(Oh hello there, De Silvrestri skin.)
On a sopping wet pitch yesterday, the Auzzirrini beat Chile 1-0 (on a goal by none other than Pablo Daniel Osvaldo) to take home Italy's first-ever Toulon title. WOO HOO! Though the quality of the pitch made it hard for both teams to play as much as they like, there was still a lot of skill on display, as well as a ton of toughness from both teams -- despite the conditions, it was awesome to watch.

CHILE-ITALIA 0-1 (Osvaldo al 25' st)

CHILE (3-3-1-3): Toselli; Caroca, Jara, Rebolledo (27' st Sagredo); Fuenzalida, Meneses, Corvetto; Morales; Orellana, Lorca, Villanueva. (Olivares, Martinez, Vargas). All.: Bielsa.
ITALIA (4-3-2-1): Bassi; Dellafiore, Coda, Bocchetti, De Silvestri; Nocerino, Cigarini (17' st Dessena), Galloppa (12' st Guarente); Osvaldo, Giovinco (24' st Abate), Pellè. (Alfonso, Motta, Marzoratti, Marchisio, Candreva, Lanzafame). All.: Casiraghi.

( match report )

( A very, very frustrating collection of pictures, because the photographers seem to have entirely missed both Osvi's goal and the frantic touching afterward. )

The babies won again today, easily defeating a mostly experimental US side 2-0 to finished undefeated in group play @ the Toulon Tournament. The announcers kept calling Italy the standout team of the tournament, and they were good, but I think they only said that because the boys were thrashing the US, and the announcers wanted to make the US feel better. Anyone who saw the Ivory Coast match knows the Azzurrini haven't been exactly magic for all three matches.

Anyway, for the second match in a row, Casiraghi messed with his team, this time changing not only his personnel but also his system, and using his third captain in three matches.

Italy 2 - 0 US
Goals: Ignazio Abate (Pablo Daniel Osvaldo) 30th minute; Daniele Dessena (Paolo Daniel Osvaldo) 35th minute.

USA: 1-Chris Seitz (24-Quentin Westberg, 46); 13-Blake Wagner (4-Kyle Davies, 46), 3-Eric Brunner, 6-Julian Valentin, 25-Jonathan Leathers; 16-Corey Ashe, 14-Bryan Arguez, 8-Greg Dalby, 7-Kamani Hill - capt. (17-Lee Nguyen, 46); 9-Gabe Ferrari, 19-Sammy Ochoa

ITA: 12-Alfonso Enrico; 2-Marco Motta, 5-Lino Marzoratti, 13-Andrea Coda – capt., 6-Salvatore Bocchetti; 20-Daniele Dessena, 21-Luca Cigarini (4-Antonio Nocerino, 59), 14-Daniele Galloppa; 17-Ignazio Abate; 10-Claudio Marchisio (7-Davide Lanzafame, 46); 9-Pablo Daniel Osvaldo (19-Graziano Pelle, 59)

( There aren't that many pictures, but at least they're big. )
Up next is a very, very good Japan side in the semis. The match will be on Tuesday, probably at about 8pm local time, according to C4. In the US, it'll be on FSC, which is carrying the whole tournament.