Two for Toni as Ukraine bow out

Italy earned themselves a FIFA World Cup semi-final meeting with hosts Germany on Tuesday evening following a comfortable last-eight victory against finals debutants Ukraine.

Ukraine resistance
Gianluca Zambrotta opened the scoring after just six minutes in Hamburg and Italy went on to dominate the first half, but they had to survive a couple of scares in the second period before Luca Toni put the game beyond Oleh Blokhin's side with two goals in the space of ten minutes.

Bright start
Italy started brightly and Mauro Camoranesi got an early sight of goal, surging through midfield before putting a speculative shot wide of Olexandr Shovkovskiy's right-hand post. However, within a couple of minutes Marcello Lippi's side took what proved to be a decisive lead.

Zambrotta goal
Zambrotta cut in from the right and, with the Ukraine defence standing off him, drilled a low shot which whizzed into the bottom left-hand corner of Shovkovskiy's goal off the keeper's outstretched fingertips. The goal left Ukraine winded and they posed little threat in the first half.

Buffon saves
They came back after the interval looking more determined and might have equalised after 59 minutes as Gianluigi Buffon fended Andriy Husin's back-post header on to an upright. The goalkeeper then denied a fierce Oleh Gusev shot after 58 minutes with Zambrotta blocking Husin's effort from the rebound.

Simple finish
Within two minutes, however, Ukraine's fate was seaked as Toni stooped to head past Shovkovskiy from close range from Francesco Totti's cross. Husin headed against the crossbar for Ukraine two minutes later, but Zambrotta added to their woes after 69 minutes, cutting in from the touchline and laying on a ball for Toni to tap into an open goal.