A pair of heavyweights fought to a draw and the battle for second place in Group C is now a whole lot clearer after a pair of absorbing games on day three.
Spain 1 – Italy 1
Croatia 3 – Ireland 1
– The Spanish aura is wounded, but still alive. Since winning Euro 2008, Spain’s victories have seemed inevitable. Tiki-taka style of play sometimes took a while to yield results, but the key goal always came. It was a phenomenon bolstered by the nation’s domination of the club game, as well. But after Barcelona and Real Madrid crashed out of the Champions League in the semifinals, Spanish confidence seemed to be suffering. And after Italy scored against the run of play in the 60th minute, it was fair to ask if this was the beginning of the end of an era. Cesc Fabregas answered four minutes later, though, showcasing a fighting spirit still alive in La Furie Roja. Don’t count Spain out just yet.
– Mario Balotelli is a time bomb. This may not exactly be a newsflash, but it is only a matter of time before the blonde-mohawked striker does some serious self-inflicted damage to Italy’s title chances. Batoletti provided flashes of his boundless potential and gave the Spanish defense fits at times, but also showed off his dark side in throwing a fit after a penalty decision went against him and later picking up a yellow card for a dangerous tackle.
– Italy-Croatia is going to be a classic. As I went over in more detail in my tournament preview, the clash of styles had already made this an intriguing matchup. But with Italy likely needing a win and Croatia feeling confident after a comfortable victory over Ireland, the stakes couldn’t be higher on Wednesday night. This one will likely decide who goes through and who goes out.
– Having a Plan B is vital. For years, Croatia was known as the side that played beautiful, attacking football but that lacked the edge to make it to the next level. The size and strength of their pair of strikers — Mario Mandzukic and Nikica Jelavic, both of whom scored Sunday night — gives their game an extra dimension and makes the Croatians a real dark horse in this group. On the flip side, Ireland had gone in with the mentality of grinding out a low-scoring draw or win. After Croatia jumped in front by two, the Irish lacked the guile to crawl back into the game and are now all but out.
– Ireland should be in every major tournament, if only for their fans. The green-clad Irish faithful had every reason to quiet down when their team fell behind by two goals, but kept the noise level rising until the final whistle. The atmosphere after Ireland equalized in the first half was the best so far this tournament, and while the result was disappointing, the Irish effort was something that their fans could be proud of and get behind.
