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Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti have combined to give Italy a crucial 2-0 win in Helsinki.
The battle for the top two spots in Group Nine are now between Wales and Italy, so their head to head clash in September will be decisive to see who goes into the play-offs. The Azzurri are two points behind the Welsh, but Mark Hughes' men have a game in hand.
Finland were on fine form after beating Serbia & Montenegro 3-0 this week, while the ex-Yugoslavia lost 2-1 in Azerbaijan earlier today. That result prompted ex-Milan midfielder Dejan Savicevic to resign as manager of the Serbs.
Giovanni Trapattoni stuck with his 4-2-3-1 formation, but Bernardo Corradi and Stefano Fiore stepped in for the injured Christian Vieri and Mauro Camoranesi.
Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti played together for the first time since the World Cup exit to South Korea, with the Juventus man moving out wide on the left. Gianluca Zambrotta retained his left-back position.
The Azzurri had an aggressive start, but it was Finland who had the first real chance on four minutes. Gianluigi Buffon was forced to punch away a fierce Kolkka effort from distance.
Italy fought back and soon after Corradi's diving header on a Fiore cross was deflected wide by Saarinen.
There was controversy at both ends of the field on 15 minutes. Zambrotta was halted for a dubious offside ruling, then Finland hit the back of the net, but the goal was disallowed as Fabio Cannavaro's mis-placed clearance had already crossed the byline.
On the resulting corner Buffon bravely dived onto the feet of Saarinen following a deflected shot.
Totti scored two splendid long range free kicks in the recent Coppa Italia Final against Milan and almost netted another on 21 minutes, but the ball skimmed the crossbar.
Then the Roma captain just failed to slide onto an intelligent Fiore through ball as goalkeeper Jaaskelainen charged forward.
The defence was continually hurt by the giant Finnish forwards and every set-piece caused problems. Forssell fired another piledriver over the bar and Buffon rushed out to punch away a dangerous effort.
However, after a period of sustained pressure from the home side, it was Italy who broke the deadlock with a fantastic goal. Fiore set Christian Panucci running and his cross from the right was volleyed hard and low into the near corner by Francesco Totti.
Just minutes later the all-Roma combination almost led to a second goal, as Panucci's header from a Totti corner kick was cleared off the line.
Finland continued to put pressure on, but the Azzurri had the best chances. At the dawn of the second half Jaaskelainen got down quickly to palm away a fierce Simone Perrotta piledriver.
Kolkka was perhaps Finland's most influential player and saw Zambrotta charge down his shot following an Alessandro Nesta error.
But Totti and Del Piero combined to create a second Azzurri goal seventeen minutes from time. The Roma man spotted Del Piero in space on the left flank and threaded through before the Juve hero fired a powerful left-foot drive into the roof of the net.
Massimo Oddo and Marco Delvecchio were given a run-out in the final minutes. There was bad news when Fabio Cannavaro pulled up with what looks like an ankle problem. It was an unfortunate way to end his 70th international game.
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