Defending champion Italy has suffered another upset after losing to Slovakia 3-2 in their final group match in FIFA World Cup 2010. With this victory, Slovakia has created history by qualifying for the second round in their first ever World Cup appearance. Vittek scored two and Kopunek scored one goal for Slovakia, while Natale and Quagliarella scored for Italy.
The defeat would definitely shock the Italian fans who were hoping Italy would replicate their 2006 success this year. Slovakia opened scoring in the 25th minute of the game through a Vittek strike.
It was again Vittek who doubled the lead in the 73rd minute, before Natale reducing it to 2-1 in the 81st minute. However, Kopunek gave the last dent to Italy’s coffin just a minute before the final whistle. Quagliarella in the last minute lit up Italy’s hopes for one last time reducing it to 3-2, but Italy could not avoid their wretched fate in the end.
In the other match of Group F, Paraguay and New Zealand drew with each other. So, in this group, Paraguay finished at the top with Slovakia taking the second place, and thus, accompanying the Paraguayans to the round of 16.
Slovakia would now most probably face Netherlands in their Round of 16 match, while Paraguay would face either Japan or Denmark.
No comments:
Post a Comment