Brazil vs Italy - The Game

As I walked up the starts to the upper tier where we were sitting I thought to myself this game better be worth it! I managed to grab a hot dog and drink before going to the stands, I was so hungry, I think I downed that in less than a minute.

The game started just as we sat down and said hi to he rest of the group. There were still people streaming into the stadium (no doubt due to the delays) and with the seats barely warm Italy scored!!!!! The crowd went wild as I was reaching for my camera but the flag was up for offside. Apparently it was a beautiful volley but I just missed it but saw the ball fly into the net from the left side.

As the first half went on we could see Brazil slowly dominating the game. Even a lazy Ronaldiho with his wayward passes managed to outshine anyone in a blue shirt. Brazil managed to score twice in the first half and damn they were nice goals. A mixture of good team link ups and sublime individual skills and commitment allowed the Brazilians to go into the break 2-nil up. We thought the teams were going to do a mass substitution at half time as Cannavaro and Robinho exchanged shirts (with a half naked Cannavaro slowly strolling off the field... sorry ladies, when I realised and got my 200mm zoom lens out he was on the other side of the field).

A short break in between and Italy was first out onto the field with a couple of substitutions. Brazil came out after and to my surprise the original team came back out. The second half though was not as entertaining as Brazil seemed to be satisfied with the lead and Italy as they were in the first half, lacked imagination. They did find the net though with Luca Toni controlling the ball with his arm but he was unable to fool the ref or the crowd. Toni came close again later on but Julio César pulled off a point blank save to deny him. The game pretty much finished shortly after that with Robinho (who was absolutely outstanding) receiving the player of the match award.

In the end, the pain to get there was forgotten with the night's memory replaced by silky skills and champagne football.