Key facts•Replacing Marcello Lippi after Italy’s success at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, coach Roberto Donadoni made a shaky start in qualifying but his team eventually did enough qualify as Group B winners.
• A 1-1 home draw with Lithuania in their opening tie in Naples was a shock, but perhaps not as big a setback as the 3-1 defeat in France in their second qualifier, when Raymond Domenech’s side avenged their defeat on penalties in the World Cup final.
• That would prove the only reverse the Azzurri suffered and Luca Toni’s two goals in a 2-0 win at home against Scotland in March 2007 provided an important reminder of the world champions’ credentials.
• Italy won nine of their last ten qualifiers but were denied revenge against France with a goalless draw in Milan.
• They eventually secured qualification both for themselves and France by beating Scotland 2-1 in Glasgow thanks to another goal from Toni and an added-time winner from defender Christian Panucci.
• A 3-1 win against the Faroe Islands in their final fixture earned them top spot in the section at France’s expense.• Italy have qualified for the last four UEFA European Championship final tournaments.• Up until the end of qualifying for UEFA EURO 2008, Italy had appeared in the UEFA European Championship on twelve occasions, and had played 111 matches. In that time, they won 59, drew 35 and lost 17 of those fixtures with 175 goals scored and 77 conceded.from: http://en.euro2008.uefa.com
Tags: Italy national team wallpapers, screensaver
Related Posts
- Croatia national team wallpapers and screensaver
- Netherlands national team info Euro 2008
- Poland national team info Euro 2008
- Germany national team info Euro 2008
- Austria national team info Euro 2008
- Croatia national team info Euro 2008
