I have a big shit-eating grin on my face right now, Arivaderchi Italy

Boy am I shocked that Italy got knocked out of the tournament so early I had them going at least to the finals... No really I am, really surprised I promise... OK you got me I had them getting bounced in the first game of the knockout round by the Netherlands, but if you could see my shit-eating grin over here right now you'd know I'm pretty happy. As far as I'm concerned it's karma for whatever Marco Materazzi said to Zinedine Zidane to get him to do the infamous head-butt.

I despise the way the Azzurri play football and thankfully Slovakia gave Italy the long dirt nap at the World Cup at least until 2014. It's funny too because like I mentioned in my previous post - statistically this was the easiest group in the entire World Cup. That's a fact not opinion, and Italy finished at the bottom with two points behind New Zealand with three, Slovakia with four, and Paraguay with five.

Of course I also think Marcello Lippi did his team no favors by selecting an aging squad with little creativity made up of many players who don't have enough vision or imagination. The one player he had with that type of ability - Andrea Pirlo - went down with a calf injury just before the tournament, missed the first two games, then finally was able to come on as a sub in the second half of the last match vs. Slovakia, but by then it was too late.

For the life of me I will never understand how he left American-born Giuseppe Rossi, a player that showed terrific talent in the Confederations Cup last summer, and someone that should have been given a taste of the World Cup to inspire him for the future.

Then counting on the Italians to pull their usual top-notch defensive showing in the tactics Lippi played, that strategy back-fired as the team's best defender keeper Gianluigi Buffon had to be subbed at halftime because of a bulging disc in his back, and he was never heard from again at the World Cup. What happened next, well replacement Federico Marchetti gave up four goals on five shots on net - Buffon gave up the first goal vs. Paraguay. I can't really fault Marchetti for many if any of those goals. Maybe Buffon could have saved the goal vs. New Zealand, but Shane Smeltz was literally 2 yards from goal when he poked it under Marchetti. Maybe Buffon could have gotten to Kopunek's final goal for Slovakia, but I don't think he would have saved either of Vittek's goals.

Italy was asleep at the wheel all tournament and it seemed the only time they responded was when they were slapped in the face allowing the first goal of every match they played. They had to come back from behind against Paraguay to earn a draw and were really luck the Paraguayan keeper made a terrible blunder in that game allowing De Rossi to score. They had to come from behind vs. New Zealand and only scored on Iaquinta penalty. And they were behind the entire time vs. Slovakia, 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2. Just not good enough from the defending champions.

Please understand Italian fans, we have hated on your team before because they were good almost like us Bostonians hate on the Yankees because they have so many titles. But this year Rich and myself picked against your team because they were old and decrepit lacking in skill. Yes an Italian team won the Champions League this year, but they had no Italians in the starting lineup, and even their coach Jose Mourinho - the best in the world - said he dislikes Italian football, which is why he was so eager to leave for Real Madrid as soon as the season was over. That's why I picked Paraguay to win the group, and Italy to go home early even though I didn't think it would be this early.

Italy

Best Moment: Man oh man there weren't many. Both the goals vs. Slovakia were pretty, the movement on Antonio Di Natale and Fabio Quaqliarella's gorgeous chip in the 90th minute, but neither helped them get a point that would have put them through as the second-place team. So I will say De Rossi's goal in the first game does it for me.

Worst Moment: Going home before reaching the knockout round - the round of 16. Only the 1950 Italian team, the 1966 Brazilian team, and the 2002 French team failed to advance out of Group Stage play entering a tournament as defending champs. Italy now has the only dubious honor of being on that list twice.

Best Result: Yuck, it really was a nightmarish tournament, but I guess the draw with Paraguay. They played well in the match with a slight edge in possession 52-48% and four more shots on goal than the Paraguayans. But still they were lucky to earn the draw because Paraguayan keeper Justo Villar made a terrible attempt at a punch on a clearance and the defender who was marking De Rossi had his back turned to the kick.

Worst Result: I'll tell you what the Slovakia loss was bad, but the New Zealand tie was worse. No urgency to take three points and as it turns out those three points would have been crucial because Italy would have had a better goal differential than Slovakia, who finished with a negative goal differential -1, while Italy would have been level. It was one of the all-time upsets as I noted in the New Zealand postmortem.

Final Tally: two draws, one defeat, four goals scored, five conceded.

Best Player: Certainly can't give it to anyone on defense - five goals on six shots on net all of which were fairly close range and on loose marking - disgraceful by anyone's standards, especially Italy. We'll go with De Rossi, who was solid for much of the tournament with a goal and an assist. He did a lot of running and shouldn't be pegged as a target for this lackluster performance.

Worst Player: Could it be Buffon or Pirlo for their injuries? That would be harsh. How about Marchetti for allowing four goals on five shots on net? Nah, as I said before they weren't really his fault, you can't allow the shots he saw they were too close and proved to be fatal. I'll go with my main man Fabio Cannavaro, the captain. I've always thought the 2o06 FIFA World Player of the Year was overrated, he showed poorly when he transferred to Real Madrid, and his Juventus team finished terribly this season in 7th place barely qualifying for the second tier Europa Cup. Many of the goals scored on Italy came through the heart of the defense where Cannavaro was either caught out of position or did not have his defenders organized - and that's his fault because he is the captain, it's his responsibility to organize and communicate.