Wales - 2 Italy 1: In an atmosphere that used to be reserved for great rugby nights in this city, Wales claimed one of their greatest victories to add substance to manager Mark Hughes's romantic assertion that his side belong among football's most developed nations.
More than anything, this performance instilled real belief among Welsh fans that their team, who have suffered so much heart-breaking failure in attempting to qualify for major tournaments, could this time be on course to take their place in the European Championship finals in two years time.
A victory that, in these changing sporting times in the Principality, will rank with anything Gareth Edwards and Barry John ever did against England at the Arms Park, sees Wales on top of Group Nine with two wins from two games. It was a performance that deserved nothing less than a splendid victory.
Hughes had suggested that the match could act as a sort of religious sporting conversion for Wales, convincing a previously rugby-obsessed nation that the shape of the football is less important than the shape and desire of the team.
Despite that, Wales's new generation of fans cannot yet hope to match their Italian counterparts for footballing passion. But they attempted to turn the centre of Cardiff into a mini-Rome beforehand with car horns tooting on every stretch of road that is not yet pedestrianised and in the stadium, the levels of an already passionate night were cranked up with the introduction of John Charles, a hero in both countries but a God in Wales.
Hughes also said that his team are not greedy when it comes to possession. But perhaps buoyed by his words, they hungrily held on to it in the opening minutes, forcing Gianluigi Buffon to beat out an inswinging Mark Pembridge corner. And they should have gone ahead when John Hartson headed a Pembridge free kick into the path of Danny Gabbidon of Cardiff City, for whom the moment proved too momentous and too early.
It did not matter since in the 12th minute, Wales were gloriously ahead. After a patient build-up, Simon Davies upped the tempo and the odds with a ball out to the right wing to Craig Bellamy, collecting the measured return pass to shoot diagonally across Buffon into the far corner of the net.
Wales might have had another when Ryan Giggs ran on to a Mark Delaney cutback but Alessandro Nesta produced the sort of clearance that has earned him his reputation as one of the world's finest defenders.
Things were bubbling nicely for Wales until they conceded a controversial free kick 25 yards from goal in the 32nd minute, which saw Bellamy booked for protesting. Alessandro Del Piero waited for the commotion to die down before chipping in a ball which took a cruel deflection off the top of the wall before drifting over goalkeeper Paul Jones.
The goal choked the belief in the stands, which instantly fell into pessimistic silence, but not on the pitch, where Giggs was desperately unlucky to see his curling free kick from the edge of the box rebound from a bar four minutes from half-time.
Hartson cannot be mentioned in the same country as Charles, let alone the same breath. But he gave a superb imitation of the old-fashioned centre forward's arts, causing problems and uncertainty all along the Italian back line.
Every dangerous move was channelled through him at some juncture, most of them aerial balls which he headed back to advancing midfield players with his back to goal, though his footwork did not let him down when required.
He demonstrated it brilliantly in the 71st minute with a delightful right footed through ball that invited Bellamy to sidestep the goalkeeper and two defenders before slotting the ball into the net for a goal that was richly deserved.
WALES: Paul Jones, Delaney, Melville, Gabbidon, Speed, Davies, Savage, Pembridge, Giggs, Bellamy (Blake 90), Hartson. Subs Not Used: Page, Johnson, Earnshaw, Carl Robinson, Weston, Crossley. Booked: Savage, Bellamy. Goals: Davies 12, Bellamy 71.
ITALY: Buffon, Panucci, Cannavaro, Nesta, Zauri, Di Biagio (Gattuso 54), Ambrosini, Pirlo, Tommasi, Del Piero, Montella (Maccarone 69), Gattuso (Marazzina 85). Subs Not Used: Abbiati, Adani, Iuliano, Oddo. Booked: Di Biagio, Zauri. Goals: Del Piero 32.
Referee: Giles Veissiere (France).
