Italy comes to a standstill for the opening kick.
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ITALY WINS FIRST WORLD CUP GAME, 
TWO GOALS BY VIERI TOPPLE ECUADOR
 
Italy made its debut appearance in the World Cup with a convincing 2-0 win 
against Ecuador. Striker Christian Vieri scored twice, his first goal in the 
7th minute, and his second twenty minutes later. 

Attacker Francesco Totti played a wonderful game, with the "Azzurri" scoring 
a textbook goal in the 7th minute: a perfectly precise assist from Totti for 
Vieri who entered the penalty area and beat the Ecuadorian goalkeeper with a 
fierce left-footed strike. 

Vieri scored again in the 27th minute on a razor-sharp vertical pass from 
Luigi Di Biagio. His shot was deflected by the goalkeeper, but on the rebound 
Vieri took possession of the ball and put it into the net. 

The "Azzurri" protected their lead with great ability in the second half, 
with coach Giovanni Trapattoni making three substitutions: Di Livio for 
Christian Doni (who played his debut match with the team well), Gattuso for 
Di Biagio, and Del Piero for Totti. Though clearly inferior from a technical 
point of view, Ecuador played a hearty and aggressive match, particularly in 
the first half. Earlier in the day, the first match of Group G, Italy's 
group, saw Mexico defeat a disappointing Croatia team 1-0. 
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ITALY COMES TO A STANDSTILL FOR THE OPENING KICK

Attacker Francesco Totti entered onto the field, and Italy came to a 
standstill. 
At 1:30 p.m., with the opening whistle from the referee for the Italy-Ecuador 
match, offices, schools, private and public businesses "excused themselves" 
from the work at hand. 

Those who did not close up shop entirely at least organized themselves with a 
handy television set for workers to watch. While this was entirely 
predictable for schools, offices, and the world of politics, it was much less 
so for the stock market, the Justice Department, and the Vatican. 

World Cup fever seems to have hit many high prelates of the Church, 
particularly those from Latin America who cheer for Mexico (the legionnaires 
of Christ) or for Brazil. Those who were unable to install a television set, 
armed themselves with radios or portable videocassette recorders. 

Even the Justice Building in Milan came to a standstill. One of the most 
important cases being tried there, the IMI-SIR/Lodo trial, like many others, 
was suspended
from 1:30 to 2:15 to coincide with the lunch break and the first half of the 
match.

Trading slowed considerably in Piazza Affari in Milan, as the beginning of 
the Italy-Ecuador match neared, then dropped drastically during the course of 
the match.