Rio de Janeiro – Italy and Uruguay meet Sunday in Salvador in the Confederations Cup match for third place, and while both teams would rather be in the Rio de Janeiro final, they are still keen to impress.
“We'll be taking the game against Uruguay very seriously. We're aiming to finish this competition on a high,” said Italy's attacking midfielder Emanuele Giaccherini.
Uruguay defender Diego Godin agreed, saying: “Third place is not the same as fourth place.”
Godin knows the feeling as he was part of the Uruguay side that came fourth in the 2010 World Cup.
“We want to leave a good image, we want to fight and to win that third place against Italy,” he said. “It would be like making up for the World Cup.”
The truth is, however, that both teams have had a good tournament and are ready to head home.
Italy had an intense match against world and European champions Spain only on Thursday. The game ended goalless after extra time, and they lost it 7-6 in the penalty shootout. The Azzurri know that they performed well even without their star striker Mario Balotelli.
“We've done better than we expected,” defender Giorgio Chiellini said. “We'll return next year and we'll seek to beat Spain too.”
Uruguay have more pressing needs, struggling in the South American qualifiers and currently far from the chance to get to play in Brazil 2014. The Confed Cup has helped them regain their poise as a team and become confident that the team ethos, which also led them to the 2011 Copa America title, is still intact.
As teams draw their Confed Cup conclusions and look forward to the Brazil 2014 World Cup, their match at the Arena Fonte Nova emerges as an inevitable, and somewhat annoying, formality in Salvador's heat and humidity. To make matters worse, it is to be played at 1 pm (1600 GMT), an unfortunate time for already-exhausted footballers.
Italian players are having trouble to recover from their long game against Spain. Injured Balotelli and Ignazio Abate left Brazil even before that match, and Italy's doctor has confirmed that Andrea Pirlo and Andrea Barzagli will not be playing Sunday owing to injuries.
Chiellini, Claudio Marchisio and Daniele De Rossi also had physical trouble and might not make it onto the pitch.
That may, of course, not all be bad as Italy coach Cesare Prandelli seeks to try out more players with an eye on the World Cup.
“Next year, we will need 23 athletes rather than players here,” Prandelli has said.
Uruguay will be more rested, since they played just 90 minutes Wednesday, and in Belo Horizonte's mild weather, in their 2-1
defeat to Brazil.
They need, however, to keep an eye on the South American qualifiers, where they currently stand fifth and appear mainly in the race for the chance to play an Asian team for a World Cup berth.
“We have to give it everything (against Italy), but we should not lose sight of the back that a red card will keep us out of the match against Peru, which is another final,” Godin said in reference to their next qualifier in September.
That may sound easy enough but Uruguay managed to have Andres Scotti dismissed in the Confed up even against Tahiti's amateurs. – Sapa-dpa