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Win in Rome Classy Argentina defeats Italy 2-1 in friendly
Updated: Wednesday February 28, 2001 5:58 PM
ROME (Reuters) -- Argentina produced a superb performance to come from behind and beat Italy 2-1 in a friendly on Wednesday and could easily have won by more against the timid hosts. Stefano Fiore put Italy ahead in the 26th minute of a vibrant match played in front of just 20,000 fans on a damp wintry evening at the Olympic Stadium. But Valencia's Kily Gonzalez scored a brilliant equalizer in the 36th minute and Lazio's Hernan Crespo scored the winner four minutes after the interval. Marcelo Bielsa's young side coped with the Euopean Championhip finalists with embarrassing ease. For long periods of the game they flicked the ball around among themselves in midfield to cries of "Ole" from their small but vocal group of fans. Midfielder Juan Sorin hit the inside of Gianluigi Buffon's left hand post with a first-half header and Crespo, who could easily have had a hat trick, had a goal mysteriously ruled out by French referee Alain Sars in the dying minutes. Italy, which has been strong in their World Cup qualifying campaign, looked strangely wooden and its striking partnership of Filippo Inzaghi and Christian Vieri was given sparse service from midfield. This was the first time Argentina had ever beaten Italy at home over 90 minutes. Its only previous victory came on penalties in their last encounter -- in the semifinals of the 1990 World Cup. "We made a bit of a shaky start but after that we dominated much of the match, we had a lot of good possession and we created chances," Bielsa said. "If we'd have been slightly better at taking those chances we could have won by a wider margin." Bright start for ItalyItaly started well enough. Inzaghi had two early chances before the Argentines responded with a shot from Crespo which fizzed across the face of Buffon's goal. Fabio Cannavaro had a nasty gash on his right knee and an elbow in the face from Gonzalez within the first 15 minutes, confirming that a friendly between Italy and Argentina is a contradiction in terms. Italy's opener stemmed from a rare error from Juan Veron, who casually back-heeled the ball straight to Vieri in the center circle. Vieri fed the ball forward and Fiore slipped between the Argentine centerbacks and threaded a low first time shot through the legs of goalkeeper German Burgos. But from then on the match belonged to Argentina. Crespo failed to put enough weight on a glancing header in front of goal in the 30th minute but made amends six minutes later by breaking free down the right and laying a pass square to Gonzalez. The Valencia forward, outstanding throughout, had time to steady himself before blasting a fine shot into Buffon's top right hand corner. The Argentines could have wrapped up victory before the break thanks to Sorin's header against the post and a chip from Gonzalez which Paolo Maldini had to head away from under his own crossbar. Crespo then sealed Argentina's win when he nipped inside Maldini early in the second half to meet a low cross from the left from Gonzalez. Wednesday's clash was the 13th between the two great footballing nations since they first met in Rome in 1954. Italy has won six, Argentina three and four games have ended in draws. SummaryScorers: Italy - Stefano Fiore 26 Argentina - Kily Gonzalez 36, Hernan Crespo 49 Halftime: 1-1 Attendance: 20,000 Italy: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 4-Fabio Cannavaro, 23-Alessandro Pierini 3-Paolo Maldini (captain) (15-Valerio Bertotto 53); 2-Gianluca Pessotto (19-Francesco Coco 70), 4-Alessio Tacchinardi, 17-Damiano Tomassi (14-Luigi Di Biagio 76), 7-Cristian Zenoni; 11-Stefano Fiore (10-Francesco Totti 53); 9-Filippo Inzaghi, 8-Christian Vieri (21-Marco Delvecchio 71). Argentina: 1-German Burgos; 6-Walter Samuel, 2-Roberto Ayala (captain) (5-Mauricio Pochettino 81), 4-Nelson Vivas; 3-Juan Pablo Sorin, 8-Javier Zanetti, 14-Diego Simeone, 11-Juan Veron (15-Claudio Husain 74), 10-Pablo Aimar (20-Marcelo Gallardo 81), 18-Kily Gonzalez (17-Gustavo Lopez), 9-Hernan Crespo (19-Julio Cruz 90). Referee: Alain Sars (France)
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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