Italy Finish off Ecuador 2-0 in Group G

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 04, 2002

Italy Finish off Ecuador 2-0 in Group G

Christian Vieri scored twice to give Italy a 2-0 victory over World Cup debutants Ecuador in a Group G game played indoors at the Sapporo Dome on Monday.

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Christian Vieri scored twice to give Italy a 2-0 victory over World Cup debutants Ecuador in a Group G game played indoors at the Sapporo Dome on Monday.

Vieri, who netted five goals in the French World Cup four years ago, opened the account in the seventh minute with a crisp left-foot strike on Francesco Totti's back pass.

At the 20 minute, the Inter Milan power forward connected a long pass and ran down to face Ecuador goalkeeper Jose Cevallos.

Vieri's shot was partially blocked by Cevallos, but the ball rolled toward the goal. Vieri calmly tapped it in with Cevallos chasing him desperately.

Ecuador midfielder Edison Mendez wasted a good chance in the 52nd minute as his blast from outside the area went amiss.

As Ecuador had most of ball possession in the second half, Italy tried to stop their rivals creating any significant scoring chances.

Italian World Cup rookie Cristiano Doni nearly extended Italy's score, hitting the bar in the 58th minute.

"We played a good game, we managed to score two goals, we didn't suffer that much which was important," Vieri said. "The whole team played well not just me."

Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni was pleased with his side's performance, though he thought the indoor stadium had caused some problems.

"We took the lead immediately, after which everything became easier," Trapattoni said. "Things went well today.

"In the second half we felt a bit tired, but we hung on in there. To start in a stadium like this in Sapporo wasn't easy. The humidity and the closed in atmosphere left one breathless."

Ecuador coach Hernan Dario Gomez admitted Italy deserved the victory.

"It was very difficult match, it's tough to come here to the World Cup and play Italy in your first game," Gomez told reporters.

"The players were very nervous and they were not quite ready but we played pretty well in the second half although of course we did not deserve victory," he added.

"We did OK and we have the strength now to go on from this in the next two matches."

Italy play Croatia on Saturday and Ecuador face Mexico on Sunday.

Teams:

Italy:

1-Gianluigi Buffon, 2-Christian Panucci, 13-Alessandro Nesta, 5-Fabio Cannavaro, 3-Paolo Maldini (c), 19-Gianluca Zambrotta, 17-Damiano Tommasi, 14-Luigi Di Biagio (8-Gennaro Gattuso, 69), 11-Cristiano Doni (16-Angelo Di Livio, 65),10-Franceso Totti (7-Alessandro Del Piero, 74), 21-Christian Vieri.

Ecuador:

1-Francisco Cevallos, 4-Ulises De la Cruz, 3-Ivan Hurtado, 2-Augusto Poroso, 6-Raul Guerron, 20-Edwin Tenorio(15-Marlon Ayovi, 59), 5-Alfonso Obregon, 19-Edison Mendez,16-Clever Chala (7-Nicolas Asencio, 85), 10-Alex Aguinaga (c)(18-Carlos Tenorio, 46), 11-Agustin Delgado.

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