Previous Encounters:
Italy and Ukraine drew in Lausanne (0:0), during a pre-World
Cup friendly. They also met during qualifying for Euro 96, with Italy winning both
games: (3:1) in Bari and (2:0) in Kiev.
The Match:
Italy took an early lead as Gianluca Zambrotta ran through the middle of the field and
struck from the edge of the area unchallenged.
After the goal, Italy never had any real desire to increase the lead;
although Ukraine's need to equalise gave Italy more space.
But as Ukraine didn't look too desperate to risk letting any more
goals in, we were left with a defensively stagnant game.
Half-time: (1:0).
Ukraine's best move came three minutes after the break; as the earned
the first corner of the game.
From the corner, Gianluigi Buffon banged his head on the post as he
saved Andriy Gusin's header; Buffon's first save of the game.
So Ukraine earned a second corner. Maybe Italy would start to attack
as well.
Ukraine stepped up a gear and had two shots save off the line, in the
58th minute.
This did wake up Italy, as they pushed forward to earn their first
corner. They took it short and Francesco Totti had plenty of time to chip into the box.
The ball skimmed above Fabio Cannavaro, totally unmarked in the middle, but Luca Toni
managed to nip in front of the far-post defender; to head his first goal of the
tournament.
Ukraine picked themselves up immediately and Andriy Gusin headed onto
the Italian bar; from a free-kick on the right.
Luca Toni taped in his second goal in ten minutes; Zambrotta having
made the powerful run to get the move going.
Even at three goals down, Ukraine continued to attack; as Buffon
pushed away Shevchenko's free-kick. If they'd have shown the same initiative in the
first-half, Ukraine might have still been in the game with a chance of a place in the
semi-final.
Final Score:
Italy 3 - Ukraine 0
Goalscorers:
1:0 Gianluca Zambrotta (6)
2:0 Luca Toni (59)
3:0 Luca Toni (69)
Substitutions:
20 Mins (Ukraine) - 16 Andriy Vorobey on for 22 Viacheslav Sviderskiy
46 Mins (Ukraine) - 17 Vladislav Vashchuk on for 6 Andriy Rusol
68 Mins (Italy) - 22 Massimo Oddo on for 16 Mauro Camoranesi
68 Mins (Italy) - 17 Simone Barone on for 21 Andrea Pirlo
72 Mins (Ukraine) - 20 Oleksiy Byelik on for 15 Artem Milevskiy
76 Mins (Italy) - 2 Cristian Zaccardo on for 8 Gennaro Gattuso
3 Yellow
Cards:
16 Mins - Viacheslav Sviderskiy (Ukraine)
21 Mins - Maxim Kalinichenko (Ukraine)
67 Mins - Artem Milevskiy (Ukraine)
