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Italy’s Swiss stalemate

Football

AFP, Geneva
Italy were held to a 1 -1 draw by Switzerland on Saturday, dashing the hopes of Italian fans who were hoping for a Swiss appetiser before the World Cup holders fly out to South Africa.
Playing without Fabio Cannavaro, the Italian back four recovered some of the composure they lost in their defeat by Mexico last Thursday, but a lacklustre Italy still suffered from a dearth of ideas going forward.
Switzerland had the best of the chances, recovering their bite to dominate the midfield and open the score in the 10th minute.
Gokhan Inler took advantage of fine running off the ball by Alexander Frei to place a shot from the edge of the penalty area past Federico Marchetti in the Italian goal.
Italy equalised five minutes later when Fabio Quagliarella awkwardly headed a loose
ball in the goalmouth, which arced over Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio and in off the opposite post.
Apart from that lucky break the Naples midfielder rarely managed to muster the creativity of the injured Alessandro Pirlo, while Riccardo Montolivo's ideas were let down by wayward passing.
Italian coach Marcello Lippi told Rai television that he had not sent out a second-string team as he probed the depth of his squad by ringing the changes from the side which lost to the Mexicans.
"There is no Italy mark two. There is one Italy and all the (squad) players are part of it. They are great players," said Lippi.
The creative Inler marshalled the Swiss, let down only by flighty control by their two forwards Frei and Twente's Blaise Nkufo as well as last ditch defending by Salvatore Bocchetti.
Italy's best chances came with the few moments they managed to sneak the ball out to
FROM PAGE ZO the wings through their backs, Gianluca Zambrotta and Christian Maggio.
An edgy looking Italian coach Marcello Lippi substituted Quagliarella halfway through the second half, bringing on Antonio di Natale while
Antonio Gilardino replaced Giampalo Pazzini but the Azzurri struggled to hold on to the ball.
Switzerland came close to scoring again in the final minutes through Philippe Senederos and a free kick from substitute Hakan Yakin, while Marchetti parried a blistering long range effort from 18 year-old Xherdan Shaqiri
The Italians will now head down to South Africa where they will be expected to advance fron a Group F com-prising New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia.
The Swiss, handled by the experienced Ottmar Hitzfeld and coming off some indifferent warm-ups including a loss to Costa Rica, compete in Group H against European champions Spain, Honduras and Chile.
"We need to be bolder but we've made progress," said Hitzfeld after giving the Italians a hard time.
"We know we have a tough task against Spain, but we have our chances," Hitzfeld added, looking ahead to his side's first World Cup encounter.
"Spain has weaknesses, all teams have weaknesses."