New Zealand All Whites vs Italy: As it happened

 
Tony Tannous Columnist

By , 20 Jun 2010 Tony Tannous is a Roar Expert

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New Zealand All Whites' Shane Smeltz

New Zealand's Shane Smeltz against Italy in their friendly match at the Super stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday June 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

After the wonderful and dramatic late equaliser from Winston Reid against a disappointing Slovakia, New Zealand’s attention now turns to a dream date with the world champions (midnight tonight EST).

If the All Whites made the world sit up and take notice in their opener, imagine what they would if they took anything off the Azzurri?

So far, in a tournament that gets better by the day, we’ve seen the likes of USA, Switzerland, Mexico, Serbia and Algeria take points off the supposed big guns, but if the Kiwis can do the same here, it would be an upset to top the lot.

Late yesterday TAB Sportsbet had Italy at $1.20, the Kiwis at $13 and a draw $5.85.

Midfielder Daniele De Rossi, impressive in Italy’s opening 1-1 draw with Paraguay, is quoted by AAP as saying a loss would seriously impact their chances of getting out of the group, a la France in Group A.

“We’d have a drastic position in the standings,” De Rossi said. “It would be as serious as if New Zealand failed to get out the group stages at the Rugby World Cup.”

“There are teams that we should beat, we’re better. We need to play our game and of course be careful. They have big players so we won’t be playing the ball in the air. But we’re Italy and we should win.”

While it sounds cocky, there’s no doubt De Rossi is right.

He was backed up by central defender Giorgio Chiellini, who told fifa.com; “[New Zealand] are very physical. We played them in a friendly last year, they’re very dangerous in the air and from set pieces. But everyone knows that we should win. We have to give away as little as possible and to keep the ball on the ground rather than playing long balls. I don’t even want to think about the possibility of a draw or something else.”

But for the All Whites, it’s about the mission of making football the number one sport in New Zealand, as Rory Fallon confided to fifa.com;

“It [beating Italy] would just totally change the landscape of the nation. We’re trying to be the front-runners to show that football is the biggest sport on the planet. If we get through to the next round, we can change New Zealand. I think football now has a decent chance of becoming the most popular sport back home.”

Naturally enough, it will have to be the game of their lives. Ryan Nelsen, so influential against Slovakia, will look to keep things tight, and with Tim Brown back in contention, it will be interesting to see if Ricki Herbert sacrifices one of his three strikers in order to add more numbers to the midfield.

Despite the glorious opening game point, there is room for improvement from the likes of Leo Bertos, Shane Smeltz and Chris Killen. Bertos’s battle with young left back Domenico Criscito looks one potential avenue.

As I wrote in my Q & A on Wednesday, the Azzurri were impressive despite drawing with Paraguay. It was a high class affair, with plenty of aggression, good technique and will-to-win.

Italy had their game-face on, but there is room for improvement, particularly in the front third. Despite an impressive performance from Simon Pepe, Marcelo Lippi might find room for prolific Serie A striker Antonio Di Natale in place of either Vincenzo Iaquinta or Alberto Gilardino, while midfielder Mauro Cameronesi made an impact off the bench.

Of course, with Luigi Buffon out, Federico Marchetti continues in goal.

How much work he gets will be the interesting thing.

Join me here at 11.45pm tonight EST for a LIVE running analysis of the game in the comments section below and be sure to share your thoughts before, during and after the game.

Follow Tony on Twitter @TonyTannousTRBA
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