Once again, the World Champions were the source of Cristiano Ronaldo's distress as a confident but weakened Italy side beat Portugal 3-1 in a friendly in Zurich two days ago.
Goals from Toni, Cannavaro (through Pirlo) and Quagliarella sealed a victory for Italy. However it would have been 4-1 if not for a refeering error when Pirlo chested down a cross and hit the ball into the back of the net. The referee thought there had been a handball, though replays showed otherwise.
The biggest disappointment of the night was once again Portugese and Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo, who often crumbles under the pressure of such games. Aside from two heart-stopping free kicks which were saved by Marco Amelia, Ronaldo was merely a passenger in the entire game.
Flashbasck to seven months earlier, where Italian and AC Milan mad dog Gennaro Gattuso had reduced the Manchester United star to 'just another player' in the memorable Champions League semi-final tie between both clubs. Today, even with Gattuso injured, Ronaldo failed to live up to expectations, a shy of the speedy brilliance he usually exhibits in the Premier League.
Since the 2006 World Cup Final, Italy has changed much. Marcello Lippi, who led the team to the title, has been replaced with former Azzuri and Milan star Roberto Donadoni, with the veterans Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti having retired from the international duty since then.
Coupled with a Euro 2008 qualifying campaign which has seen the Italians coming out tops in their groups, only losing one game and convincingly beating group dark horses Scotland both home and away, they have continually proven their worth as the world champions.
The surprising omission of on-form Alessandro Del Piero and Antonio Cassano, as well as the injuries of Gattuso, Marco Materazzi and Franco Semioli had everybody fooled into thinking a Portugal side with Ronaldo, Deco and Quaresma were going to walk all over the world champions. However that was not the case.
Andrea Pirlo, Massimo Oddo, Luca Toni and especially Fabio Quagliarella proved deadly for the Portugese. Quagliarella, the 25-year-old Udinese hitman who has scored thrice in eight appearances for the Azzuri, has been a wonderful addition to the side.
The Italians are the reigning World Champions in football, in both the club and international, and the Italy team have proved that despite being weakened through injuries, they have reserve players good enough to beat a strong Portugese side, who recently have been earmarked as THE team to watch at Austria and Switzerland in June
Right now, the question is, how seriously will both teams take this scoreline in preparations for Euro, and how will they fare if they happen to meet again in June.
I'm going all out for yet another Azzuri victory.
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