Confederations Cup - Italy almost shocked by New Zealand

Eurosport - Wed, 10 Jun 22:01:00 2009

World champions Italy had to come from behind three times to beat New Zealand 4-3 in a breathless warm-up for the Confederations Cup.

FOOTBALL Italys Luca Toni (L) and Nicola Legrottaglie (R) tackle Chris Killen of New Zealand - 0

Vicenzo Iaquinta struck twice in the second half to spare Italian blushes against the 82nd-ranked team in world football.

Italy started with an experimental line-up but were stunned into bringing on more established players to turn things around.

Shane Smeltz opened the scoring for New Zealand in the 13th minute before Alberto Gilardino headed in Fabio Quagliarella's chip for the first equaliser.

Chris Killen headed in from a corner for 2-1 before Gilardino got his second.

Killen won and converted a penalty in the 57th minute as New Zealand again took the lead and that prompted Marcello Lippi to send on five more experienced players in quick succession.

Iaquinta's first came after a defence-splitting pass from Andrea Pirlo and the second when he reacted fastest after New Zealand goalkeeper Glen Moss had failed to hold Riccardo Montolivo's shot.

New Zealand play their first game of the Confederations Cup against European champions Spain on Sunday in Group A while Italy's opener is against the United States in Group B on Monday.

Reuters

Comment 1 - 7 of 7

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  1. Way to scare them All Whites!

    From **, on Fri 12 Jun 8:52PM

  2. no.1
    yes u are but spain are top of the fifa world club­ list so haha and england and spain and italy are­ favourites thats write ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!

    From Thomas, on Fri 12 Jun 6:50PM

  3. im so glad we won we have proved we are one of the­ BEST!

    From Pietro, on Fri 12 Jun 4:47PM

  4. good point Alex, they need to show commitment even when­ staring down the barrel of defeat and they did. not the­ ideal score but a winning team always reacts. Credit to­ Iaquinta who has made a habit of rescuing results for­ his team this campaign

    From Simon, on Thu 11 Jun 9:51AM

  5. What a game, apart from defensive problems Italy were­ all over NZ. Italy under Lippi have changed completely­ and I wouldn't be surprised if they would keep­ their honour next year as world champions. Also they­ have shown their dedication to the game which include­ not giving up when 1 or even 2 - 3 goals down. This is­ a factor a championship winning team­ needs.
    ________________________________________________­ _______________________________________
    "Hah! With­ a name like "londonboy", wonder why you root­ for Italia then.
    Betcha not even European. Probably­ some jobless asian with nothing better to do.

    From­ hamsanraziff, on Thu 11 Jun 5:21AM"

    To be honest­ you can't exactly criticise anybody about their­ name, "londonboy1979" sounds like a perfectly­ good name unlike yours, "hamsanraziff."­ I'm guessing non-European maybe south Asian­ perhaps? also why question other people? why insult­ people when it may also be you who is "some­ jobless Asian with nothing better to do," ­ therefore shut the f*** up and mind your own business!

    From alex1993, on Thu 11 Jun 9:37AM

  6. Jesus hope they play like that when they play Ireland

    From Ray O, on Thu 11 Jun 5:19AM

  7. Well, if you won every game 4-3 you would be champions­ of everything, oh I forgot we are champions of the­ world.

    From james, on Thu 11 Jun 2:11AM
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