Del Piero Saves Italy From American Nightmare
CATANIA, Italy, Feb 13 (AFP) - A second-half goal from substitute Alessandro Del Piero earned Italy a 1-0 friendly win over the United States here Wednesday and saved coach Giovanni Trapattoni from what would have been an embarrassing hiccough in his World Cup preparations.
Both Trapattoni and his USA counterpart Bruce Arena chose experimental teams with the World Cup in mind but there will be more questions than answers for the Italian coach after a sub-standard performance.
An upset looked on the cards for the first hour with the United States dominating the first half in terms of possession and chances but unable to find the vital goal against Italy.
Trapattoni showed his concern by making no less than four half-time substitutions and it was three of those replacements who linked up for the vital goal.
Gianluca Zambrotta dispossessed David Regis and fed Chievo striker Massimo Marazzina who was well placed to score but instead unselfishly squared to Del Piero, who netted from close range.
Trapattoni said: "Some people treated this game in too friendly a manner and that's not the right way to do it. They were much faster than us in the first half and they got people forward in numbers. "1-1 would have been a fairer result."
Arena said that the quadruple substitution made all the difference, saying: "We missed our opportunity in the first half. The four players at half-time made all the difference."
But while Arena will be disappointed at missing a historic scalp he will take confidence from some quality football which at times brought rumblings of disquiet from the Sicilian crowd.
"I learned we are a good team, our ambition is to move forward and we can give a good impression in the World Cup."
The US took charge of the first-half and hardly allowed the Italians a sight at goal.
First a dreadful blunder by Cristiano Zanetti allowed Landon Donovan through on goal but with only Francesco Toldo to beat he clipped the outside of the post.
A minute later a foul by Francesco Totti gave Everton's Joe-Max Moore a chance to try his luck from a freekick which was half-blocked by the Italian wall and played back into Ernie Stewart, who netted although Maltese Joseph Attard quickly and correctly blew for offside.
The Americans, with skipper Claudio Reyna busy in midfield, were playing some fine football and this time the Italians were lucky to get the benefit of the assistant referee's flag when Reyna played in Stewart who looked to have timed his run to perfection.
The discontent of the home supporters was growing when another blunder, this time by Fabio Cannavaro, allowed Stewart to intercept and feed Donovan whose curled shot just missed the target.
When Italy did finally manage an attack worthy of its name it only came when Regis mislaid a pass and Francesco Coco's cross found the head of Christian Vieri who just missed the target.
Trapattoni then made his four changes at half time.
Juventus pair Del Piero and Zambrotta, Atalanta's Cristiano Doni were three while Marazzina became the first man from his club to shine on the international stage.
Among the four taken off were the night's other debutant Antonino Asta of Torino who had a miserable time, Totti, Vieri and Parma's Marco Di Vaio.
The match took place under heavy security with every one of the 25,493 crowd - including a large presence from the nearby Sigonella military base - searched with metal detectors.
