Luca Toni. Two games, one shot on target, one seriously underperforming striker. Given that his form both domestically and internationally pointed towards him bagging a hatful (he was heading the CPI into the competition) and being a potential Golden Boot winner his performance to date has been woeful. A quick look at his heat map from the match against Romania might provide an answer to why he is failing. Whilst other strikers – most noticeably Ruud van Nistelrooy – have played back to goal, collecting the ball from the midfield and creating chances from deep, Toni has resolutely hung around the very centre of the penalty area, waiting for the ball to come to him. Lazy and not a little arrogant if you want our opinion (which you probably don’t), he really needs to up his work rate if he wants to be playing football next week and not lying on a tropical beach.

France’s reputation as a solid side is on the wane, as their defence has visibly weakened and they have started conceding more goals. Domenech has been in charge for 52 games since Euro 2004, and in the first 33 of these his team didn’t concede once. Then the ‘slide’ began, as over the course of the next 15 games they let 1 goal in. The subsequent four matches saw two going past the keeper, and of course in the game against the Netherlands 4 crossed Coupet’s line. If this trend continues in the same vein, Italy can be confident of getting at least 12 in the first half, but somehow I can’t see this happening.

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