Gilardino helps Italy thrash Faroes
Reuters - Tuesday 07 September 2010, 21:23
FLORENCE - World Cup flop Alberto
Gilardino put a painful 11-month international scoring drought
behind him by netting the opener in Italy's 5-0 drubbing of the
Faroe Islands in Euro 2012 qualifying Group C on Tuesday.
The Fiorentina striker, whose poor form in South Africa was
symptomatic of Italy's malaise, headed in a corner for an 11th
minute lead having come back into the team at his home ground
after being left out of Friday's opening 2-1 win in Estonia.
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Daniele De Rossi and the splendid Antonio Cassano extended
the advantage at half-time before substitute Fabio Quagliarella
and a perfect late free kick from captain Andrea Pirlo added the
gloss to coach Cesare Prandelli's first home match in charge.
The former world champions could have scored more against
the Faroes, whose population of around 49,000 is seven times
smaller than that of Florence, but dogged defence denied them.
The Islanders were determined to battle hard after being
upset by their training facilities in Italy, with angry coach
Brian Kerr saying the grass was so high that "all the sheep in
the Faroes would take a month to eat it".
Opposite number Prandelli, the former Fiorentina boss, was
in a better mood after being warmly welcomed back to Florence
with banners hailing his time at the club rather than
criticising his May departure as authorities had feared.
"It was easy to come back because I knew Florence is a
generous place and I was sure it would be like this," Prandelli
told reporters.
"It was clear that for 90 minutes we couldn't keep the
momentum of the first half. I expected Gilardino's goal because
he had so much desire."
WRY SMILE
The stadium was not full but fans also applauded debuts for
Fiorentina right-back Lorenzo De Silvestri and Florence-born
Bologna keeper Emiliano Viviano before seeing Gilardino justify
Prandelli's decision to bring him in for Giampaolo Pazzini.
De Rossi's deflected effort on 22 minutes raised the
prospect of a rout and Cassano powerfully picked his spot from
just outside the area to make it three soon after.
New Italian federation technical chief Roberto Baggio,
arguably Italy's most famous number 10, watched in the stands
with a wry smile as the creative Cassano again showed he might
finally be ready to be a veritable heir to the Divine Ponytail.
Cassano, the one-time bad boy of Italian football, was the
architect of the comeback win in Estonia and has matured
markedly of late thanks to marriage and impending fatherhood.
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