Italy gained a lacklustre victory over Slovakia in Catania last night in their first friendly before the World Cup. The 1994 runners-up failed to get into their stride in a scoreless first half, but a goal blitz soon after the re-start saw Fabrizio Ravanelli, Alessandro del Piero and Roberto di Matteo all find the target.
However, it remains to be seen what coach Cesare Maldini can have learned from his experiments.
Despite dominating possession, particularly in the second half, Italy lacked fluidity in their game and it took a couple of inspired moves by debut-making substitute Francesco Moriero to penetrate the modest Slovak defence.
Three minutes after the interval, Moriero made a dream start to his international career, deftly trapping a cross-field pass with the outside of his boot, surging past a defender and unleashing a barrelling left-foot drive. It was parried by Alexander Vencel but Ravanelli chipped the loose ball over the stranded keeper.
Luigi Di Biagio hit the post with a low drive in the 52nd minute, but 45 seconds later set up Del Piero's goal after a defensive error.
The third goal came when Moriero broke into the penalty area and delivered an inch-perfect cross for Ravanelli.
Vencel punched out the former Middlesbrough striker's header, but there was no one to stop the inrushing Di Matteo from smacking home a volley.
Italy: Peruzzi; Ferrara, Maldini, D Baggio, Nesta, Costacurta, Di Livio, Di Biagio, Di Matteo, Del Piero, Ravanelli. Sub: Moreiro.
Slovakia: Vencel; Kozak, Spilar, Karhan, Timko, Tittel, Balis, Kozlej, Jancula, Dubovsky, Moravcik.
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