haedo Valdez
72 Mins (Italy) - 10 Antonio di Natale on for 11 Alberto Gilardino
76 Mins (Paraguay) - 7 Oscar Cardozo on for 19 Lucas Barrios
 2 Yellow
Cards:
62 Mins - Victor Caceres (Paraguay)
70 Mins - Mauro Camoranesi (Italy)
 0 Red Cards.
Previous Encounters:
Italy beat Paraguay (2:0) in Sao Paulo during the group stage of Brazil 1950.
Italy also won the 1998 friendly match with Paraquay, in Parma (3:1).
2010 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.
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