FRANCE 98 – Match Summary n°20
Two late goals from Christian Vieri saved Italy’s blushes here on Wednesday night, as they went top of Group B after struggling to beat 10-man Cameroon 3-0. Luigi Di Biagio opened the scoring in the eighth minute, connecting with Roberto Baggio’s floated cross to nod home his first international goal.
Cameroon, struggling to live with the fast-moving Italians, then suffered another major setback when Australian referee Edward Lennie sent off Raymond Kalla Nkongo in the 43rd minute after a feet-first collision with Di Biagio.
The crowd were not so understanding though and the AS Roma midfielder was booed every time he touched the ball afterwards, and the boos also echoed around the Stade de la Mosson as Italy left the field at the break.
Cameroon shrugged off the setback at the re-start and their 10 men utterly dominated the first half hour, only to be thwarted by a gritty, well-marshalled Italian defence. Two flashes of Italian class eventually decided the tie, with Francesco Moriero dancing through the Cameroon defence in the 75th minute and feeding the ball wide for Vieri to chip goalkeeper Jacques Songo’o.
Vieri delivered the ‘coup de grace’ in injury time, pouncing on a mix-up between Songo’o and defender Pierre Wome to knock the ball home, and record Italy’s biggest World Cup win in 28 years.
” We did suffer a bit, “ admitted Italy coach Cesare Maldini, whose team drew 2-2 with Chile last week. ” But everyone performed well, they worked hard and the attackers did extremely well to convert the chances that came their way. At one stage, it looked like a photocopy of our last game against Chile in that after scoring, we started to lose ground. But it was a fully deserved victory, even though we really had to sweat for it and it was very, very hard against a Cameroon side who showed their full worth. “
Maldini was also glad to have given a World Cup debut to Alessandro Del Piero, who came on for a tiring Baggio for the last half-hour and showed some promising touches. Demetrio Albertini saw the win in the wider context of Italy’s World Cup campaign: his teamates need to finish top of their group in order to avoid likely Group A winners Brazil in the second round.
” It’s an important win, “ said the AC Milan midfielder. ” But now we have to beat Austria to be sure of finishing top of our group. “ Vieri played down the fact that he is now the tournament’s joint top scorer with three goals, saying: ” I’m used to scoring goals… The important thing is that the team goes through. “
That task is looking a tall order now for Cameroon, with only one point from two matches after drawing 1-1 with Austria. The team’s French coach Claude Le Roy was bitterly disappointed about the sending-off, and appeared to make a parallel with the controversial late penalty which allowed Italy to equalise against Chile.
” Referees have their decisions to take, and once again you can’t say they went against Italy, “ he said. ” But that’s nothing new. You can’t blame the referee for everything, and Italy showed some quality football, but I think the result is a harsh one given the way the match went with 10 against 11. And I’d like to pay tribute to my players who for half an hour during the second half brought the match alive and caused trouble for the Italians.” Le Roy summed up: ” As far as this competition is concerned, Cameroon are not finished yet. “
Songo’o also tried to be positive, saying: ” Playing with 10 men for nearly an hour isn’t easy for such a young team as this. But Cameroon showed real quality and could still deserve a place in the second round. “