Italy scrap through the Group of Death

Italy qualified to the quarter-finals of the Euro 2008 after beating France 2-0. This victory signified the return of luck to the team after some ill-fated decisions against them in earlier games, or maybe it's just that France is more unlucky.

France lost Frank Ribery through injury, and had Eric Abidal sent off in the first 30 minutes of the game. Eric Abidal replace captain Lilian Thuram in the center of defense, who are being criticised after the Dutch game. Veteran Thuram and Willy Sagnol are both out of the starting lineup. But Abidal made a mess of the game when he conceded the penalty and got himself sent off for being the last man. To be frank, Abidal should not be solely responsible, as I feel keeper Coupet could have come forward to clear up the mess.

The resulting penalty, converted by Pirlo is touch of class for the midfield maestro. Pirlo is having one of his best performance for Italy, and his contribution to the team can clearly match those in the run to World Cup 2006. In fact, he is now the key man for Italy, creating chances and making visionary passes to his teammates. I would certainly agree with Italian press, who named him as the player of the match instead of the officially named Daniele de Rossi. De Rossi performance is good, showing his brilliance a move which he moved past a few French defenders, but his overall contributions, to me, is far less than Pirlo, even though Pirlo was substituted early 2nd half.

With Luca Toni still firing blanks and looked increasingly frustrated, coupled with Pirlo suspension against Spain, the Azzurri's challenge don't look promising as they face the in-form Spain in the Quarterfinals.



Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said that despite the outside pressures after two successive poor results, a 3-0 defeat by the Dutch and a 1-1 draw with Romania, there had always been inner belief in the squad.