Slovakia Beats The Reigning Champs!
By Wyatt Earp | June 24, 2010
And we’re moving on to the elimination round! Boosh and/or
Reigning champions Italy crashed out of the World Cup on Thursday, losing 3-2 to Slovakia, who reached the last 16 along with Paraguay after the South Americans’ 0-0 draw with Group F rivals New Zealand.
Robert Vittek was Slovakia’s hero with two goals before Kamil Kopunek’s clincher against a poor Italian side who finished bottom of the group and for whom Antonio Di Natale and Fabio Quagliarella netted consolation strikes. Paraguay topped the group after their stalemate with New Zealand left them on five points to four for the Slovaks, who are appearing in their first finals.
There is no way to overestimate how huge this is for Slovakia. Beating the defending World Cup champions to make the elimination round for the first time? Freakin’. Epic. And it makes Casa de Earp a happy place to be, as the U.S., Germany (where the missus’ family is from) and Slovakia all made it into the next round.
Topics: Slovakia, Soccer | 7 Comments »
June 24th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
And luckily the US does not have to play the Germans in the next game.
June 24th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Ingineer66 – Germany hasn’t looked unbeatable, but they always raise their game when it counts. I didn’t want to play them, either.
June 24th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
As a 50% Slovak, 50% German, and 50% Polish (I married a girl from Gdansk) American, I am very happy that our Slovak team knocked the shit out of the Italians. I would have been happier if they had knocked out the french pussies, but the french pussies surrendered (again) to themselves. Whoooohaaaaaa Slovakia, and God Bless America.
June 24th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Woot! Woot!
June 24th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
My friend in Italy was sad.
Bet your kids were going nuts!
(That whole French team thing is cracking me up.)
June 24th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
All we need now is for Spain to lose on Friday.
June 24th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Watuschskie – Slovakia should be playing the Netherlands next. Tough game, as they went 3-0 in their group. Dang.
MeToo – Saw most of the game in work. Was well worth it.
RT – Yeah, they were jumping up and down. The U.S. plays on Saturday at 2:30, so hopefully, there will be more to celebrate.
Bob – They have not been playing well, so it’s possible.