Italy Beats Uruguay In Penalties For Third Place In Confederations Cup

Wow. That was a pretty good game, right? The Confederations Cup consolation match between Italy and Uruguay was a meaningless game in a meaningless tournament, and it wasn't supposed to do anything more than whet our appetite ahead of tonight's final between Brazil and Spain. Along the way, it turned out to be the best match of the bunch.

Italy played 120 minutes in a heartbreaking loss to Spain three days ago, and with stars like Pirlo and Balotelli out, the smart money would've probably been on the side to give a lackluster performance. But it was Uruguay that twice had to claw back from deficits after Alessandro Diamanti set up the first Italian goal and scored the second on free kicks. Luckily Edinson Cavani, one of the most sought-after players in the world in this summer's transfer window, came to play. He beat Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon twice in the second half. After 90 minutes, the match was tied, 2-2.

So we got 30 extra minutes of soccer. Italy's fatigue, which was exacerbated by a cheap Riccardo Montolivo foul to earn his second yellow, seemed to finally catch up to them. Uruguay, meanwhile, looked fresh. But though they pushed hard for the winning goal, they couldn't get it. The match went to penalties.

In the semifinal, Spain put on one of the best penalty performances in recent memory, and Buffon couldn't even get close to a single shot. But Buffon is great, and has been great for almost 20 years. So today, he stopped Forlan's spot kick, and then two more to win the third-place trophy for Italy. You can see the whole shootout above. It's in Spanish, because dramatic effect.