| Roberto Donadoni has a lot of work to do after a shock 3-1 friendly defeat in Hungary - their first loss in a year. The last setback was another 3-1 result in France for the Euro 2008 qualifiers last September, but this game had started well with Antonio Di Natale giving Italy the lead in the Ferenc Puskas stadium. Captain Fabio Cannavaro had a nightmare, as he was at fault for two of the three goals. In the final friendly before the crunch Euro 2008 qualifier with France, Roberto Donadoni had to do without the injured Gennaro Gattuso, Simone Perrotta and Daniele De Rossi, but fielded a very attack-minded line-up. Fabio Quagliarella bagged a brace in Kaunas during their last game back in June and again started with Alessandro Del Piero and debutant Alberto Aquilani, who was promoted from the Under-21 side. Goalkeeper Fulop punched away an Andrea Pirlo free kick after four minutes and, as the move continued, Aquilani had an acrobatic volley held. Hungary were very aggressive and nearly scored on the counter, but Gera blazed wide with only Gianluigi Buffon to beat. There was another great chance for the home side as Massimo Oddo was nutmegged by Priskin and Gianluca Zambrotta's clearance proved decisive. On the resulting corner, Dzsudzak drilled wide of the near post from the edge of the area. On 20 minutes Toni was brought down, but the referee played the advantage and Del Piero thumped off target. Pirlo's splendid chipped pass fell between Aquilani and Del Piero, the Roma man nodding it past the upright. Oddo sprinted down the right flank and Toni dummied on the cross, but a defender came sliding in before Del Piero could pounce from eight yards. Sunderland goalkeeper Fulop was at full stretch to prod a Del Piro snapshot out for a corner from Quagliarella's assist. Toni's volley put the ball in the back of the net from the resulting corner, but it was correctly disallowed for an offside position. Hungary remained dangerous and Buffon plucked a Vasko free header out of the air, then soon after Italy lost the ball in midfield and the goalkeeper tipped Priskin's shot out from under the bar. Just before the break a Toszer free kick drifted past everyone and the back post. During that move, Materazzi suffered a thigh problem and was replaced at half-time by Palermo's Andrea Barzagli. Donadoni also introduced Fabio Grosso, Antonio Di Natale and Pippo Inzaghi for the second half. This was Grosso's first Italian international appearance in almost a year. Within four minutes Italy had taken the lead. Quagliarella sparked the move and Aquilani's through ball was toe-poked past the 'keeper by Udinese's Di Natale at full stretch. Fulop was totally wrong-footed by the fast-paced passing. Hungary threw on Inter youth team player Attila Filkor and they nearly equalised when substitute Leandro was played through completely clear on goal, but Buffon stood his ground and managed to smother the shot. Moments later the Azzurri were not so lucky, as from the corner kick the ball fell kindly for a stunning Juhasz half-volley that smashed into the far top corner. The home side's tails were up and as Priskin went to the byline, Fabio Cannavaro scythed him down with a mistimed tackle. Zoltan Gera stepped up and converted the penalty, sending Buffon the wrong way and celebrating with acrobatic flips. There was another substitution for Italy, who introduced Angelo Palombo of Sampdoria for Aquilani. Inzaghi's header looped over, but Hungary went 3-1 up with another Cannavaro error. The Real Madrid man lost a tackle to Gera, who rolled across for the unmarked Feczesin to tap in from six yards. Grosso's free kick skimmed the woodwork, then Massimo Ambrosini volleyed well over from a brilliant position and really should have done better. Czisimadia also had a good chance for the Hungarians and just failed to make contact from six yards, then Buffon had his palms stung by Feczesin.
|