With our pitiful few AC Milan players represented in South Africa having already played their first game I thought I would give a quick rundown on their performance and what to expect.
KJH – Holland beat Denmark 1-0, KJH was an unused sub. It would appear his Milan form continues.
Silva – unused substitute. Brazil have a strong and deep squad and Silva will do well at this World Cup to absorb everything going on around to be better prepared for 2014 where he looks to shine. Brazil did not look good today however and a well organized team has proved yet again that they can pose a threat to any team in this tournament, even if it is just a scare!
Pirlo – injured for 1-1 draw with Paraguay. May recover for the third match, more likely he plays in the knockouts, his replacement Montolivo looked LOST. His metronomic passing qualities were certainly missed, and often times Italy looked confused as to where they wanted to attack, through the middle or on the wings. While it appeared Italy had control, credit should be given to Paraguay for keeping organized, had it not been for another GK error Italy would have gone home sans points.
Rino – unused substitute in draw.
Zambro – was not as severely burned as Cannavaro, but was beaten for pace on more than one occasion. The team covered his runs forward well and he was not exposed, and will probably not be exposed against Slovakia or New Zealand either but a discipline team will probably push him very hard.
Adiyiah – unused sub in a 1-0 win for Ghana. Ghana looked very good, well organized, and confident, the loss of Essien is really unfortunate but the team doesn’t seem to be letting it get the best of them. Couldn’t help but watch Gyan, formerly of Udinese, who Milan could have easily plucked play a great game. Too bad Gyan was born on the wrong continent, same probably goes for Asamoah.
Gooch – 90 minutes against England in a 1-1 draw. A good result for the US who could have easily gone on to win 2-1 if Altidore had finished his late chance. Gooch played for what was really his first full 90 since the injury. Kept Rooney and Heskey in check, and was a force in the air until the introduction of Peter Crouch, can anyone out jump that man’s height? In the end he was very strong and as he regains confidence in his ability should continue to regain form that proved so strong in the Confederations Cup.