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Donadoni's Italy beat Portugal 3-1
Posted - 7th February 2008
Comparisons are odious, but inevitable, given that two Italian managers saw their international sides take to the field last night. Fabio Capello made his first outing with England, determined to make a decent first impression with the English press(which he substantially did). Roberto Donadoni meanwhile, is approaching the renewal period for his contract, and the jury is still very much out. Last night's confident victory over Portugal will make his negotiating position easier - though it's still likely that he will have to accept performance targets, linked to this summer's European Championships in any new contract.
Donadoni's tenure as Italian manager has been a difficult one. In his first games the team suffered some humiliating defeats, and struggled to qualify for the European Championships. He inherited, though, a team with various problems regardless of the fact that they're current world-champions. For example, crucial players like Francesco Totti and Alessandro Nesta have chosen to dedicate themselves to their clubs retiring from international football.
Last night, though, Donadoni's Italian team showed they're not spoilt for choice when it comes to scoring goals. Italy played a mix between their usual 4-3-2-1 and 4-1-4-1 formation, with Del Piero and Ambrosini in midfield ,Juventus forward Raffaele Palladino , and Udinese striker Antonio Di Natale playing up front behind ex-Fiorentina striker Luca Toni. They had the upper-hand for most of the first half (an early goal by Pirlo was disallowed, for a handling foul), and went into the lead just before half-time with a goal by Luca Toni.
Portugal's coach Scolari made a number of half-time changes, but to little or no avail. Just minutes into the second half Andrea Pirlo fired a shot, which deflected against Fabio Cannavaro into the net, leaving a hapless Ricardo little chance to save the day.
The Portuguese were no push-overs, though, always looking dangerous on the counter-attack, but ultimately lacking the ability to finish the several good chances they created. Christian Ronaldo and Porto's Ricardo Quaresma both looked alive throughout, and it was Quaresma who scored Portugal's sole goal of the game. Too little, too late.
Capping off a fine Italian victory was a deserved goal by newly entered Udinese striker Fabio Quagliarella (on for Palladino, 30 minutes into the second half).
Adding to the victory was the fact that so many notable's were missing from the Italian squad - Buffon, Panucci, Gattuso, Materazzi and Perrotta (the last was on the subs bench).
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