UKRAINE 0 – 0 ITALY (changed article)

Italy stretched their unbeaten run to 18 matches with a 0-0 draw against fellow FIFA World Cup™ finalists Ukraine in a friendly match played in Lausanne on Friday.
The result provided scant comfort for the Azzurri, however, with the team lacking the inspiration that showed in earlier friendly wins over the Netherlands and Germany.

Midfielder Daniele De Rossi went closest to scoring for Italy just before half-time, when he headed powerfully goalwards only to watch keeper Oleksander Shovkovsky palm the ball round the post at full stretch.

The Ukrainians, who will be taking part in the FIFA World Cup for the first time this month, limited themselves to defence for most of the match.

They almost snatched a late winner, however, when Andriy Voronin went through alone on goal but failed to lift the ball over keeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi was upbeat at the end of his team’s last match before they open their FIFA World Cup Group E campaign against Ghana on June 12.

“I thought we played better than we did (in the 1-1 draw) against Switzerland on Wednesday,” he said.

“My players haven’t played much competitive football since the Serie A season finished on 14 May, it’s only natural they are going to take a little time to get into the game.

“As far as this evening goes, I’m happy. They had a good 20-minute spell in the middle of the second half, but we finished in control, which was important.”

Neither side created much in a quiet opening half hour. Ukraine went closest to grabbing an early goal, when midfielder Anatoly Tymoshchyuk fired in a long-range effort that Fabio Cannavaro deflected behind for a corner.

Gradually, however, Italy began to impose themselves with the three-man attack of Alessandro Del Piero, Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni combining to find holes in the opposition defence.

Midfielder Andriy Husin tripped Del Piero to concede a free kick on the edge of the area, but the Juventus striker’s effort was easily saved by Shovkovsky.

Toni could have got more power on a header that failed to test the keeper, but it was only Shovkovsky’s acrobatics that kept out De Rossi’s header a minute before the interval.

Italy kept up the pressure at the restart, Toni latching on to a Gilardino backheel before blazing a shot over the bar from inside the area. But still a goal eluded them, the Ukrainain defenders holding their nerve.

With just over half an hour to go, Lippi sent on Francesco Totti and Filippo Inzaghi in place of Del Piero and Luca Toni, but the change failed to give his team the cutting edge they lacked.

Totti, in particular, appeared to lack sharpness. The Roma striker, often described as the lynchpin of Italy’s FIFA World Cup ambitions, was making only his third competitive outing since fracturing a bone in his ankle during a Serie A match in February.

His continuing struggle for form will hardly have filled his team-mates with confidence at they prepare to depart for Germany.