|
Francesco Totti silenced his critics with a brace and Alberto Gilardino broke his duck, but the Azzurri struggled again to see off Belarus 4-3.
Marcello Lippi made sweeping changes to the side that lost 1-0 to Slovenia at the weekend, although the injured Mauro Camoranesi and suspended Daniele Bonera were forced out.
Lippi also changed his tactics to a 4-4-2 system with Francesco Totti in close support of Parma striker Alberto Gilardino, playing in front of his home fans at the Stadio Tardini. Fabio Cannavaro was rested in favour of Marco Materazzi in a largely changed defence with attacking fullbacks Massimo Oddo and Giuseppe Pancaro introduced, pushing Gianluca Zambrotta and new entry Aimo Diana further forward. It was an important match for Pancaro, who missed Euro 2004 with a serious injury.
Belarus were fresh from a 4-0 mauling of Moldova and eager to make a play for the second place currently held by the Azzurri behind leaders Slovenia - who lost 3-0 to Norway this evening. Their star striker is Sampdoria man Valeri Kutuzov, while Sergei Gurenko is also a former Serie A player.
Within two minutes Oddo's free kick was nodded over by Pancaro at the back post, then Totti's set-piece curled inches wide of the upright.
Totti rolled the ball across for Diana's centre and as goalkeeper Vasili Khomutovsky plucked it out of the air Gilardino and a defender clattered into him. The Roma captain could perhaps have tried to shoot from the edge of the box, but is still short on confidence and opted for the pass.
The first corner kick of the game arrived after 25 minutes and from that kick Vladimir Korytko punched the ball off Pancaro's head and the penalty was inevitable. Totti stepped up and buried his spot-kick into the left-hand corner, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way. However, the Spanish referee ordered the kick to be retaken due to encroachment and the second time Totti thumped it into same corner.
This goal forced Belarus to come out of their holding pattern, but this gave Italy room to push forward and Totti turned Zambrotta's cross wide with his chest instead of his head from six yards.
Soon after Gilardino made the Tardini crowd hold its collective breath when he chested down a pass with his back to goal, turned and curled it just wide of the post.
On 32 minutes there was a stunning move with first touches from Zambrotta, Gilardino and Totti that was charged down, but it continued until Daniele De Rossi slammed an angled drive into the far bottom corner of the net. The former Under-21 international scored his second senior Italy goal.
Belarus made a tactical switch to try and get back into the game, introducing striker Bulyga for the more defensive Korytko. The only danger for Gianluigi Buffon in the first half came from Marco Materazzi, whose back header nearly took the goalkeeper by surprise.
Italy were dominating and the lively Zambrotta skipped past two defenders and his shot was well saved. Totti then threaded through for Gilardino only for a desperate tackle to close down his shot.
Buffon's first save of the game came at the dawn of the second half, as the ball wasn't cleared effectively and the former Parma 'keeper eventually performed a good reaction save on Kutuzov's close-range strike.
At the other end Belarus nearly scored an own goal, as Kulchiy nodded a Totti free kick on to the crossbar by mistake.
However, it was Belarus who re-opened the match with a truly spectacular strike. Maksim Romashchenko saw Buffon slightly off his line and unleashed a left-foot rocket from 35 metres that went in off the inside of the upright.
Zambrotta was booked for not stepping back far enough from an opposition free kick and will therefore miss the Scotland game in March. When Simone Perrotta replaced Aimo Diana, Zambrotta switched to the right and further proved his versatility.
Oddo was also booked for a handling offence on the edge of the box and Buffon flew to palm out the resulting free kick from Belkevich. Soon after he got down well to smother Bulgya's effort.
Former Parma captain Fabio Cannavaro was surprisingly rested for this game, but he replaced Massimo Oddo to give the Azzurri more coverage at the back.
Perrotta slipped at the crucial moment, but the move continued and Totti's volley dipped just past the crossbar.
The Roma captain scored a stunning free kick in the 3-3 draw with Inter last week and curled in another fine set-piece on 74 minutes. Totti has been under real pressure from the media since his all too brief Euro 2004 campaign, but he answered his critics with this brace.
Lippi's final substitution was in midfield, as Manuele Blasi replaced the impressive De Rossi.
The result had seemed to be safe, but Gennaro Gattuso slipped inside the box and Bulyga took full advantage to slide a powerful finish past Buffon.
Totti tried to restore that two-goal cushion with a fierce drive that skimmed the woodwork, then a free kick from a very tight angle was fingertipped off target by Khomutovsky.
Belarus believed they could get a result from this match and Buffon performed another desperate reaction save to slap a rising Bulyga close range effort out from under the crossbar.
Gilardino is still looking for his first senior goal for Italy and drilled wide from a promising position, but he was in luck soon after. Zambrotta's powerful effort was only parried into the path of the Parma striker who nodded in the loose ball from five yards.
It still wasn't over, as in the closing stages Romashchenko curled in a fantastic free kick to keep Belarus in the running until the final whistle. The forward has probably done enough to earn interest from Serie A's biggest clubs with two remarkable goals.
Gilardino had the chance to make it 5-3 in stoppages when Totti's powerful cross reached him at the back post, but the former Olympics hero couldn't quite turn it into the net.
Zambrotta was, as ever, the last to run out of steam and he was only stopped by a crunching foul that saw Yaskovic sent off for a second bookable offence.
|
