ITALY got Cesare Maldini's coaching reign off to a winning start with a comfortable victory over Northern Ireland in Palermo last night.
England manager Glenn Hoddle was on a fact finding mission, seeking evidence of what threat the Italians are likely to pose in their World Cup qualifier at Wembley on February 12th.
The implications of Maldini's first team selection were ominously traditional - a man marking sweeper system with the capacity to strike quickly on the break. But Arrigo Sacchi's successor had little time to sort out his options, particularly at the back.
For their first encounter with Italy in 36 years - they lost 3-2 in Bologna in 1961 - Northern Ireland were seriously understrength. Injuries and club commitments had reduced Bryan Hamilton's team to two Premiership players, Arsenal's Steve Morrow and West Ham's Michael Hughes.
Italy also included two Premiership representatives, the Chelsea pair Gianfranco Zola and Roberto di Matteo, but a heavy sprinkling from Juventus and Milan emphasised the disparity in strength which lay between the sides.
The Irish left James Quinn up front, withdrew nine players behind the ball and invited the opposition to find a way through. Given the circumstances, they had little choice.
Italy needed just eight minutes to unravel the problem. From the start Demitrio Albertini was floating long passes in among the defenders and when Pierluigi Casiraghi began to move on to one of these, he was blocked by Gerry Taggart. Before a free kick could be given, however, the ball had broken to Zola, who had stolen around the back of the Irish cover and scored with a narrow angled shot which defeated Tommy Wright, the Manchester City goalkeeper, at the near post.
With Italian confidence soaring, Casiraghi and Di Livio each went close before the quarter hour. The important thing for Italy was to find the right mood and leave the mechanics of the Wembley operation to sort themselves out on the night.
Whatever the theoretical significance of last night's game, a friendly is still a friendly, and having established control Maldini's players relaxed the tempo, probing for openings at their leisure, content to let the goals come.
Yet no more had arrived by half time which said much for the resilience of Taggart, Barry Hunter and Morrow in the Irish defence. Italy also began falling offside always a sign that the attacking team's concentration is slipping.
Encouragingly for England, though frustratingly for the crowd, Italy was short of imagination when it came to finding the subtlety of final pass or accuracy of centre to cause the Irish defenders further problems.
Having given Italy their early lead, Zola, for one, was finding it difficult to create further scoring opportunities. Just before the hour, Fabrizio Ravanelli, who had lost his place to Zola with the arrival of Cesare Maldini, now regained it as a substitute for Casiraghi while di Matteo gave way to Fuser.
At least Ravanelli added some urgency to the proceedings. A few minutes later, to a loud roar of approval, Alesandro del Piero replaced Zola. By then, in fact, Northern Ireland, in a rare attack, had almost brought the scores level. Ten minutes into the second half, Quinn met Hughes's low centre from the left with a firm first time shot which Peruzzi did well to push wide.
It was not until the last few minutes that Italian class began to tell, Del Piero running free onto Albertini's pass but being defied when Wright came out to spread himself, the shot flying up and over the bar.
But it was a shortlived reprieve as Del Piero, in the absence of Zola, stood over a free kick on the right hand side of the Irish penalty area. Everything was ready to frustrate him, but the Juventus man curled the ball over the wall and inside Wright's near post.
