Italy and Dutch squad settle for goalless draw in friendly

Nov 14, 2009, 21:08 GMT

Pescara, Italy - Visiting Netherlands and world champions Italy drew 0-0 in a friendly they played Saturday in the seaside town of Pescara.

The Dutch squad dominated early in the game through their dynamic and precise game and came close on 19 minutes when Dirk Kuyt fired a dangerous, slightly wide shot as Gianluigi Buffon seemed unable to intervene.

The Dutch lost striker Robin van Persie, who had to leave the pitch on a stretcher after a clash with Giorgio Chiellini and was replaced by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the 15th minute.

As they often did in recent games, the world champions failed to entertain the home crowd due to the frequent imprecise passes that marred their first fruitless attempts.

Forward Eljero Elia was particularly active upfront, while Italy's Raffaele Palladino tried a first fast but central drive toward Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg as Italy still struggled each time they had to kick off a new action.

The Azzurri kept dithering, but missed a good close-range chance as Palladino on 41 minutes missed a deflection before a free kick from Andrea Pirlo flew wide and Stekelenburg closed the first half blocking an effort from debutant Antonio Candreva.

The game remained mostly tactical and triggered complaints from the Pescara crowd, but Italy improved in the last 15 minutes, coming close twice with efforts from substitute striker Giuseppe Rossi.

A late goal from substitute Giampaolo Pazzini was disallowed after the Sampdoria striker admitted to having handled the ball in a close range deflection.

'I can't explain the percentage of mistakes in our passes,' Italy coach Marcello Lippi said.

'We played a good game tactically and we grew up as we fielded new players. We didn't run risks in the second half and we played well in defence.'

The takings from the game are to go support the people of the nearby town of L'Aquila, which was rocked by a severe quake on April 6 and was visited by the Azzurri this week.

Italy have another friendly scheduled for Wednesday against Sweden in Cesena.