In a season marked by the total failure of Italian clubs in European competitions, the national team staged the most impressive performance of the weekend's World Cup action, defeating Romania 2-0 in their Group Eight game in Bucharest.

By late tomorrow night, following a hardly intimidating home qualifier against Lithuania in Trieste, Italy should be on 13 points, at least seven clear of either Romania or Hungary in second place.

Having already picked up home and away wins against their strongest group rivals, namely Romania, the Italians are cruising into next summer's finals.

It is true, of course, that Italy's path to South Korea and Japan has been greatly smoothed by the fact that Romania, if not in actual decline, are at least in a period of transition. Prior to Saturday night, the Romanians had the best home record in world soccer, bar none, having won 81 per cent of their home games since 1986. These days, however, they are missing key big names such as Gheorghe Hagi, "the Maradona of the Carpathians" and defenders Gheorghe Popescu and Dan Petrescu, who have opted for international retirement. In their absence, the Romanian Federation resorted to the improbable ploy of watering the pitch up until two hours before the kick-off, notwithstanding the recent wet weather in Bucharest.

In the end, the sticky, slippery pitch did the Romanian cause no good as Italy kept their feet rather better than their hosts. The over-watering ruse only prompted further reservations about a Romanian Federation that has failed to properly explain why four players with top clubs have died either in training or on the pitch in the last 15 months. The only official response has been a report from the Romanian Anti-Doping Commission, ruling out drug abuse, disease or a fatal clash with an opponent.

As in their impressive 3-0 home win at the San Siro in October, Italy had the game wrapped up by half-time, thanks to 28th and 33rd minute goals from Juventus striker Filippo Inzaghi.

Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni had warned beforehand this was not a game where he expected his "orchestra" to wax lyrical with the violin but rather to pluck away on the double-bass. They let Romania open up with all guns blazing, before striking on the classic counterattack.

The final scoreline probably flattered Romania since Italy had a seemingly good opening goal disallowed, whilst both Inzaghi and born-again Alessandro Del Piero missed good chances either side of half-time. The absence of the likes of Francesco Totti, Christian Vieri, Marco Delvecchio and Gigi Di Biagio mattered little.

Arguably more important to this Italian side is the defensive solidity provided by the three-man defence of Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini. Not surprisingly, the Bucharest result has been greeted more than warmly in these parts. Not only has this season been marked by setbacks in European club competition but issues such as recurring fan violence, a passport furore and, most recently, a match-fixing scandal have all grabbed unwelcome headlines.

Only last Friday, six players from Atalanta, Empoli and Pistoiese received year-long bans for their involvement in the fixing of Atalanta's 1-1 Italian Cup draw with Pistoiese in August. In such a context, Italy's smooth progress down the road to South Korea and Japan has struck a badly needed blow for national morale, a point underlined by goalscorer Inzaghi, who said on Sunday:

"This side has rehabilitated Italian soccer, after the European club rout ... I don't think there's a stronger team in the world than us and I'd just love to have another go at France again ...".

In the meantime, however, Messrs Inzaghi and co can fix their sights on the less daunting target of Lithuania tomorrow night.