Switzerland were held to Italy on 6th June 1-1 dashing the hopes of Italian fans who were hoping for a Swiss appetiser before the World Cup holders fly out to South Africa. Gaming without Fabio Cannavaro, the Italian back four recovered some of the composure they lost in their defeat by Mexico last Thursday, but a lacklustre Italy still suffered from a dearth of ideas going forward.
Switzerland had the better of the chances, recovering their bite to dominate the midfield and open the score in the ten minutes. Gokhan inter took advantage of fine running off the ball by Alexander Frei to place a shot from the edge of the penalty area past Federico Marchetti in the Italian goal. Italy equalised five minutes later when Fabio Quagliarella awkwardly headed a loose ball in the goalmouth, how to over Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio and in off the opposite post. Apart from that lucky break the Naples midfielder rarely managed to muster the creativity of the injured Alessandro Pirlo, while Riccardo Montolivo's ideas were let down by wayward passing.
Marcello Lippi Italian coach told "Rai television that he had not sent out a second string team as he probed the depth of his squad by ringing the changes from the side which lost to the Mexicans. There is no Italy mark two. There is one Italy and all the players are part of it. They are great players,creative inter marshalled the Swiss," Let down only by flighty control by their two forwards Frei and Twente's Blaise Nkufo as well as last ditch defending by Salvatore Bocchetti.
Italian better chances came with the few moments they managed to sneak the ball out to the wings through their backs, Gianluca Zambrotta and Christian Maggio. An easy looking Lippi substituted Quagliarella halfway through the second half, bringing on Antonio Natale while, Gilardino replaced Giampalo Pazzini but the Azzurri truggled to hold on to the ball.
Switzerland came close to scoring again in the final minutes through Philippe Senederos and a free kick from substitute Hakan Yakin, while Marchetti parried a blistering long range effort from 18 year-old Xherdan Shaqiri. The Italians will now head down to South Africa where they will be expected to advance from a Group F comprising New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia.
The Swiss, handled by the experienced Ottmar Hitzfeld and coming off some indifferent warm ups including a loss to Costa Rica, compete in Group H against European champions Spain, Honduras and Chile.Hitzfeld said, We need to be bolder but we've made progress, after giving the Italians a hard time. we have a tough task against Spain, but we have our chances, Hitzfeld added, looking ahead to his side's first World Cup encounter. Spain has weaknesses, all teams have weaknesses.