Del Piero - saves the day for Italy (Allsport)
TRAPATTONI DELIGHT AT ITALY ESCAPE
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Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni breathed a sigh of relief after the Azzurri
scraped through into the second round following a 1-1 draw with Mexico.
The Italians snatched a late point after substitute Alessandro del Piero
equalised following Jared Borgetti's first-half opener.
In the end, the late strike was not needed with Croatia's defeat against
Ecuador handing Trapattoni's men their place in the next round on a plate.
But the 63-year-old coach said: "There was a lot of pressure on the Italian
team before tonight's game but I am very happy we came through it.
"It was a very difficult game for us and when the goal eventually came it was
very important.
"I saw a good reaction from my team after Mexico scored. The whole of Italy
is very happy tonight."
Del Piero admitted he could not have picked a better time to score for his
country.
``If I had to score at some point it would have been something like this,''
said del Piero, still carrying a hangover from his poor game in the European
Championship final defeat against France in which he had three clear-cut chances
but failed to score.
Mexico looked the better side for long stretches and del Piero admitted that
the Italians were lucky to still be alive in the competition.
``We have reached our aim of qualifying (for the next round),'' he said.
``Considering how the match went, we are happy with the result. It is great,
fantastic.
``The only disappointment was the goal annulled to Inzaghi, once again for
offside.''
Mexico have been the group's surprise package and graduate for the last 16 as
group winners.
Coach Javier Aguirre said: ``Getting to the last 16 was our objective and now
we are there.
``We already had the technical ability, it was a matter of making the players
believe in themselves.''
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