Thirty-five-year-old was successful with 103 of his 108 passes in a sweltering Manaus, the best record of any player at the World Cup so far
It was not as if England had been taken by surprise. Ever since theWorld Cup draw was made six months ago, Roy Hodgson has been answering questions about Andrea Pirlo and contemplating how best to negate his threat. But even then, in the extreme 30C heat of the Amazon jungle, the man the Brazilian locals now call ‘Pirlinho’ did what every genuinely world-class player does. He adapted, seized the moment and still imparted his vast influence on the occasion.
Pirlo famously out-passed the entire England squad during their Euro 2012 quarter-final with Italy and, although it was marginally more competitive on Saturday, the statistics were again emphatic. Since records began in 1966, no team has completed a World Cup match with a superior passing accuracy than the 93.19 per cent that Italy achieved on Saturday. Pirlo made 108 passes – more than one a minute – and was successful with 103 of those.
To put that in context, to date, no player in this World Cup has made or completed as many passes or had as many touches. Almost a quarter of Pirlo’s passes (22) were in the final third of the pitch, a tally that is also the best in the tournament to date. Add in his wonderful dummy to effectively provide the assist for Italy’s first, as well as his curling free-kick that cannoned off Joe Hart’s crossbar, and it is hard to imagine how England could have done less to contain Italy’s best player. Credit and blame must still be evenly apportioned. Pirlo, quite clearly, is a masterful footballer and few teams in Brazil during this next month will prevent him from dictating the tempo of a match.
Cesare Prandelli, the Italy manager, had also got Italy’s tactics spot on, blending his central midfield with Daniele De Rossi and Marco Verratti in a formation that was sufficiently fluid to make it almost impossible to man-mark Pirlo. For much of the match, Pirlo sat deep with De Rossi and was actually closest to Raheem Sterling, Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck. Yet he would then also regularly drift forward into the positions occupied by Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson and even Phil Jagielka and Gary Cahill. England did not have any one player responsible for containing Pirlo and, in the searing heat, eventually stood off and let the 35-year-old play. Two former England midfielders felt that both Pirlo and De Rossi had been gifted far too much time and space on the ball.
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