2010 FIFA World Cup: arrivederci Italia!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Slovakia eliminated defending champions Italy from the World Cup. First round groups E and F were decided on Thursday: Japan, Paraguay and the Netherlands progress alongside Slovakia.

When a team finishes third or fourth in a group, they are on their way home. After the elimination of France, runners-up in 2006, it was the turn of the reigning champions. Slovakia met Italy in their first World Cup finals as an independent country.

After 81 minutes, the Azzuri (Italy) were down by two goals, both struck by Róbert Vittek, when they got one back. They were denied a chance to equalize by a rebound from a Slovak knee on the goal line.

Their next goal was disallowed as offside. The Slovaks strengthened their lead when a gross positioning error by Italy led to a goal from a corner. Italy scored their second goal in the closing moments of the game, but it wasn't enough, and the Azzuri were out of the tournament.

For the fourth time in history, the reigning world champion was eliminated in the first round. The previous occasions were Italy in 1950, Brazil in 1966 and France in 2002.

Also on Thursday, Japan achieved a surprise 3 – 1 defeat of Denmark. This, along with their victory over Cameroon on June 14, secured their qualification. Paraguay stamped their ticket for the round of sixteen in a nil–nil draw with New Zealand's All Whites. The draw gave New Zealand a point to take them ahead of Italy, finishing Group F in third place. The All Whites leave the tournament undefeated, recalling Cameroon's elimination in 1982 after three draws, pipped by Italy on goals scored. The Netherlands beat Cameroon, securing Group E's first place.

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Wikipedia has related articles:

2010 FIFA World Cup Group E
2010 FIFA World Cup Group F

Results

Group E

Jun 24
	Cameroon	1 - 2	Netherlands	Stadium: Green Point Stadium, Le Cap Attendance: 63,000 Referee: Pablo Pozo
	25' Nkoulou 65' Eto'o 81' Mbia	Report (BBC)	17' Kuyt 36' Van Persie 64' Van der Vaart 69' Van Bronckhorst 84' Huntelaar

Jun 24
	Denmark	1 - 3	Japan	Stadium: Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg Attendance: 27,967 Referee: Jérôme Damon
	29' Kröldrup 48' Poulsen 66' Bendtner 81' Tomasson	Report (FIFA.com)	12' Endo 17' Honda 26' Nagatomo 30' Endo 87' Okazaki

Group F

Jun 24
	Slovakia	3 - 2	Italy	Stadium: Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg Attendance: 53,412 Referee: Howard Melton Webb
	17' Strba 24' Vittek 39' Vittek 73' Vittek 50' Pekarik 89' Kopunek 82' Mucha	Report (FIFA.com)	30' Cannavaro 67' Chiellini 81' Di Natale 76' Pepe 83' Quagliarella 90+2' Quagliarella

Jun 24
	Paraguay	0 - 0	New Zealand	Stadium: Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane Attendance: 34,850 Referee: Yuichi Nishimura
	10' Caceres 41' Santa Cruz	Report (FIFA.com)	56' Nelsen

This is a complete or partial translation of the article "Coupe du Monde de football de 2010 : arrivederci Italia !", from the français language Wikinews, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Sources

"Match report: Slovakia – Italy, 24 June 2010" — FIFA.com,
Cathal Kelly. "Italy ousted from World Cup by Slovakia" — thestar.com, Jun 24, 2010

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