Youthful Italy convince in friendly against Sweden

Nov 18, 2009, 21:04 GMT

Cesena, Italy - Marcello Lippi clinched a narrow but encouraging 1-0 win in a home friendly against Sweden Wednesday as he fielded an experimental line-up loaded with young World Cup hopefuls.

None of the 2006 world champion Azzurri were on the slippery pitch of Cesena, but the crowd from the northern-Italy town had several occasions to cheer as Italy played their penultimate friendly before next summer's World Cup in South Africa.

There were troubles at the start for Federico Marchetti, who blocked the storming Tobias Hysen and deflected a drive from Olof Mellberg as he kept goal in place of star Gianluigi Buffon.

Play maker Antonio Candreva on nine minutes curled a free kick to force Andreas Isaksson's deflection immediately followed by a save on a header from Giorgio Chiellini.

Italy's game gradually gathered steam thanks to a solid midfield manned by the young Riccardo Montolivo, Davide Biondini and Candreva.

Antonio Di Natale, one of the few veterans among the Azzurri, had a good volley saved before Biondini flicked wide on 21 minutes, but Italy converted their dominance into a goal seven minutes later with Giorgio Chiellini.

The Juventus defender, who is certain of a spot for South Africa, scored with an easy header after striker Giampaolo Pazzini skimmed a corner from the right.

Chiellini forced a good save from Isaksson before the break following a high long-range drive from Gustav Svensson.

Sweden also had many new or seldom fielded players as they look to rebuild a solid team after missing the qualification to the final phase of the World Cup.

Daniel Majstorovic came close on 55 minutes when he deflected with his knee, but Marchetti was ready for a diving save, while his colleague Isaksson safely clutched a central effort from Pazzini.

Italy seemed to grow more aggressive when Giuseppe Rossi came on as third striker next to Pazzini and Di Natale, but the exit of the efficient midfielder Biondini caused a loss of speed and of feeds upfront.

There were no real threats for Marchetti save a header from Majstorovic, while Italy produced a blocked spurt from Di Natale and a wide drive from Pazzini.

'There was a lot of enthusiasm and this was an important thing,' Lippi said. 'We must consider that they played together for the first time. Some mistakes can be understood, but we also saw some very good actions.'