Italy the cause of its own World Cup downfall

PRETORIA, South Africa - It was less than heartbreaking, watching the Azzurri tumble out of this World Cup in the group stages.

They trailed in all three of their matches, finished at the bottom of Group F, and - get this - allowed five goals in only six shots on goal.

You can't fake your way out of that kind of performance.

The Italians came into this tournament as a question mark - the squad's key players were aged - but most folks felt the team's staunch defense would, at a minimum, carry it through to the knockout stages.

Watching Slovakia milk those four minutes of injury time using "injuries," sock readjustments, and substitutions, felt like a form of poetic justice. All the Italians could do was lift their hands in disbelief.

"When we get back to Italy, we're going to put helmets on," midfielder Gennaro Gattuso told reporters afterward. "And we're going to accept all the criticism."

U.S. coach Bob Bradley offered his opinion of injury play-acting at Thursday's news conference: "I hate to see players acting like they've been hit and getting away with it. I think that's the simplest thing of all to clean up. When I see Kaka get sent off, I think that's bad for the game, because he's a good player. [The play that got him sent off] is play-acting at its best, or its worst. I like to see real competition . . . I'd be ashamed if I was the one doing it."

Former President Bill Clinton has altered his travel plans so he can stay in South Africa for Saturday's match between the United States and Ghana. Clinton, who watched the U.S. victory over Algeria with FIFA president Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, met with Nelson Mandela on Thursday, then spoke with reporters.

Clinton is in South Africa promoting the U.S.'s World Cup bids for 2018 and 2022, but said he "lost his voice" rooting for the Americans on Wednesday.

"I had to come home and drink hot tea with honey for an hour," Clinton said after watching Landon Donovan's 91st-minute thriller. "When that sucker went in there, I said, 'Thank God for overtime.' "

You can insert your own joke there.

The day after the United States plays Ghana in its knockout match, the English go against Germany. Interesting fact: All four previous World Cup games between England and Germany were drawn after 90 minutes.

"A game like this should be a semifinal, not a last-16 game," German legend Franz Beckenbauer told Germany's Bild newspaper. "Stupidly, the English have slipped up a little by finishing second in their group."

England fans traveling to Bloemfontein, at the edge of the Karoo desert, are also concerning themselves with this terrible news - shops and supermarkets are forbidden from selling alcohol on Sundays.

U.S. forward Jozy Altidore has endured, and dished out, some ferocious blows in the first three matches of this World Cup. On Thursday, Altidore said he was a supporter of instituting replay for his sport. "It would be nice if they had the basketball thing where they look at the replay and decide, or have a red flag and challenge the play," he said.

On Thursday, U.S. defender Carlos Bocanegra said his favorite tradition within soccer is the end-of-game jersey swap. Bocanegra said he has a closet at home filled with jerseys. When he retires, he said, he'll select a few of his favorites and frame them with a game photo.

French star Thierry Henry met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace on Thursday. After the country's humiliating World Cup, the team landed in Paris on Thursday, with local television broadcasting live pictures as players were "whisked away" in private cars. Henry took a limousine to his meeting with the president, a meeting Henry requested.

"That the president is taking charge of football is not a normal situation, but we are not facing a normal situation," deputy Thierry Mariani, a member of Sarkozy's UMP party, told the AFP. "Football is part of our country's image. Restoring our image is the head of state's duty."

Sarkozy is also a football fan.