D for death
When the draw for the World Cup was made back in December 2013, Group D was billed as the Group of Death. Rightly so, as three former champions with a total of seven trophies among themselves, were pitted together, along with Costa Rica. The group is living up to its name, but not quite the way many people had predicted. One of the three giants, England, have already packed their bags while the other two -- Italy and Uruguay -- find themselves scrambling for a place in the last 16. And it has become all true, thanks to two outstanding performances from tiny Costa Rica -- a Central American country with a population of just over four and a half million and a World Cup history even more negligible. Yet, they deserve to be where they are now, albeit at the expense of the so-called giants, because whatever resources they have, they were quietly efficient in their planning and execution of those plans.
Take the game against Italy, for example. Costa Rica stuck to their game plan of fielding three centre-backs, so as to minimise the threat that would have come from the passing game of the Italians. They took a risk of playing a very high line, which thankfully did not backfire, but caught the Italians offside on too many occsions. When they did not have the ball, the two wing-backs fell to a deeper position to cut out the Italian wings. When they did have the ball, those two wing-backs rushed forward, and provided the long balls for the attacking trio. The pace and guile did the rest.
For Italy, it was a case of plummeting to an extreme low from the steep highs of Manaus. Italy coach Cesare Prandelli did not change his formation to start with, but he did tinker with personnel. Thiago Motta was started in midfield at the expense of the more creative Marco Veratti, in the hope that it would give the midfield more solidity and increase the involvement of Andrea Pirlo. Unfortunately, Motta proved to be the worst player on the pitch, and not for the first time in crucial matches in the Prandelli era. Pirlo was his usual self in the first half, as he provided some audacious passes. Those passes mostly found Mario Balotelli, who lived up to his reputation of blowing hot and cold. Down by a goal in the first half -- and it could well have been by two had the referee allowed a very legitimate appeal for a penalty just before the goal was scored -- Prandelli switched to plan B+, with FOUR forwards in a 4-2-3-1 system. But by then, Pirlo's impact had waned while the rest of the team just disappeared.
Fortunately for Prandelli, the defeat did not prove to be too damaging for his side's qualification chances. Italy can still make the last 16 with a draw against Uruguay in their last group match. But going by Friday's performance and considering the threat from the Luis Suarez–Edinson Cavani partnership, a draw could prove to be a task too hard to achieve.
Meanwhile, the goal glut (77 in 26 matches) continues unabated and no one is having more of it than France. They are having all the fun they wished they had in 2002 and 2010. Karim Benzema has emerged as the leader of a French side teeming with talent yet devoid of the big egos, which often hindered their progress in the past. Is this French side the real thing? Or will they flatter to deceive once the business end nears? We'll just have to wait and see.
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