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ITALY / SLOVAKIA, January 28th, 1998. |
CATANIA, Sicily, January 28, 98 (AP). previous article Second half goals by Fabrizio Ravanelli, Alessandro Del Piero and Roberto Di Matteo gave World Cup qualifier Italy a clearcut 3-0 victory against Slovakia in a friendly match Wednesday. The Italian team overwhelmed the lower ranked opponents, to the cheers of a sold out crowd of 28,000, following a lackluster first half marked by missed chances, a confused midfield play and a slow rhythm by the home side. Italy, testing new players and tactics in the first of three exhibition games prior to the World Cup finals in France, was more aggressive and quicker when it fielded four newcomers -- Roma's Luigi Di Biagio, Inter's Francesco Moriero, Fiorentina's Sandro Cois and Juventus' Moreno Torricelli. Ravanelli opened the scoring in the 48th minute, kicking in a rebound following a powerful shot by Moriero. Del Piero, who had wasted Italy's best scoring chance in the first half, made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute, on a mishap by the Slovak defense. Del Piero kicked into the open mouth as defender Jaroslav Timko tried to clear, stealing the ball from the hands of goalie Alexander Vencel. Di Matteo, who plays with Chelsea in the English Premier League, scored the third goal with a powerful shot from 10 meters, after defenders cleared from the net line a previous header by Ravanelli. Slovakia, which did not qualify for the World Cup, concentrated on defense and produced a single scoring chance, saved by Italian goalie Angelo Peruzzi in the second half. Peter Dubovsky, who plays with Oviedo in the Spanish league, was the best player on Slovak side. Coach Cesare Maldini substituted five players during the match to mix newcomers and veterans and possibly find alternatives to a slow midfield and the sometimes feeble offense. Those replaced included Paolo Maldini, the son of the coach and the team captain, who left the field in the 61st minute at the Cibali stadium in Catania. The Italian coach initially set up the former Juventus duo of Ravanelli and Del Piero in absence of Atletico Madrid striker Christian Vieri and Lazio's veteran forward Pierluigi Casiraghi. Casiraghi scored the game winner in the playoffs with Russia, which earned Italy a berth in the World Cup finals. "It was a good opportunity to test newcomers," Cesare Maldini said. "I'm satisfied. There will be time to make more tests and improve quality of play in the next exhibitions." Italy plays next Paraguay, on April 22. The third exhibition against Hungary, Sweden or Switzerland still must be fixed in detail. The Italian team, a losing finalist to Brazil in the 1994 World Cup, will debut in the 1998 competition against Chile, at Bordeaux, on June 11. In the first round of the World Cup Italy will also play Cameroon on June 17 and Austria on June 23. Teams
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