GROUP EIGHT Bulgaria 0 Italy 0: ITALY CONTINUED the long march to South Africa with a scoreless away draw to Bulgaria in Sofia on Saturday night to remain top of qualifying Group Eight on seven points, three clear of the Republic of Ireland.
If Italy have every reason to be satisfied with an away point in Sofia, a venue where some visiting sides could yet be in for a torrid time, this was nonetheless an understated performance by the World Champions against a frankly modest and cautious Bulgaria.
It says much about the home side's attitude that Italian goalkeeper Marco Amelia, in goal for the injured Gigi Buffon, made his one and only save of the match in the 88th minute when stopping a shot from midfielder Chavdar Yankov. Indeed, so cautious were Bulgaria that a casual observer could have been forgiven for concluding that the game was being played in Italy, not Bulgaria.
Whilst Italy dominated possession and at least attempted some attacking moves, Bulgaria seemed resigned to defending in numbers with their only attacking ploy being either the counter-attacking long ball out of defence or a pass in the direction of Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov, in the hope that he might work miracles from a very poor service.
For all their domination, however, Italy were relatively toothless up front. An hour had passed before goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov was forced into his first serious save from a well-struck free-kick from debutant Simone Pepe, a free-kick with which striker Alberto Gilardino only narrowly failed to connect.
Gilardino was also involved in Italy's only other realistic goal-scoring chance in the 72nd minute when Viallareal striker Giuseppe Rossi, another debutant and a second-half substitution for Antonio Di Natale, opened up the solid Bulgarian defence with a brilliant turn before finding Gilardino in the penalty area. Under pressure from two defenders, Gilardino hurried his shot and struck it wide.
Speaking after the game, Italian coach Lippi pronounced himself well satisfied with a result which saw him extend his unbeaten run as Italian coach to 29 games. If Italy win or draw with Montenegro in Lecce on Wednesday, then Lippi will equal the 30-match unbeaten record of the legendary Vittorio Pozzo, coach of the Italian side which won both the 1934 and 1938 World Cups: "I'm satisfied not just with the performance but also the result because Bulgaria have some very good players who might have caused us problems. The fact that they did very little against us is all credit to my players who showed a lot of personality and authority on the field."
Given Lippi started the game with just six players who featured in his World Cup squad two years ago and given also he used the match to give first caps to Giuseppe Rossi and Pepe, the Italian coach probably has good reason to be satisfied. Certainly the performance of second-half substitute Rossi, who produced just about the only moment of real quality when creating that 72nd-minute chance for Gilardino, augurs well for the future.
With a view to the Montenegro game, Saturday's draw has ruled out striker Luca Toni who picked up a yellow card after coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute for Gilardino. As a precautionary measure, Lippi has called up Udinese striker Fabio Quagliarella to replace Toni.
As for Ireland, they can expect a difficult time when they travel to Bulgaria next June. That much, however, we already knew. Based on Saturday's showing, however, Giovanni Trappatoni's side might fancy their chances against a dour, personality-lacking Bulgaria when the two teams meet three months earlier, in Dublin next March.
One very negative aspect to Saturday's game concerned the behaviour of approximately 150 "Ultra Azzurri" Italian fans. Early on Saturday afternoon, the "Ultra" and supporters of local team CSKA Sofia were involved in scuffles in downtown Sofia, prompting the intervention of the Bulgarian police. The "Ultra" then made their way to the Levski Stadium, singing fascist songs, shouting "Duce, Duce" and making the infamous straight-arm Fascist salute.
At the stadium itself, the Italian and Bulgarian fans, although separated by a barrier, continued to exchange insults with the "Ultra" provoking the home fans by burning a Bulgarian flag as the Bulgarian national anthem was played before the kick-off. Five Italian fans were later arrested in connection with this incident whilst four Bulgarians were also arrested for having tried to bring torches and firecrackers into the stadium.
