Ghedin delight at Italy progress
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Article summary
Italy coach Pietro Ghedin said his side are primed for their FIFA Women's World Cup qualifier against Greece after watching them defeat Scotland and Japan.
Article body
Tona doubles up
The Azzurre started on Wednesday by defeating the Scots 4-0 with four second-half goals after Tatiana Zorri missed an early penalty, two strikes from defender Elisabetta Tona and one each from Lina Masico and Elisa Camporose doing the damage.
'Dynamic team'
On Sunday, they followed up with a 1-0 triumph against Japan to win the tournament and leave Ghedin confident ahead of the 29 March visit by Greece. He said: "I am very happy because I saw a dynamic team on the field that responded well both technically and physically. We won deservingly against a good team like Japan. We are ready for the restart of the qualifying campaign."
Norway challenge
Italy currently trail Group 1 leaders Norway by three points, and desperately need a positive result against Greece to stay in the hunt with only the group winners advancing to China 2007. The other game in the competition, which was played entirely in Italy's Molise region, saw Japan claim a 4-0 win against Scotland, whose coach Anna Signeul said afterwards: "The team played well defensively, none of the goals were because of defensive failures but we conceded four very unlucky goals."