Preview: Pirlo’s Azzurri and Suarez’s Celeste seeking fitting end
Both players – veteran Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo and Liverpool star forward Luis Suarez – are nominees for the Confederations Cup 2013 Golden Ball award. Suarez showcased his scoring aptitude against Spain and Tahiti in the group stages of the competition.
The Uruguayan striker really does not need too many shots to create a goal. There is even more to his game as he can engineer the attack behind Diego Forlan and Edison Cavani as per the plans of coach Oscar Tabarez.
La Celeste Olimpica narrowly lost to Brazil in the semi-finals and so did Italy to world champions Spain; a missed penalty from Bonucci settled a heart-breaking 7-6 shoot-out score line in favour of the Spaniards. However, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup Third-Place final has a great deal of consolation at stake. It will be curious to find out whether Cesare Prandelli's team can find the net in normal time and actually claim victory in the absence of Mario Balotelli.
Four years ago, it was La Furia Roja and Bafana Bafana of South Africa contending for this spot. The former clinched bronze and, buoyed by this achievement, grew in confidence to claim the FIFA World Cup the following year.
This time, it is perhaps too early for either Italy or Uruguay to dream about glory at Brazil 2014. However, one thing is certain: the performances that both sides have displayed since the beginning of this tournament have made them look as genuine contenders for next year’s big football event.
And if the Uruguayans are not doing as well as the Italians in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, bronze medals on Sunday afternoon could brighten their spirits for the CONMEBOL road-to-Brazil challenge ahead.
Where to watch the match live – Start time, live stream, TV channels
Thanks to Live Soccer TV, it is not complicated to know which channel in the United States will provide coverage for the Confederations Cup 2013 Third-place Final. The two sports networks lined up for this bronze battle are ESPN and Univision. In the United Kingdom, count on BBC Three Red Button only. Meanwhile, in Canada, viewers will have four different options. If you are located in any of these three countries, please see below for TV schedule info.
Watch Uruguay vs Italy live:
In Canada at 12:00pm EST on CBC Sports Online, TLN Telelatino, CBC, TVA Sports
In UK at 17:00 BST on BBC Red Button
In USA at 12:00pm EST on Watch ESPN, Univision Deportes, Univision, ESPN2
With our visitors coming from all corners of the world, the Uruguay vs Italy match page features live streaming and TV info for more than 120 various locations. Please click on the fixture’s link above to access more details.
TV channels in our database for this third-place play-off include SuperSport 3 Africa and SuperSport Select (Africa), Al Jazeera Sports HD1 and other Al Jazeera Sports channels (Africa and Middle East), tvOne and ESPN India (Asia), Sky Calcio 1 and RTE Live (Europe) and DirecTV Sports Latam (Latin America).
