WORLD CUP GROUP EIGHT: Italy 2 (Aquilani 8, 30) Montenegro 1 (Vucinic 19):ITALY CONFIRMED their position on top of the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifying group with a hard-fought 2-1 win over little Montenegro in Lecce last night, writes Paddy Agnew
Whilst the final score line might look all too predictable, Italy met with unexpected resistance from a side that might not have the soundest defence but has class attackers in players like Mirko Vucinic and Stevan Jovetic.
Hero of the night for Italy was AS Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani who got both of Italy's first-half goals on a night when all the goal-scoring bore a Roma stamp since Montenegro's goal came from the Italian club's striker Vucinic.
Afterwards a relieved Italy coach Marcello Lippi said: "These Montenegrins will cause problems for lots of teams, they have a lot of technique . . . But I'm very pleased with my lads . . . we're trying to put together a new team, we're at the beginning of a new cycle and already you can see some very good things."
For the first 15 minutes the Montenegrins looked overwhelmed by the occasion. With the defence looking leaky, Andrea Dossena and Gennaro Gattuso had half chances in the opening four minutes. The first goal arrived after only seven minutes.
A long crossfield ball was misread by Montenegro left back Milan Jovanovic who in attempting to head it back to his goalkeeper merely served up a perfect pass for Simone Pepe. The Udinese player made ground into the penalty area before knocking in a low cross which goalkeeper Vukasin Poleksic parried in the direction of Aquilani, leaving the midfielder an easy tap-in.
Perhaps convinced it was going to be all one way traffic, the Italians were caught out on the counter-attack in the 19th minute when Montenegro's captain Vucinic latched on to a long clearance to beat lone defender Giorgio Chiellini and goalkeeper Marco Amelia with a well-taken goal.
The equaliser served as a wake-up call for the Italians and were full value for a 29th-minute second goal. A cross from Di Natale on the left found an unmarked Aquilani who scored via a deflection from defender Jovan Tanasijevic.
When Alberto Gilardino almost made it 3-1 six minutes into the second half, one could have been forgiven for predicting a drubbing for Montenegro. Yet, just two minutes later, Vucinic had an even better one to herald a remarkable Montenegrin revival. Where the visitors had looked timid in the first half, they now were positive, with Vucinic, Zerotic and Jovetic having chances. With much of the game being played in Italy's half, Lippi had to make defensive changes, bringing on Daniel Bonera for Dossena and Simone Perrotta for Aquilani.
That goalkeeper Amelia picked up a late yellow card for time wasting says much about the pressure Italy were under. In the end, however, they held on for a victory which sees Lippi extend his unbeaten run to 30 games, thus equalling the record held by 1930s coach Vittorio Pozzo.
ITALY:Amelia; Zambrotta, Chiellini, Cannavaro, Dossena; Gattuso, De Rossi, Aquilani; Pepe, Gilardino, Di Natale. Subs:Bonera for Dossena (59 mins), Perrotta for Aquilani (65 mins), Quagliarella for Di Natale (76).
MONTENEGRO: (4-5-1):Poleksic;, Pavicevic, Tanasjlevic, Batak, Jovanovic; Vukcevic, Drincic, Jovetic, Zverotic, Boskovic; Vucinic. Subs:Bozovic for Bokovic (81 mins), Novakovic for Zverotic (89 mins), Damjanovic for Vucinic (92 mins).
Referee:Pedro Proenca (Portugal)
