Del Piero - saves the day for Italy (Allsport)

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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.''