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| Wales 2-1 Italy | ||||||||||||||
t was the night all Wales, and no doubt Italy, will never forget.
Mark Hughes' warriors grabbed a brilliant victory to put them top
of Group Nine with visions of Euro 2004 in Portugal in two years
time already firmly in their minds. Italy, dumped out of the World Cup by the running men of South Korea, ran straight into another all-action bunch of battlers and suffered the same fate here. In 13 months Wales have remained unbeaten, beating Germany in this throbbing Millennium Stadium, held Argentina and now run Italy off the park. Simon Davies grabbed an early lead and Alessandro Del Piero equalised before the break. But in a second half of scorching tension, Cardiff-born Craig Bellamy scampered away for the winner. The pre-match hype was understandable. A country that has done precious little for a decade had seen their team go a year without defeat and make a sound start to the qualifying campaign with an impressive win in Finland. But Italy are different, regardless of whether they have had plenty of soul searching since their premature World Cup Finals exit and with the heat on boss Giovanni Trapattoni. The Italians possessed a glut of world class talent that made you fear for a Welsh side that had four players - Paul Jones, Mark Delaney, Andy Melville and John Hartson - who are not playing regular first team football. But a 72,000 sell-out at the Millennium Stadium would have none of that. They believe the good times are going to roll again, and by the end they were rocking too. Hughes brought Bellamy into the side as the only change from the team that won in Helsinki, Andy Johnson being the unlucky one to step down. Local Cardiff star Danny Gabbidon held his place in defence despite Robert Page's return from injury. Italy had Luigi Di Biagio back after the weekend draw with Yugoslavia, with Vincenzo Montella taking the place of the injured Filippo Inzaghi and Middlesbrough's Massimo Maccarone on the bench. The atmospheric stadium was rocking by the time the teams arrived, the Manic Street Preachers had done their turn, John Charles, a star in Italy as well as Wales, had been introduced to the packed crowd, and the level of expectation had been cranked up to the maximum for Wales' most important game for a decade. And Wales started with the predictable attack, corners and long throws dropped into the Italian area and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon flapping at them. Di Biagio was booked on seven minutes for deliberate handball, and from the free-kick, once again landed in the box by Mark Pembridge from the half-way line, Hartson nodded down and Gabbidon wasted a glorious chance from 10 yards by hooking the ball over the bar. But on 12 minutes Wales surged into the lead. Bellamy out on the right, interchanged with Simon Davies, and the ball was played into the new Wales footballer of the year's path for him to lash across Buffon and into the far corner from an acute angle. That made it three goals in three games for Davies who scored in his previous two internationals in Croatia and Finland. Robbie Savage, who had twice been warned for his lunging tackles, was finally booked on 20 minutes although his effort didn't connect with Alessandro Nesta. The Italians were having a lot of possession and it was down to Pembridge and Savage in particular to contest the midfield and stop the passes getting through. From a 25th minute corner, the Italians could have equalised. Del Piero's corner escaped the clutches of Jones and Christian Panucci somehow failed to connect properly with his far post header. Another dubious free-kick, hotly contested by the crowd and half the Welsh team, was to prove costly. Bellamy was booked for dissent and when Del Piero took the 32nd minute free kick it clipped Savage in the wall and left Jones hopelessly beaten by the change of direction to sail into the net. The goal deflated Wales and it could have been two just three minutes later when Damiano Tommasi pulled the ball back and Montella lashed a hooked volley over the bar. The constant flow of free-kicks to the Italians finally changed when Nesta bundled Savage over 20 yards out in the 41st minute, and Ryan Giggs saw his curling free kick beat Buffon and crash back off the bar. Hartson and Pembridge both saw half chances go close, but it was Jones with a flying save from Montella that kept Wales level. Jones pulled off an even better save on 51 minutes to touch onto the bar a Pirlo free kick that had taken a wicked deflection off Gabbidon in the wall. But Wales did start getting up a head of steam, and a solid nod down from Hartson gave Giggs the chance of a fierce 18 yard volley that crashed into Nesta. Di Biagio departed, then Montella, Maccarone finding himself on for his second cap. But although Del Piero jinked through and forced Jones into a save with his legs, the Italians seemed unsure of whether to go at Wales or hold what they had. Wales sensed the uncertainty and on 71 minutes they were ahead again. Hartson turned a pass into Bellamy's path and he outpaced Nesta to round Buffon and drill home Wales' second. The tension now was electric, Wales were again being forced to defend as Italy came out of their self-imposed shell. Gattuso was replaced by another striker in Massimo Marazzina on 85 minutes, the Italians now desperate. Twice Wales broke from deep defence, once Bellamy couldn't quite get away and then Giggs lashed a cross inches in front of Davies. On 90 minutes Zauri was booked for sending Mark Delaney crashing into the perimeter fencing and as the referee ran across to show the yellow card, Bellamy raced away to net again, without realising. It did not matter, the final whistle sent the stadium wild with delight and put Wales very firmly on the map after a decade of decline. |
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