New Zealand 1, Italy 1. A shocker. New Zealand, easily the least talented team in the World Cup, ties the defending Cup holders. Italy, in my view, did not look terrible (unlike, say, France). The Azzurri truly looked terrible in 3-1 loss to Mexico in a WC warm-up; in both games in the actual WC, they've looked like the team they are: dominant and confident in the midfield, earnest but uninspired in attack, and not up to their usual high standards in defense. But in neither game did they come close to deserving to lose.

Defensive difficulties, sadly, are at least in part due to the decline of the once-great Cannavaro, who now lacks the physical skills to do what his football brain commands. Still blessed with wonderful positional sense and excellent intuition, he simply gets beaten more frequently. Age claims us all. I don't know enough about the Italian squad to know how good (or how bad) his replacement is, but FC's not getting the job done. He was beaten today by 18 year old Kiwi Chris Wood and the result was a near-goal that almost certainly would have led to a 2-1 defeat. The 2006 Cannavaro swallows up Wood; the 2010 Cannavaro is fortunate to avoid being on the lowlight reel of an all-time humiliating Italian defeat.

I remain puzzled as to why Lippi left American-born Giuseppe Rossi off the team. Fast and lethal, Rossi could have added real menace to a soft Italian attack, a guy who would find seams in the defense and fearlessly fire at goal.

The good news for Italy is that Slovakia has not looked at all good. Of all the "big" teams facing group trouble -- England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain -- Italy's in the best position.

FF