Italy are on the brink of qualifying for the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine after maintaining their grip on Group C with a 3-0 win over Estonia in Modena last night.
Italy stayed five points clear of Slovenia, 2-0 winners in the Faroe Islands, with a game in hand, and need only win two of their last four matches to guarantee progress to the finals.
Forwards Giuseppe Rossi, Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini scored one each in what was a walk in the park for the Azzurri against poor opponents.
Although Cesare Prandlli had claimed before the game that he expected it to be tougher than their meeting in Tallinn in September – where Italy scraped a 2-1 success – this was anything but competitive.
Italy got the goal their dominance deserved on 21 minutes as a Tavvi Rahn mistake handed the ball to Cassano, who slipped it to Rossi. The Villarreal man beat two defenders but seemed to have gone too wide until he fired a rasper across keeper Sergei Pareiko into the bottom far corner.
Cassano then took a quick free-kick and Rossi used excellent balance to bundle past two defenders before crashing a shot against the post.
More poor defending led to the second on 40 minutes as Cassano received the ball in the box from a throw-in and fired across Pareiko into the far corner.
The second half was a tame affair by comparison but Andrea Pirlo curled a low free-kick against the base of the post on 65 minutes.
That seemed to spark Italy into life and Antonio Nocerino’s volley from the distance forced a diving Pareiko to scramble it behind.
Riccardo Montolivo then chipped the backline allowing substitute Pazzini to run on and finish low past Pareiko.
Buoyed by a Mario Gomez double, Germany stayed on course for qualification with a sixth win in as many games, after beating Austria 2-1 in a sold-out Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna.
Germany struck just before half-time to take the lead with a Gomez goal after a corner by club colleague Toni Kroos. But the lead didn’t last long.
Five minutes after the break, Austria equalised as German defender Arne Friedrich helped a ball by Hoffenheim midfielder David Alaba into the net.
Austria ventured forward but Gomez sealed the win for Germany in the 89th minute with his second.