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Andrea Pirlo was on target and the attacking stars combined well as Italy emerged with a confidence-boosting 4-0 win in Tunisia.
Giovanni Trapattoni performed his final experiments before the Euro 2004 tournament with this trip to take on the Champions of Africa.
Stefano Fiore was ruled out with a muscular problem, but all eyes were on the front players Francesco Totti, Alessandro Del Piero and Christian Vieri. Juve's Mauro German Camoranesi completed the line-up in a 4-2-3-1 system, although it could adapt to 4-4-2 with Totti upfront during the game, while Cristiano Zanetti and Simone Perrotta confirmed themselves as the first choice midfield partners.
The Azzurri's first chance came after three minutes, when Gianluca Zambrotta was tripped on the edge of the box and from the resulting free kick Vieri was punished for a push on the goalkeeper.
It may have been a friendly, but there was tension early on when Totti and Del Piero were furious at some tough tackles by the Tunisian defenders. An injury so close to the summer tournament would be disastrous and they made their anger clear.
The deadlock was eventually broken in bizarre circumstances. Totti's sweeping cross was headed back towards his own goal by Bouazizi, but he took the goalkeeper by surprise and scored a comical own goal.
Totti and Vieri combined beautifully throughout and the Inter man fired a fine half-volley just over the bar.
But it was captain Fabio Cannavaro who doubled the Azzurri's lead on the half-hour mark. He was left completely unmarked for a crunching header on Totti's corner kick - his first goal in the Italy jersey.
Earlier this week there were doubts over Cannavaro's fitness for the tournament due to a microfracture, so to get on the scoresheet was an important boost for the Inter defender.
Gianluigi Buffon's first intervention was on 32 minutes, as he just managed to parry a powerful long-range effort by Chedli, then scrambled the loose ball out for a corner.
At the other end Del Piero almost made it three following Vieri's intelligent cutback, but Saidi just managed to toe-poke the ball off his foot, even if the Juventus man felt he should have had a penalty.
Trap made a series of changes to most of the squad for the second half, leaving only Buffon, Camoranesi, Zambrotta, Vieri and Del Piero after the break. The most significant tests on show here were the Milan midfield pairing of Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso, plus Antonio Cassano replacing his Roma teammate Totti.
Cassano very nearly got on the scoresheet within moments of stepping on to the field, but he ballooned a smart Camoranesi pass over the bar from eight yards.
Soon after Gattuso's through ball sent Del Piero clear in the centre, though his angled drive only skimmed the far post by inches.
The many substitutions didn't dent Italy's enthusiasm and Gattuso also set up Vieri for a powerful effort that was well saved by the Tunisian goalkeeper.
Camoranesi and Vieri combined well and the Inter man cut back for the unmarked Del Piero, but his finish was very weak and straight at the 'keeper.
There was a scare for Buffon when Camoranesi cleared a dangerous corner kick practically off the line, then the Juve shot-stopper parried a long-range Braham piledriver.
The Azzurri were taking control of the match and Pirlo's ambitious free kick from an acute angle almost took the Tunisian Number 1 by surprise.
Bernardo Corradi stepped in for the impressive Vieri on the hour mark, while Giuseppe Favalli replaced Del Piero and moved the team to a 4-4-2 with Zambrotta in a more advanced role.
Two Lazio stars combined 10 minutes from time when the goalkeeper struggled to parry a trademark Corradi header from Massimo Oddo's sweeping cross from the right.
The victory was complete in the closing stages with Pirlo's magnificent free kick. The Milan midfielder, who is by no means certain of a starting spot in Portugalm curled his set-piece into the top left-hand corner of the net.
It was almost four moments later with a delightful combination between Cassano and Zambrotta, but the Roma man's chip was just past the post. The net eventually shook in stoppages and it was only right that the indefatigable Gianluca Zambrotta for the glory. A Corradi header was flapped out for Zambrotta's fierce volley into the roof of the net - his first Azzurri goal.
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