Group E Czech Republic 0 Italy 2 Windows may have been broken on the great mansion of Italian football over the past year but it would be foolish to believe that the roof has caved in.
In the draughty, decadent old port town of Hamburg yesterday afternoon, Marcello Lippi sent out a team to prove that the Establishment still stands. With a formidable and familiar performance, the royals of the European game bounced the aging darlings of the Czech Republic out of this wonderful World Cup and, in the case of several fine players, probably into international retirement.
For two weeks this World Cup belonged to bewitching and daring attacking football teams, but Italy's performance was a sobering reminder that there are other means. After the shadowy few weeks of rumour which tainted the very character of Serie A, and then the bruising calamity of the drawn match against the USA, this was back to business. That torrid 1-1 draw against Bruce Arena's workmanlike American team provoked the Italians to vow to a return to old means. They required a draw here yesterday and the selection by Lippi of Alberto Gilardino as the lone striker up front made clear their intentions.
As the afternoon unfolded, it must have been a deeply satisfying experience for Lippi who orchestrated a classic Italian performance of spare, slow-burning football splashed with intermittent moments of flamboyance. In comparison to the kind of thrilling adventure on offer from contenders like Argentina or Holland or Spain, there was in this victory something of the old hauteur and an obedience to an ascetic vision based on the collective ability of stopping the other team stone dead.
Lippi must dream of games like this. Italy wound themselves around the increasingly desperate and spent Czech team with the same natural patience as a boa constrictor squeezing the last life from its prey. The return of Gennaro Gattuso, the hunching, hirsute AC Milan midfielder, gave the midfield the bite it lacked in previous games. He tailed Tomas Rosicky with his customary enthusiasm, snapping and pushing and closing down all afternoon. Behind him, captain Fabio Cannavarro had an utterly controlled game. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon - the man most seriously implicated in the Juventus betting allegations - looked confident and Andrea Pirlo and Francesco Totti directed traffic at midfield.
Yet as meticulous as Lippi is, he could not have planned that the 17th-minute injury to Alessandro Nesta, the heart of the Italian defence, could have worked out so well. In came Marco Materazzi, the hulking Internazionale journeyman who not only gave Italy their first goal with a booming header on Totti's corner but went on to play the game of his career.
That goal, coming after 25 minutes which had been lit by the maverick brilliance of the Republic's Pavel Nedved, was a boon that Italy could not have expected. And it was a disaster for neutrals. Italy are still the masters of protecting the 1-0 lead and it could be that the nature of this game gave them a perfect crash course in how best to advance through this pyrotechnic tournament.
The contest was arguably lost for the Czech just seconds before half-time when Jan Polak was sent-off for a crude challenge on Totti to earn his second yellow card in 10 minutes. Karel Bruckner, the lion of the Czech game, turned away in disgust.
It was a blow the Czech hardly deserved after engineering most of the first-half entertainment. They started so brightly, with Milan Baros's first touch spoiling an exquisite through ball by Nedved and leaving him no angle with his shot.
Two minutes later, Nedved tested Buffon from distance. The blond icon was in sparkling mood and there were times during the long second half, when Italy just stretched the rack, that he might have rescued his country. The Czech's best chance came in the 67th minute, when a beautiful spin from Rosicky and a subtle touch by substitute Stajner created the space for Nedved to let fly. Again, Buffon was equal to it.
As the 10-man Republic pressed forward with increasing abandon, Italy turned on the style a bit, breaking forward with cavalier flicks and adventure, truly enjoying their football for the first time in a month. With 13 minutes left, Bruckner sent in Marek Heinz, a forward, for Radoslav Kovac, their solid central defender. The gates were open. Filippo Inzhagi had already blown a great chance from Pirlo's dandy footwork when redemption came in the 87th minute. A quick break from defence gave Italy a two on one and Inzhagi took the longest time rounding the helpless Petr Cech. Perhaps he was agonising whether Lippi might prefer him to dribble to the corner flag and kill the clock. To the delight of the Italian fans, all labels and expensive eyewear, he scored into an empty net from six yards out. That was it for the Czechs and, brave as they were in bleak circumstances, there was the distinct sense afterwards of a tired team saying goodbye to its fans.
Italy, though, the forgotten giant of this tournament, are now in a position to return some conservatism and steel to this World Cup party. With Daniel De Rossi to come back in and Luca Toni, the big smash-and-grab striker yet to heat up, Italy look like Italy again. Not so long ago, Marcello Lippi berated his team as "spoilt children" but there were signs here that they may yet turn out quite well in Germany.
SUBSTITUTIONS
CZECH REPUBLIC: Heinz for Kovac (78), Stajner for Poborsky (46 mins), Jarolim for Baros (64 mins). Subs not used: Blazek, Galasek, Jiranek, Kinsky, Koller, Mares, Sionko. Booked: Polak.
ITALY: Materazzi for Nesta (17 mins), Barone for Camoranesi (73 mins), Inzaghi for Gilardino (60 mins). Subs not used: Amelia, Barzagli, Del Piero, Iaquinta, Oddo, Peruzzi, Toni, Zaccardo. Booked: Gattuso.
Referee: Benito Archundia Tellez (Mexico).
Czech Republic ... 0 Sent off: Polak 45 Italy ... 2 Materazzi 26, Inzaghi 87 Attendance: 50,000
