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Friendlies: Juve see the Light Saturday 4 August, 2007
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Juventus again wasted a number of chances as they snatched a 1-1 draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
This match was organised to celebrate 10 years of the Stadium of Light and within the opening eight minutes the Black Cats had broken through.
Gianluigi Buffon performed a splendid save to tip McShane’s header over, but could do nothing on Murphy’s tap-in from the resulting corner kick.
Claudio Ranieri tested the 4-4-2 system once again, even if the forwards weren’t as sharp as they’d like to be.
Hasan Salihamidzic drilled wide when teammate Tiago Mendes was unmarked in a better position, while Fulop saved Pavel Nedved’s free kick.
Tiago had another good chance and the Sunderland goalkeeper was extremely fortunate on 22 minutes to turn David Trezeguet’s strike on to the bar.
Vincenzo Iaquinta completed the trio upfront and really should have equalised before the break, but the £7.6m Udinese signing missed a sitter.
Darren Ward came on for the second half, but Sunderland remained under constant pressure as the substitute tipped Alessandro Del Piero’s free kick round the post.
Iaquinta took advantage of a Wallace error, but again could not find the back of the net in a great scoring opportunity.
Trezeguet again caused problems for the Sunderland defence and Del Piero wasted a couple of late chances to level the score.
The Bianconeri finally netted their first goal of this pre-season tour two minutes from time, as former Siena man Cristian Molinaro smashed a fierce shot under the crossbar.
Sunderland nearly got the win anyway in stoppages when Anthony Stokes’ left-foot attempt hit the upright.
Sunderland 1-1 Juventus
Scorers: Murphy 8 (S), Molinaro 88 (J)
Sunderland: Fulop (Ward 46); Halford (Kay 85), Nosworthy, McShane (Anderson 75), Wallace (Collins 69); Miller, Whitehead (Yorke 60), Etuhu (Stokes 60), Richardson; Murphy (John 69), Chopra (Connolly 60)
Juventus: Buffon (Belardi 46); Zebina (Birindelli 46), Andrade, Grygera (Molinaro 46), Chiellini (Criscito 72); Salihamidzic (Del Piero 46), Almiron (Zanetti 69), Tiago (Nocerino 60), Nedved; Trezeguet, Iaquinta
Ref: Riley
Channel 4