New Delhi: Italy were held to a 0-0 draw by Switzerland at the St Jacob Park in Basel. It was a decent performance by the visitors, who were adamant to make up for their disastrous Confederations Cup.
The World Champions looked determined to make up for their poor recent performances as they played the ball around comfortably in the middle of the park in the opening stages.
Chances started to come just after the tenth minute mark, and in the 13th minute they had the ball in the net, but Giorgio Chiellini’s close range finish after a save by the goalkeeper on a header by debutant Domenico Criscito from a corner kick was ruled out for an offside position.
A minute later, Alberto Gilardino came close with a left-footed shot that went just wide of the bottom corner of the net, although the keeper would probably have tipped it away had the shot been on target.
On the quarter hour mark, debutant Claudio Marchisio found himself alone in front of keeper Diego Benaglio, who came up with a great save on his powerful shot.
Gianluca Zambrotta tried his luck with a powerful shot from the edge of the area that didn’t go that far wide of the post in the 22nd minute.
The biggest chance nevertheless came to the home side in the 34th minute, when midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta nearly took advantage of a poor back-pass by Giorgio Chiellini, but his shot hit the crossbar.
Five minutes later, Udinese midfielder Gokhan Inler fired a powerful shot towards Italy’s goal from long range, which was comfortably grabbed by Gianluigi Buffon. It was the last chance of the first half.
During half time, Italy coach Marcello Lippi replaced Zambrotta with Davide Santon and Gilardino with Vincenzo Iaquinta.
The first chance of the second half came a minute and half in, when Inler fired a powerful free kick just over the bar for Switzerland.
In the 50th minute, the home side made a dangerous move, as Blaise N’Kufo was found in the area and he passed it to the unmarked Barnetta, but the pass lacked precision and the winger was unable to take a proper shot.
Just before the hour mark, the impressive Marchisio played a smart pass for his Juventus team mate Iaquinta, who shot the ball just wide of the target as the goalkeeper came rushing out of his goal.
By this stage of the match, both coaches started making numerous changes, which hardly benefited the excitement level of the match. Chances became more and more rare as the rhythm of the match steadily decreased as the second half were on.
In the 79th minute, however, there was a chance for the Azzurri again, as substitute Simone Pepe headed a cross from fellow substitute Gaetano D’Agostino just wide of the mark.
As full time neared its end, substitute Fabio Quagliarella came close to scoring a winner, but his shot in the 89th minute went just wide.
After just one minute of stoppage time, the referee blew his whistle to end a somewhat disappointing match, in which the Azzurri started well, and may have deserved a victory, but the home side also had a number of chances of their own.
It was definitely a step forward from their dismal Confederations Cup displays, but there is still work to do for Lippi before the World Cup qualifiers.
There will also be some worry for winger Mauro Camoranesi, who was forced to pull out at the half hour mark with an injury.
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