There is a pattern emerging in this World Cup. Not only are the grand old teams of Europe failing to impress against supposed no‑hopers and lesser lights, their managers are at a loss to explain why.
"We weren't super brilliant but other teams have been the same and there isn't always an explanation," Marcelo Lippi said after Italy were surprisingly held by New Zealand. "We have quality but we didn't tap into it. We just kept throwing the ball into areas where they have defenders two metres tall and that's not the way to go about things. There was a lack of lucidity. We can do better than that."
Perhaps, though Italy will need Andrea Pirlo back first. New Zealand did not just defend like giants, they scored a goal after just seven minutes and Chris Wood came close to a winner at the end. While that would have been something of a travesty, the story of the match at Nelspruit was that Italy were uninspired and unable to break down dogged defending even with a mountain of possession.
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Not that that should detract in any way from what was unquestionably New Zealand football's finest hour. "This will stop the nation," the Kiwi coach, Ricki Herbert, said. "There will be tremendous excitement about this at home. We are still alive in the group and of course we can dare to dream – we are at the World Cup. We've just had the most incredible result against the four‑times world champions, so we are doing OK for a team that's supposedly got some amateurs in it."
It would have been more incredible still had Wood's shot gone in seven minutes from time, instead of rolling a foot the wrong side of a post, for though New Zealand did their share of doughty defending they created at least as much as their opponents did in terms of opportunities to win the match. That is to say, Italy did not create that much at all.
Scoring after seven minutes seemed a bit early for complete outsiders against world champions, and though New Zealand enjoyed their moment of glory in snatching an unexpected lead, they were soon trapped in their own half as Italy attempted to steamroller them into submission. It was a bit like a game at Old Trafford where the opponents have been cheeky enough to take an early lead. Only Italy resembled the Manchester United of last season. They huffed and puffed but could not do enough to win.
It was not even the Italians' superior skills and quickness of movement that brought them back into the game either. Once a rare defensive error by Fabio Cannavaro had enabled Shane Smeltz to poke a shot past Federico Marchetti from what looked like an offside position from a Simon Elliott free‑kick, Italy taught New Zealand more lessons in gamesmanship than football.
First their big strong centre-halves began collapsing as if poleaxed every time they were involved in an aerial challenge, Cannavaro and Giorgio Chiellini reacting as if allergic to some fairly innocous contact with Plymouth's Rory Fallon. Then after apparently convincing the referee they were up against a team of rustic hoofers, Italy had no trouble winning a penalty when Daniele De Rossi fell theatrically to the floor as he jostled to reach a cross with Tommy Smith. Vincenzo Iaquinta stroked in an equaliser from the spot, and though it was only a penalty and only New Zealand, proceeded to celebrate as if he had scored the winner in a semi-final.
That left Italy with an hour to find another goal, and life became even more difficult for New Zealand when Lippi sent on Antonio Di Natale and Mauro Camoranesi for the second half. Mark Paston initially stood up to shots by De Rossi and Di Natale, and the impressive Riccardo Montolivo struck a post from 20 yards, but as the game moved into its last half hour with the score still locked Lippi sent on a third substitute in Giampaolo Pazzini.
Montolivo brought another fine save from Paston with another long-range shot, but with Ryan Nelsen revelling in the sort of last-ditch defending for which he has become famous at Blackburn, New Zealand were proving tough to crack. Italy were somewhat predictable in attack, not helped by the absence of Pirlo's patience and subtlety. When Winston Reid joined in, clearing off the line from Iaquinta, it began to look as if Italy might run out of time, and after one more last ditch clearance from Nelsen to deny the same player, they did.
This was a fair reward for New Zealand's determined defending. Italy need Pirlo back as soon as possible. "We hope he will be back for the Slovakia game, but we cannot be 100% certain," Lippi said. "We have to win that game now, there is no other way around it, because we do not want to go home."
Neither do New Zealand and their supporters, who although massively outnumbered by Italian fans, nevertheless made their presence felt, standing shirtless at the end in the chilly evening air. And fair play to Herbert. At the final whistle he made a point of shaking hands or embracing every beery, bare-chested Kiwi he could reach.