International Friendly - August 22, 2007
Hungary 3 - 1 Italy
Di Natale 49 (I), Juhasz 62 (H), Gera pen 65 (H), Feczesin 77 (H)
Budapest
Roberto Donadoni has a lot of work to do after a shock 3-1 friendly defeat in Hungary - their first loss in a year.
The last setback was another 3-1 result in France for the Euro 2008 qualifiers last September, but this game had started well with Antonio Di Natale giving Italy the lead in the Ferenc Puskas stadium. Captain Fabio Cannavaro had a nightmare, as he was at fault for two of the three goals.
In the final friendly before the crunch Euro 2008 qualifier with France, Roberto Donadoni had to do without the injured Gennaro Gattuso, Simone Perrotta and Daniele De Rossi, but fielded a very attack-minded line-up. Fabio Quagliarella bagged a brace in Kaunas during their last game back in June and again started with Alessandro Del Piero and debutant Alberto Aquilani, who was promoted from the Under-21 side.
Goalkeeper Fulop punched away an Andrea Pirlo free kick after four minutes and, as the move continued, Aquilani had an acrobatic volley held. Hungary were very aggressive and nearly scored on the counter, but Gera blazed wide with only Gianluigi Buffon to beat.
There was another great chance for the home side as Massimo Oddo was nutmegged by Priskin and Gianluca Zambrotta's clearance proved decisive. On the resulting corner, Dzsudzak drilled wide of the near post from the edge of the area.
On 20 minutes Toni was brought down, but the referee played the advantage and Del Piero thumped off target. Pirlo's splendid chipped pass fell between Aquilani and Del Piero, the Roma man nodding it past the upright.
Oddo sprinted down the right flank and Toni dummied on the cross, but a defender came sliding in before Del Piero could pounce from eight yards.
Sunderland goalkeeper Fulop was at full stretch to prod a Del Piro snapshot out for a corner from Quagliarella's assist. Toni's volley put the ball in the back of the net from the resulting corner, but it was correctly disallowed for an offside position.
Hungary remained dangerous and Buffon plucked a Vasko free header out of the air, then soon after Italy lost the ball in midfield and the goalkeeper tipped Priskin's shot out from under the bar.
Just before the break a Toszer free kick drifted past everyone and the back post. During that move, Materazzi suffered a thigh problem and was replaced at half-time by Palermo's Andrea Barzagli.
Donadoni also introduced Fabio Grosso, Antonio Di Natale and Pippo Inzaghi for the second half. This was Grosso's first Italian international appearance in almost a year.
Within four minutes Italy had taken the lead. Quagliarella sparked the move and Aquilani's through ball was toe-poked past the 'keeper by Udinese's Di Natale at full stretch. Fulop was totally wrong-footed by the fast-paced passing.
Hungary threw on Inter youth team player Attila Filkor and they nearly equalised when substitute Leandro was played through completely clear on goal, but Buffon stood his ground and managed to smother the shot.
Moments later the Azzurri were not so lucky, as from the corner kick the ball fell kindly for a stunning Juhasz half-volley that smashed into the far top corner.
The home side's tails were up and as Priskin went to the byline, Fabio Cannavaro scythed him down with a mistimed tackle. Zoltan Gera stepped up and converted the penalty, sending Buffon the wrong way and celebrating with acrobatic flips.
There was another substitution for Italy, who introduced Angelo Palombo of Sampdoria for Aquilani. Inzaghi's header looped over, but Hungary went 3-1 up with another Cannavaro error. The Real Madrid man lost a tackle to Gera, who rolled across for the unmarked Feczesin to tap in from six yards.
Grosso's free kick skimmed the woodwork, then Massimo Ambrosini volleyed well over from a brilliant position and really should have done better.
Czisimadia also had a good chance for the Hungarians and just failed to make contact from six yards, then Buffon had his palms stung by Feczesin.
<Post-Match Comments>
Hungary: Fulop; Szelesi, Vasko, Juhasz, Vanczak (Czisimadia 73); Hajnal (Filkor 59), Vass, Tozser (Leandro 59); Priskin (Feczesin 73); Gera, Dzsudzsak (Halmosi 82)
Italy: Buffon; Oddo (Grosso 46), Cannavaro, Materazzi (Barzagli 46), Zambrotta; Ambrosini, Pirlo; Quagliarella, Aquilani (Palombo 66), Del Piero (Di Natale 46); Toni (Inzaghi 46)
Ref: Mejuto Gonzalez (Spa)
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Donadoni getting worried
Wednesday 22 August, 2007
Roberto Donadoni admits he “cannot be happy” after a humiliating 3-1 friendly defeat in Budapest.
“We met a team that had fresher legs and was more determined on the night. We went OK in the first half, then lost our focus after the break and were punished for some silly errors,” said the Italy Coach.
Antonio Di Natale had given the Azzurri the lead, but with their fitness went their sharpness and Hungary took control.
This performance will bolster those critics who complained that Italy would be damaged by the fact Serie A starts on August 26 rather than a fortnight earlier, as Donadoni and the FIGC had requested.
“We can’t talk about that now, the situation is what it is. We have suffered a defeat and will try to work hard to get fit as soon as possible.”
Time is running short and this result does not bode well for the September 8 European Championship qualifier with France at San Siro and against the Ukraine on September 12.
“There are two Serie A rounds first in which we can hope to get back the kind of form we need to take on France,” continued Donadoni.
“There were some mistakes, but these things happen and we must not demonise the defence. This is football and sometimes the breaks go your way, sometimes they don’t.”
However, his final words in the pitchside interview explained the extent of his concerns.
“One clearly cannot be happy after a 3-1 defeat.”
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Buffon: Put your backs into it!
Wednesday 22 August, 2007
Gianluigi Buffon has slammed his Azzurri teammates for their lack of determination in friendly matches.
“Certainly we expected to be in poor shape physically, even though after taking the lead we could have had at least a draw with a little more determination,” he said after the 3-1 defeat to Hungary.
Antonio Di Natale had given the World Cup winners the lead, but they crumbled once the home side equalised in Budapest.
“We made the mistake of thinking our work was done and were punished by their hunger. In these games, especially in August, it is very difficult to find an Italy performance that can get a decent result against any opponent. You’d have to go back years.”
Roberto Donadoni also lost his first ever match on the Italy bench, a 2-0 friendly with Croatia, but the Azzurri hadn’t tasted defeat since a 3-1 result in France for the Euro 2008 qualifiers on September 6, 2006.
“I understand we are lacking in fitness at the moment, but we can always make up for that a little bit with more determination and grit,” added Buffon.
Italy had not lost to Hungary since another friendly on June 27, 1965, bringing their total record to nine defeats, 10 draws and 16 wins.
“I think that after nights like this the media will always look to find fault with individuals, but I think we can only all come together and apologise, take our responsibility and work for the future.”
It is a disconcerting performance just two weeks away from the crucial Euro 2008 qualifier with France at San Siro and the Italian players have only two Serie A rounds to regain match fitness.
“Will 15 days be enough to face France? They have to be! We know how important these games are and that we have to play our best and hope to get the results we want against France and Ukraine.
“We do have to evaluate how we work together as a team and I think that’s what really went wrong tonight – we were not as compact as we were in our last outing. That is something we have to work on in the next two weeks.”
Antonio Cassano is back in Italy for Sampdoria and, with the prospect of regular first team football, can he break into the Azzurri squad?
“I think it depends only on him. Mother nature has given him many qualities and skills, but he now has to make the most of them. He needs to prove he is the champion we always said he was. He is a lovely, generous lad.”
Buffon’s 2007 is not going well so far, but he can at least look forward to the arrival of a son with partner Alena Seredova.
“We have five or six names to choose from and will have to do a survey! In all seriousness, since the start of the pre-season I have conceded about 10 goals in five or six games, so I can only hope the future is better!”
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The second goal was due to his really bad tackle, and the third because he did not mark his man properly. I thought he had a really bad game.
Pathetic.