If only Italy's performance could match the passion and excitement of "Il Canto degli Italiani". That being said; with any Italian team at a major championships you know what you are getting.
Paraguay on the other hand, lack the big names of their rivals, yet this did not stop them taking the lead in the first half through Antolin Alcaraz. A simple set piece was uncharacteristically not dealt with by the Italian defence, leaving the Paraguayan defender to plant his header into the corner.
Italy never looked likely to get back in the game, and lost first-choice 'keeper Gianluigi Buffon at half time. In the end Italy were allowed back into the game through a goalkeeping blunder from Paraguay's Justo Villar, who flailed fruitlessly at a cross from a corner, and Daniele De Rossi slid the ball into the empty net.
The Italian team were understandably buoyed by the goal and a tactical change to a 4-4-2 formation coincided with a much improved display from the likes of Vincenzo Iaquinta and Riccardo Montolivo. Ultimately however neither team could gain a winning goal and a draw was ultimately a fair result, and will have come as some relief to the Paraguayans who were visibly tiring towards the end of the game.
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