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First Round
Italy and Belgium both
won their opening game and if one of them win
this, they should have a place in the quarter-finals.
To counteract the home advantage that Belgium
will have in Brussels, Italy are making a big deal about having a minute's silence in the
King Baudouin stadium (formerly Heysel). UEFA seem to have turned this request down, and
now the Italian Football Federation want the referee to delay the start so that Italian
captain Paolo Maldini can pay tribute to the Juventus fans who were crushed to death when
a wall collapsed, before the European Cup Final against Liverpool, in 1985.
The best tribute the Italians can give is to
put on a great show of football for their Belgian hosts. I'm sure that's what the Juventus
fans would want; they who went to watch a game of football in the first place. Heysel was
a black night in European Football, and there's no need for the Italians to try and score
a propaganda goal before the kick-off. Not all Italian fans are angels and this could even
provoke the hooligan element into their form of remembrance tribute.
On the pitch, Maldini has proved that he's not
only a daddy's boy and is determined to make this his year with a Champions medal. The
Italy Maldini has played for have a habit of loosing out on penalties (Italia90 World Cup
semi-finals to Argentina; US94 final to Brazil; and France98 quarter-final to France).
Wisdom says Maldini should encourage his team to go for the win, instead of concentrating
on not losing.
If Italy make it to the final, the Italian
captain will also be one cap short of Dino Zoff's record of 112 Italian appearances. The
Italian coach used to play in goal for Italy.
While Italy have the individuals capable of
turning a game, Belgium's strength lies in their current team spirit and home advantage.
Perhaps that's why Maldini wants to unsettle the atmosphere before the start of this very
important match for both countries.
Italy Team:
12-Francesco Toldo
3-Paolo Maldini, 5-Fabio Cannavaro, 13-Alessandro Nesta, 17-Gianluca Zambrotta
15-Mark Iuliano, 4-Demetri Albertini, 8-Antonio Conte, 18-Stefano Fiore
9-Filippo Inzaghi, 20-Francesco Totti.
Belgium Team:
1-Filip de Wilde
18-Nico van Kerckhoven, 3-Joos Valgaeren, 4-Lorenzo Staelens, 2-Eric Deflandre
8-Bart Goor, 11-Gert Verheyen, 7-Marc Wilmots, 6-Yves Vanderhaeghe
10-Branko Strupar, 9-Emile Mpenza.
Referee: Garcia-Aranda (Sp)
First Half:
Italy soon take the initiative. In the 5th minute Inzaghi was almost turning to celebrate
the first goal after he latched on to a rebound from Maldini's attempt to put Italy ahead.
There wasn't enough power and the shot was saved.
A minute later, Totti heads
in Albertini's cross from the right to rock the Belgians.
Belgium picked themselves up quickly,
preventing the Italians from playing their holding game. Bart Goor fired against the
Italian crossbar, to let the home fans know that all was not yet lost, in the ninth
minute.
Marc Wilmots and Emile Mpenza worked well
together to keep Toldo and his defenders alert.
Italy pushed forward too, looking for a
second; both teams contributing to an exciting first half.
Half-time: 1-0
Second Half:
At the start of the second half, Belgium tried to get a quick equaliser. Lorenzo Staelens
watched his shot, from the edge of the area, go narrowly wide.
Luc Nilis came on for Strupar in the 58th
minute and tried countless times to get down the flanks and cross the ball into Emile
Mpenza. The Italians were always there.
The Belgians tried other strategies with
Wilmots coming through the middle. Italy brought on Del Piero for first half goalscorer
Totti, in the 64th minute. Two minutes later, goal number two.
Fiore to Inzaghi, his back to the goal,
returns the ball to Fiore again who hits it first time; out of Filip de
Wilde's reach.
Mbo Mpenze replaced Verheyen; perhaps the
Italians hadn't seen videos of him. But it was not too be. The Italians were too
well-organised at the back and broke swiftly on the counter. Belgium played the
offside-trap well enough to keep the scoreline respectable.
Result:
Italy 2 -- Belgium 0
Man of the Match:
Stefano Fiore.
Tournament
Index -- Group Tables -- Qualifying Round --
Live -- Forum
Thu. 15th June:
(Group B)
Game 10 Sweden - Turkey (0-0)
Thanks to this scoreless bore, Italy top group
B
and will play the runners-up of England's group.
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