ALL IN THE GAME:A World Cup miscellany

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE:YOU HAVE to say one thing for the Italians they do footballing post mortems like no other. Thursday's defeat to the Republic of Ireland's Euro 2012 opponents Slovakia didn't just knock Italy out of the World, the calamity, apparently, embodied the decline of the nation on every level.

"Azzurri, the mirror of a country" declared Il Fatto Quotidiano, "a country without memory, without identity, without an idea of the future".

"All black" said La Gazzetta dello Sporton its front page, "the worst Italy we have ever seen go out".

“It was the darkest and most terrible day in the history of Italian football”, said its editorial.

“Like Dorian Gray’s mirror, on this afternoon in Johannesburg we saw the picture of an old, defeated team without a style of play or any ideas, outclassed technically and physically by a modest Slovak team”.

Corriere della Sera("Azzurri, defeat and shame") and La Repubblica("Azzurri, shame and tears") came mighty close to choosing the same headlines, the former reckoning the 2010 World Cup is a "declaration that a kind of soccer in Italy is ending. The problem is what we have become".

"I dreamt of closing my eyes and hiding my head in my mamma's lap – had she been next to me at the stadium – like children do at the movie theatre when the film gets scary", wept a La Repubblicawriter.

Honestly, now mightn’t be a good time to tell them it’s only a game.

Prayers of the faithful: Supporters seek divine intervention

THE PRAYING GAME:WHEN YOU were growing up were you told by your betters that you should never pray to God – or whoever you might have worshipped – for your beloved team to, well, win? Us too. There were, of course, lots of good reasons for this warning, mainly the one about there being no place in sport for divine intervention (if you discount, say, a goal-line clearance by Richard Dunne).

Apart from that, what is God to do if (S)He's bombarded with prayers from fans of both teams in a game? Ordain that it go to penalties? But then what? We thought of this dilemma when we spotted these photos of supporters from Brazil, South Africa, the USA and Paraguay watching their nations in action. Imagine if they met in the semi-finals? Whose prayers would be answered?

God knows.

No League of gentlemen: Immigrant rant turns to jelly

LIPPI COPS IT:ITALY'S ANTI-IMMIGRANT Northern League party wasn't quite mourning the nation's World Cup exit yesterday, which wasn't a complete surprise, considering their own radio station had said it would be supporting Paraguay in Italy's opening group game.

"This defeat brings the torment of our national side to an indecorous and predictable end," said senator Piergiorgio Stiffoni, who described their performances as "shameful" and coach Marcello Lippi as a man with "lots of arrogance and nothing more".

"Coming back to Italy the team does not deserve a business-class flight – if there were a trans-African train they should come back with that," he said.

Stiffoni put the country's footballing woes down to "luxury immigrants", namely the stars imported to Serie A by Italian clubs. "Unfortunately for Lippi, luxury immigrants can't play for the national side and the result is the logical consequence of this fact," he said. Curiously, he claimed these players "have legs made of jelly and are short of breath".

That'll be news to Inter fans who saw their "luxury immigrants" win the treble last season.

That's my boy: The man who helped make Carlos Tevez on how he was divine at nine

SCOUTING REPORT: Ramon MaddoniCarlos Tevez's youth coach at Club Parque

"I FIRST saw him when he was nine, playing for a small neighbourhood team called Santa Magdalena. I trained the team playing against him and after a few minutes I knew I wanted him. Terribly impressive player – rhythm, technique, aggression, and he was difficult to mark.

I was at Argentinos Juniors at the time and I wanted to take him to our kiddy side, but he didn't want to come. He wanted to play in his neighbourhood team. But then in 1996 I moved to Boca, so he joined me.

His whole family were Boca fans, and so is he – really fanatical – so he was happy to come to Club Parque, which is the club I run where we train kids before they're old enough to sign for a club.

I knew the minute I saw him he was special. The first thing I look for in a kid is technique. Aged nine, Carlitos had very good technique: he knew how to stop the ball with his chest, was able to use both legs, and had control of both inside and outside of the feet.

We worked on a lot of areas: heading, shooting with his left foot (because he was right-footed), lots of things. I had a strong sense he was the player of the future – my intuition told me not just that he would play for Boca's first team, but for Argentina too.

I've had lots of Argentina internationals come through Club Parque as kids – Sorin, Placente, Jonas Gutierrez, Cambiasso, Riquelme, Gago, Coloccini – so I know an extraordinary kid when I see one. Carlitos was different. Aged 10, 11, he stood out.

He has a fire that will see him through wherever he plays. I follow his career with joy – he has been amazing with Manchester City and you can see the fans always enjoy his game. He's won the hearts of the English — not bad for a boy who didn't want to quit Santa Magdalena.

Making the cut: Gillette man Federer survives close shave

LAST MAN STANDING:WHEN ROGER Federer was two sets down in his opening game at Wimbledon the people at Gillette must surely have wondered if their run of bad luck was about to continue. While the company uses sports stars from all over the world to promote its products its three main men in Europe are Federer, Tiger Woods and Thierry Henry. Let's just say the last two have endured interesting times.

Any way, Federer survived so Gillette could breath again. Until, perhaps, yesterday morning when they picked up their copy of Tutto Sport, the headline comparing the Italian team to mozzarella cheese.

And just down the front page a little there's Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro . . . smothered in Gillette shaving foam. Ooops. Timing, they say, is everything.

Departing Stoch makes the Chelsea grade . . . at last

SO THEN, who exactly is Miroslav Stoch? According to Fifa's official profile, Stoch is the new "wonder boy" of Slovakian football, and he was prominent in his side's 3-2 defeat of Italy on Thursday. Then again, according to Fifa, practically every young player in this tournament is the new "wonder boy" of their national side.

No, for our money, Miroslav Stoch is the player who edges Chelsea one clear in our spurious, and entirely unscientific, "Premier League Teams With Most Players At World Cup" table. Catchy, no?

The 20-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Dutch side Twente, was released by Chelsea earlier this month and has since agreed to join Fenerbache. But he was on the Londoners' books when the World Cup squads were finalised on June 1st. And that's good enough for us.

His presence swells Chelsea's numbers to 13, one ahead of Liverpool and three clear of Arsenal, Spurs and Manchester City.

As for Manchester United?

Well, they're languishing in mid-table obscurity having sent just six players to the tournament.

Overall, the English top flight fares well in this numbers game. Only five countries – Italy, Japan, Germany, North Korea and Uruguay – have squads without at least one Premier League player.

Our calculations show 105 from the self-titled "Greatest League in the World" doing their bit in South Africa.

And that's discounting the contributions from Portsmouth (six) and Hull (one) who have since lost their Premier League status.

Of the 736 players to have been involved, the English total is comfortably in first place. Germany's Bundesliga is second with 84 while the Serie A in Italy provides 80 names to the rosters.

And what of Spain?

Barcelona (13) and Real Madrid (10) have been well represented but the top-heavy nature of La Liga means just 57 players from their national league made the grade.

- NOEL O'REILLY