The New Republic

Of all the blessings bestowed upon this tournament not the least satisfying has been the re-emergence of Andrea Pirlo as a player of the highest class. His performance against England last night was as complete a display of midfield generalship as you could wish to see. If this owed something to England’s perplexing willingness to grant the Juventus man time on the ball then that was there fault and scarcely something that should be used to diminish Pirlo’s excellence.  READ MORE >>

Far be it for me to disagree with Ian Darke’s assessment of David Silva’s zippy flick to Cesc Fabregas as the best pass of the tournament. But I’d argue the fantastic ball to Di Natale from Andrea Pirlo was much more impressive—and here’s why, with some personal history to back it up. READ MORE >>

At one point in the Italy-Slovakia game today, Peter Drury, ITV's commentator in the UK, said of Kamil Kopunek, who'd just scored Slovakia's third goal, "he need never kick a football again; he will bore his grandchildren forever!" It was a funny comment, but immediately I wondered if, in fact, Drury was not only referring to the goalscorer who had finally put paid to Italy's attempts to defend their crown, but also to that heinous, 32-year old midfield attack dog, Italy's excerable Genaro Gattuso. READ MORE >>