Thursday, 24th June 2010
Champions Out
 
Slovakia vs Italy
in Jo'burg Ellis Park.
The World Champions were in danger of losing their grip on the
trophy before the game kicked off.
Slovakia started better than Italy and were rewarded in the 25th
minute, when a Daniele De Rossi mistake allowed Robert Vittek to score from the edge of
the penalty area, past the outstretched hand of Federico Marchetti.
Italy didn't have a single shot on target in the first forty-five
minutes.
Half-time: 1:0
Marcello Lippi made two changes at the break, then brought on Andrea
Pirlo for Riccardo Montolivo ten minutes later.
The substitutions almost paid dividends in the 67th minute, when Fabio
Quagliarella's volley was cleared off the line by Martin Skrtel.
Robert Vittek might have thought he finished Italy off, when he ran in
front of Giorgio Chiellini to flick in his second goal against the World Champions.
But Italy replied when Antonio Di Natale was first to the ball after
Jan Mucha could only palm away Quagliarella's shot.
Quagliarella then put the ball in the net himslf, but was flagged for
offside. So close.
Then the fresh legs of Kamil Kopunek ran on to punish a sloppy Italian
backpass.
The Italians weren't prepared to lie down, as Fabio Quagliarella
scored a thuderous goal in injury time. But time ran out for the Azzuri as Slovakia
progressed to the knockout stage.
Final Score:
Slovakia 3 Italy 2
 Goalscorers:
1:0 Robert Vittek (25 mins)
2:0 Robert Vittek (73 mins)
2:1 Antonio Di Natale (76 mins)
3:1 Kamil Kopunek (89 mins)
3:2 Fabio Quagliarella (92 mins)
Man of The Match:
Robert Vittek - For scoring two goals as Slovakia took the game to Italy.
Teams
 Slovakia:
1 Jan Mucha; 16 Jan Durica, 5 Radoslav Zabavnik, 3 Martin Skrtel, 2 Peter Pekarik; 17
Marek Hamsik, 6 Zdeno Strba, 19 Juraj Kucka, 15 Miroslav Stoch; 11 Robert Vittek, 18 Erik
Jendrisek.
 Italy:
12 Federico Marchetti; 3 Domenico Criscito, 4 Giorgio Chiellini, 5 Fabio Cannavaro, 19
Gianluca Zambrotta; 22 Riccardo Montolivo, 6 Daniele De Rossi, 8 Gennaro Gattuso; 9
Vincenzo Iaquinta, 10 Antonio Di Natale, 7 Simone Pepe.
Referee:
Howard Webb (England)
 Substitutions:
46 Mins (Italy) - 2 Christian Maggio on for 3 Domenico Criscito
46 Mins (Italy) - 18 Fabio Quagliarella on for 8 Gennaro Gattuso
56 Mins (Italy) - 21 Andrea Pirlo on for 22 Riccardo Montolivo
87 Mins (Slovakia) - 20 Kamil Kopunek on for 6 Zdeno Strba
92 Mins (Slovakia) - 9 Stanislav Sestak on for 11 Robert Vittek
94 Mins (Slovakia) - 22 Martin Petras on for 18 Erik Jendrisek
 8 Yellow
Cards:
17 Mins - Zdeno Strba (Slovakia)
31 Mins - Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)
40 Mins - Robert Vittek (Slovakia)
50 Mins - Peter Pekarik (Slovakia)
67 Mins - Giorgio Chiellini (Italy)
76 Mins - Simone Pepe (Italy)
82 Mins - Jan Mucha (Slovakia)
83 Mins - Fabio Quagliarella (Italy)
 0 Red Cards.
Paraguay vs New Zealand.
Previous Encounters:
Italy won the 1998 Catania friendly against Slovakia (3:0).
The Italians also won their two World Cup Finals matches against
Czechoslovakia: (2:0) at Italy 1990; and (2:1),
after extra-time, in the Italy 1934 World Cup
Final.
2010 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.
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