channel4.com - Football Italia


	International Friendly - 7/11/2001
	Japan 1-1 Italy
	Yanagisawa 9, Doni 50
	Saitama Stadium, Tokyo (63,000)

Cristiano Doni made it a debut to remember as he saved Italy’s blushes in the 1-1 draw with Japan earlier today. The Atalanta playmaker made quite an impact as he scored just five minutes after replacing Francesco Totti. In what proved to be an entertaining game, the draw was probably the right result despite Japan’s astonishing first half in which they caused Giovanni Trapattoni’s side numerous problems. But a spirited second half Italian display not only saw them draw the game level but they also threatened to take the lead. Japan looked immediately dangerous. They sliced open the Azzurri defence after just three minutes in which Francesco Coco was lucky to stay on the pitch. The Barcelona player was booked after he was adjudged to have pulled down Morishima on the edge of the box. In the eighth minute Italy went close when Gianluca Zambrotta’s shot was saved by Japanese ‘keeper Sohokata. But Japan’s speed and aggression seemed to take Italy by surprise and the home side deservedly took the lead just a minute later. Fabio Cannavaro, captain in the absence of Paolo Maldini and Demetrio Albertini, lost the ball on the left and the resulting cross saw Yanagisawa splendidly volley home past the hapless Gigi Buffon. The Azzurri instantly tried to react and took control of the game for the next 10 minutes. A quick free-kick on the edge of the area saw a Luigi Di Biagio shot. Then just moments later Francesco Totti looked destined to score before a sliding tackle by Hato saw the ball go out for a corner. But the Japanese counter-attack was causing major problems for Italy. Cannavaro, Iuliano and Nesta all looked jet-lagged as the pacey strikers caused chaos. In the 23rd minute a 30-yard Inamoto free-kick went close before Buffon had to pull off a miracle save when Iuliano nearly popped the ball into his own net. Cristiano Zanetti and Cristiano Doni made their debuts at the start of the second half and Doni made an instant impact by blasting in the equaliser in the 50th minute. A Del Piero corner wasn’t cleared properly and Doni netted with almost his first touch of international football. Doni then showed his passing ability as his splendid 50-yard cross field ball was controlled by Del Piero whose shot was intercepted for a corner. Italy started to take control of the game as they kept possession of the ball for much longer periods than they had in the first. Zanetti started to run the show in the centre of the park and it was that man Doni who nearly made it two when his diving header from Marco Delvecchio’s cross went inches wide. It was the Roma man who was next to go close. After receiving the ball from Zambrotta he turned his marker but shot over. Doni’s memorable debut however was cut short when he was forced to leave the field with an ankle injury late on.

Japan: Sohokata; Morioka, Miyamoto, K Nakata, Hato (Myojin 74); Toda, Inamoto (Ito 76), Ono (Hattori 68), Morishima (H Nakata 46); Yanagisawa (Nishizawa 65), Takahara (Suzuki 46, Nakayama 86) Italy: Buffon; Cannavaro, Nesta, Iuliano; Zambrotta, Di Biagio (Zanetti 46), Gattuso, Coco (Pancaro 65); Totti (Doni 46, Di Livio 88), Del Piero (Delvecchio 58), Inzaghi (Fiore 86) Ref: Lu Chin (China)