Intl Friendly - Italy vs. Tunisia (May 30th) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter dpforever
- Start date
He must've been pressured.
30/05/2004 | Football Italia
HT: Cannavaro gets Italy going
Tunisia 0 - 2 Italy Half-Time
Bouazizi og 15 (I), Cannavaro 27 (I)
Tunis
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Fabio Cannavaro and a bizarre own goal have Italy 2-0 up in Tunisia at half-time as they warm up for Euro 2004.
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.
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Tunisia: Boumnjel; Boussaidi, Hagui, Saidi, Ayari; Ghoodbane, Bouazizi; Nafti, Chedli, Braham; Letaief
Italy: Buffon; Panucci, Nesta, Cannavaro, Zambrotta; Zanetti, Perrotta; Camoranesi, Totti, Del Piero; Vieri
Ref: Duhamel (Fra)
HT: Cannavaro gets Italy going
Tunisia 0 - 2 Italy Half-Time
Bouazizi og 15 (I), Cannavaro 27 (I)
Tunis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fabio Cannavaro and a bizarre own goal have Italy 2-0 up in Tunisia at half-time as they warm up for Euro 2004.
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tunisia: Boumnjel; Boussaidi, Hagui, Saidi, Ayari; Ghoodbane, Bouazizi; Nafti, Chedli, Braham; Letaief
Italy: Buffon; Panucci, Nesta, Cannavaro, Zambrotta; Zanetti, Perrotta; Camoranesi, Totti, Del Piero; Vieri
Ref: Duhamel (Fra)
