Italy vs Uruguay: The Poetic Justice

As Italy and Uruguay would play their final group match of the Brazil WC, they both know that for one of these two teams, it would be the end of their WC 2014 dreams. Uruguay goes in to this Tuesday GMT 1600 fixture needing to win to qualify for the round of 16; any other result would see the Azzuris through. Many Brazil fans would feel that some poetic justice has been done to bring about this situation regarding the two giants. After all, Uruguay and Italy are responsible for the two darkest days in the history of Brazil football. At Maracana, 1950, the Brazil fans even had a victory song ready; they never had the chance to sing the song; Brazil only needed a draw to lift the cup, but lost 2-1. Again, in Spain 1982; Brazil needed a draw against Italy to reach the last 4; but lost 3-2.

Coming back to 2014; despite the fact that Italy needs only a draw here, to qualify in goal difference; I feel they are the underdogs. I watched their defeat against Costa Rica, and I have never seen any WC team being so immobile. Whether it was the heat; or whether age has caught up with some of the players, I don't know, but their performance against the Central Americans broke the hearts of millions of Azzuri fans worldwide (including myself). Apart from a 10/15 minute spell late in the 1st half, when Ballotalli missed couple of chances, they hardly threatened the opposition goal. It was a below par effort by the team.

The only exception was Pirlo; Italy depends very heavily on him, and in the two games so far he has looked in supreme form. In their 2nd game, while there were plenty of wrong passes from his teammates; he was accurate as ever. The other strong point for Italy, is their defense, which as usual looks very solid. Up front, Ballotalli remains an enigma, he has already shown during his career at both club level and in Azzuri colors, that on the field, he can be anything from being sublime to ridiculous. Hopefully, for Italy, he would show his best on Tuesday. Cassano, the other forward failed to impress after coming on as a sub against Costa Rica, and is unlikely to start

Uruguay's strong point lies with their striking pair of Suarez and Cavani. They badly missed Suarez in the opening loss against Costa Rica, but during the England match the pair combined beautifully to score the 1st goal. Yesterday I saw the Argentina pair of Higuain and Aguero in action; and there was hardly any communication between the two. The same applies for the England pair of Sturridge and Wellbeck. In direct contrast, Cavani and Suarez formed a superb combination during the qualifiers, and they have continued the good work at Brazil. Uruguays' weak point is their defense. They have already conceded 4 goals here, and if Ballotalli starts the match wearing his goal scoring boots, then he can easily exploit this weakness.

Still, there is absolutely no doubt about the quality of these two sides; and millions of soccer fans would follow this epic encounter with keen interest; and if Italy improves their passing and the South Americans can tighten their defense, then we should expect a cracker of a football match.

Epilogue: The Costa Rica-England match would go ahead simultaneously along with this match. Costa Rica only needs a draw there to be group champions, while the English would try to get their first points in this WC. The remarkable thing is that the Costa Ricans go in to this match as the favorites. Even a decade ago such a thing would have been considered equivalent to the end of the civilized world. The last two generations of English soccer fans, have lived savoring the memory of Wembley, 1966, and it appears that at least one more generation would have to live on that.