HAMBURG, Germany,
June 22 Marco Materazzi's
header for a goal was all Italy needed to defeat an aggressive but depleted
Czech Republic on Thursday at the World Cup. Italy
won, 2-0, to advance to the Round of 16 against Australia and send tens of
thousands of its fans into noisy euphoria.
The Czech Republic
played for the second game in a row without its big striker, Jan Koller, who was injured in the 3-0 thrashing of the United States
in the Czechs' first game of the tournament.
The Czechs outshot the Italians in the first half, but they pretty
much lost any chance of winning when midfielder Jan Polak
was ejected in first-half added time after receiving his second yellow card in
a 12-minute span. That left Italy
with a one-man advantage for the entire second half.
"This team
has terrific spirit, probably the most fighting spirit I've had in any
team," Italy's
Coach Marcello Lippi said. "We deserve to qualify. We played two great
games to beat Ghana and the Czech
Republic, two very
difficult teams."
Italy, which finished first in
Group E, needed only a tie to secure a spot in the next round. A draw, however,
would have landed it in a matchup with Brazil, which
completed the first round with three victories.
As the game began
in the 52,000-seat stadium in this northern German port city, the Czech team,
needing a victory to have a chance to advance, seized the initiative by driving
repeatedly toward the goal.
The captain Pavel Nedved led the charge. In
the seventh minute, he passed to forward Milan Baros,
giving him a clear shot. But the shot went right into the hands of goalie
Gianluigi Buffon. A few minutes later, Nedved sent a
powerful shot toward the goal, but Buffon tipped the ball away.
Italy seemed to break the Czech Republic's concentration in
the 26th minute when Francesco Totti carved a corner
kick toward the goal. Materazzi, a defender who had
entered the game only minutes earlier as a substitute for the injured
Alessandro Nesta, leapt high over Polak
and headed the ball down to the near post and past goalkeeper Peter Cech.
Though
down a man in the second half, the Czech
Republic mounted repeated
attacks.
But Buffon rose to the challenge, at one point leaping to bat away a shot from Nedved, his teammate on Juventus
in the Italian league.
Italy put the game out of reach
in the 87th minute when the Czech defense seemed to be napping. Filippo Inzaghi, a substitute forward for Italy, dribbled
around Cech and tucked the ball into the net.
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They
already created history against Croatia
yesterday but the never-say-die Socceroos are not
finished yet.
The Socceroos fear no-one after twice coming from behind to
knock Croatia out of the
running and charge into the round of 16 at the World Cup finals in Germany.
Amid
glorious scenes of celebration and raw emotion at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium
in Stuttgart, Australia entered uncharted waters
with a second round match-up against the three-times
cup winner and one of the most powerful footballing
nations in the world.
Having already
given world champion Brazil a run for its money in an earlier group match and
dismissing Croatia, the Socceroos cannot wait to
match wits and skills with the Azzurri after defying
the odds by finishing second behind Brazil in group F.
Every one of the
smiling Australian players who emerged from the dressing room in Stuttgart yesterday believes the Socceroos,
ranked 42, can continue the remarkable fairytale by beating Italy, the 13th
ranked team in the world, and qualify for the quarter-finals.
But first they
will have to climb over a country with a rich footballing
pedigree; a country which prides itself on its prowess with the round ball and
a nation which has produced some of the greatest players of all time in Roberto
Baggio, Paolo Maldini,
Franco Baresi and Gianni Rivera. While Italy circa
2006 may not have the star quality or finesse and style of past teams, it is
nonetheless a formidable foe stacked with talent and experience headed by Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Del Piero and
Filippo Inzaghi.
While a little
unimpressive in the preliminary stages, the Italians were unbeaten in their
group and accounted for the Czech
Republic in their last
match to advance as top of the group.
But with master
coach Guus Hiddink, the man
with the Midas touch, at the helm and Harry Kewell
back to his brilliant best, anything is possible for the Socceroos,
who were given next to no hope of getting past the first stage of the finals
when they arrived in Germany
about two weeks ago.
Now even some of yesterday's vanquished are so impressed that one Croatian
suggested it is possible the Socceroos could win the
World Cup.
"Why
not?
You saw that Brazil weren't
better than Australia.
Australia was much better
than Japan
and now I think they were much better than us," said second string
goalkeeper Joey Didulica, one of three
Australian-born players in the Croatian squad.
"Their
players play at the top clubs, they're not picnic footballers and with a really
good coach behind them they're brilliant."
Didulica might have been caught up
in the post-match frenzy but it at least gives an indication of the sort of
giant strides the game has made since Hiddink took
charge almost nine months ago. Striker John Aloisi,
whose parents are Italian, described the prospect of playing against Italy as
"a dream game".
"It's a
dream game for a few of us. We can't wait to play them. We've made history but
we want to make more history," Aloisi said.
"The
Italians struggled against the US
the other day and I think if we play our game the way we have (been) we're
going to give them a lot of trouble."
Lucas Neill, who
gave yet another five-star performance in defence,
believes confidence and the Hiddink factor can sway
things Australia's
way and that the Socceroos don't fear any team.
"We've taken
on the biggest team (Brazil)
and given them a good run for their money and made people look at us,"
Neill said.
"Italy by no means do I consider a lesser team
than Brazil
but why should we fear them? We've got as many strengths
as they do now.
"We've got
nothing to lose. Everything's a bonus for us now. So why not go out and knock
over a fantastic side full of reputation.
"Importantly,
we've got the Guus factor. He's one of those guys who
puts his you-know-whats on
the line. He has a master plan, makes the big decisions and backs them. And at
the moment, they're going the right way."
For midfielders
and Parma
team-mates Vince Grella and Marco Bresciano,
the match will hold special significance as both come from Italian backgrounds.
Their presence
will be welcomed by captain Mark Viduka.
"Now the
pressure is on Vince and Bresc," Viduka quipped. "I had to put up with the whole
Croatian business this week, so now it is their turn. It will be nice to have
some peace and quiet."
Grella knows the Italians well
and expects them to respect Australia.
"They'll
play their normal game," Grella said. "I
don't think they'll make big changes against us. It's going to be an
interesting game. They have a lot of strong players ... playing at that level
they'll know how to cope with it."
Grella does not believe they
will be their usual cocky self. "Yeah, the Italians are very sure of their
ability," Grella said. "I wouldn't say they
are cocky. They know how to play football.
"For us it
will be a tough game but we have shown over the last three games we never
really give up and the game is never over."
Midfielder Jason Culina said the result against Croatia would be an eye-opener for
the rest of the world.
"To make the
second round when everybody thought Australia was just a weak team,
just making up the numbers, it's told a lot of people we're a good team and we
never give up."
Unfortunately the
Roos will be without Brett Emerton,
who was sent off late in the game after collecting two yellow cards.