Italy – Ghana 2-0

Finally, my favourites get to play the match. Had a few of my mates over to watch the match, and boy, was it a cracker. Surely one of the best so far. The emergence of the African nations in the football scene made this match more of a competitive one than should really be. In actual fact the Ghanans had an exceptionally strong midfield, with Essien, Appiah and Asamoha playing a holding game, but sadly for them, a weak forward line. ‘The Black Stars’ were effectively killed off by their one weakness in front of goal.

Italy on the other hand were rocked with another scandal, but I guess this only spurred them on to greater heights. Totti came back for the Azzurri instead of Del Piero, but despite playing some marvellous passes, he is still far from his brilliant form.

So it was up to Pirlo , and Perrotta, to provide the midfield genius. The Italians set up wave after wave of attacks, and it was only a matter of time before they scored….and what a goal it was from Pirlo.

He got the all on his left foot a good 10 metres out of the box, pulled the new Adidas ball to his right and unleashed a powerful curling kick right into the bottom corner of the net. WOW!

The Italians continued pressing, but they missed oh so many chances. Can’t let that happen to often in the World Cup. Totti was taken off as a precaution, and Iaquinta scored again late in the match as he latched on to a Del Piero pass that had been wrongly controlled by a Ghana defender. The joy on the Udinese man was a pleasure to watch.

So the Azzurri are there after all! ALE ALE ALE!

Official FIFA match report