| Massimo Oddo's penalty and a marvellous Luca Toni goal have given Roberto Donadoni his first victory on the Italy bench, as Ukraine were crushed 2-0. Roberto Donadoni picked a very attack-minded formation against the Ukraine, a side beaten 3-0 in the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals with a Luca Toni brace and Gianluca Zambrotta strike. Marco Materazzi returned from a two-match ban, while Fabio Grosso's injury pushed Gianluca Zambrotta to left-back and brought in Massimo Oddo on the right. Simone Perrotta was suspended, Alessandro Del Piero was back in the Azzurri jersey for the first time since the tournament. Ukraine were without former Milan star Andriy Shevchenko due to a flu virus. It was Ukraine who had the first chance after four minutes, Gianluigi Buffon comfortably smothering a hopeful long-range Tymoshchuk effort. Soon after, Gusiev took advantage of a lucky ricochet to smash his shot from an acute angle, stinging Buffon's gloves at the near post. Luca Toni just failed to get strong enough contact with his head to a Del Piero chipped pass over the defence and Daniele De Rossi did the same on Andrea Pirlo's free kick. Del Piero combined delightfully with Pirlo on the edge of the area, but the Juventus man was unbalanced and fired over the bar. Italy grew with time and had a fantastic scoring opportunity on the half-hour mark. Massimo Oddo's sweeping cross was nodded towards the far post by Toni, but goalkeeper Shovkovskyi flew to make a crucial one-handed save. Del Piero went on a strong run from midfield and seemed to be brought down just outside the area by Tymoshchuk, but the referee waved play on. Toni put a brace past Ukraine in the World Cup and nearly opened the scoring with a tremendous half-volley from distance that skimmed the crossbar. Buffon captured another long-range Tymoshchuk strike, then after the break Del Piero couldn't get a Toni assist under control outside the six-yard box. A Pirlo free kick was only cleared as far as the edge of the area, where Gennaro Gattuso's volley was off target. Vincenzo Iaquinta ran on to Gianluca Zambrotta's assist and managed to flick the ball past his marker, but snatched at his shot. Buffon did well to beat away a rocket of a Tymoshchuk free kick that pierced the defensive wall, the force nearly sending the goalkeeper back into his own net. Udinese forward Iaquinta latched on to a loose ball and his fierce strike was well parried by Shovkovskyi, then Toni was unable to make the most of Gattuso's follow-up cross. Donadoni's first substitution saw Antonio Di Natale replace Del Piero, recreating his Udinese partnership with Iaquinta. Cannavaro had to sprint in order to close down Voronin on a dangerous run into the area and the resulting corner was nodded on to a sea of bodies by Shershun. Ukrainian substitute Maksim Kalinichenko also tested Buffon with a brilliant curling free kick from 20 metres that the Juventus shot-stopper punched away with some difficulty. The referee pointed to the spot when Toni was dragged back by Rusol as he tried to get on the end of Massimo Oddo's pass. The Lazio defender has a 100 per cent record from the spot in Serie A this season and stepped up to confidently bury the penalty, cheekily chipping it over Shovkovskiy. Ukraine fought back immediately with Buffon at full stretch to palm a Voronin piledriver round the base of the upright. Mauro Camoranesi took over from Iaquinta in the final stages to reinforce the midfield. Italy made the result safe with a fantastic goal from Toni, who evidently has good luck against the Ukraine. He sprung the offside trap and hooked down a Di Natale pass with his right foot before slamming an unstoppable left-foot strike into the far top corner from the edge of the area. It was very nearly 3-0 moments later, as Di Natale and Toni combined brilliantly at speed with the Udinese man bringing a tough save out of Shovskovskiy. Pippo Inzaghi replaced goalscorer Toni and Buffon prevented Kalinichenko getting a consolation goal with another curling free kick.
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