Italy strike resounding chord

Tunisia 0-4 Italy
Italy obtained a comfortable 4-0 victory in Tunis against African champions Tunisia as Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo and Gianluca Zambrotta scored their first goals in an Azzurri shirt.

Lone striker
Giovanni Trapattoni was without the injured Stefano Fiore and played with Mauro Camoranesi, Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero just behind the only striker Christian Vieri. In midfield the Italy coach started with Simone Perrotta and Cristiano Zanetti.

Cannavaro conversion
Italy opened the scoring after 15 minutes. Vieri ran on to a Totti long pass, Tunisia defender Riadh Bouazizi tried to ward off the Italy striker but headed into his own goal. Azzurri captain Cannavaro scored the second after 27 minutes, heading in a corner by Totti. It was the first goal in 78 international matches for the 30-year-old FC Internazionale defender.

Good opportunities
Italy defended well and did not allow Roger Lemerre's side any clear scoring chances. After the break Trapattoni substituted six players, but his team continued to push forward looking for the third goal. Antonio Cassano, who had replaced his AS Roma team-mate Totti, and Alessandro Del Piero wasted two good opportunities from close range.

Wonderful free-kick
Four minutes from time, substitute Pirlo curled in a wonderful free-kick, and three minutes later Zambrotta scored the fourth from close range after a corner by the AC Milan playmaker.

'Really satisfied'
"I'm really satisfied with our performance and especially with our mental approach to the game," said Trapattoni. "Del Piero, Totti and Vieri can do great things together." The win will boost Italy's morale ahead of their UEFA EURO 2004™ opener on 14 June against Denmark.