Italy took charge of their Euro 2012 qualifying group with a deserved and controlled 1-0 victory over Slovenia yesterday.
Brazilian-born Thiago Motta scored the only goal of the game in just his second appearance for Italy since qualifying to represent the country.
And after all the pre-match talk of Italy’s lack of quality and Slovenia’s superior system in producing talented youngsters, it was the visitors who enjoyed much the better of things.
In truth, Slovenia were a huge disappointment, hardly mustering a shot in anger on goal.
Their fans, a handful of which from rival teams Maribor and Olimpia Ljubljana fought amongst themselves before kick-off, seemed to have more fire in their bellies than the players.
And following Serbia’s come-from-behind victory over Northern Ireland, unbeaten Italy are now six points clear at the top of Group C with half the qualification campaign behind them.
Italy struck the winner 17 minutes from time as the ball broke to Motta in the box and the Inter midfielder slammed a deflected shot past an unsighted Handanovic.
Slovenia failed to put up much of a fightback, though, with Italy’s most nervous moment coming from a dangerous inswinging free-kick from Josip Ilicic that was headed behind for a corner.
In Belgrade, Northern Ireland’s qualification hopes took a heavy blow as they conceded twice in the second half to lose 2-1 against Group C rivals Serbia.
Only some brave last-ditch defending stopped them going behind early on, but when Gareth McAuley rose to head home Chris Brunt’s cross in the 40th minute a famous victory looked on the cards.
However Serbia, playing in front of a near deserted stadium as a result of crowd trouble against Italy, hit back through Marko Pantelic before Zoran Tosic drilled in the winner.
Holland turned on the style as they cruised past Hungary 4-0 at the Ferenc Puskas Stadium in Budapest.
The Dutch immediately broke upfield to open the scoring after eight minutes. Wesley Sneijder threaded a delightful ball into the box and Rafael van der Vaart ran onto it to finish low under the left hand of veteran goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly, who should have done better.
The visitors doubled their lead when Ibrahim Afellay lashed home his third international goal a minute before half-time after the ball was squared to him by Gregory van der Wiel.
Hungary coach Sandor Egervari introduced Peter Czvitkovics and Krisztian Vadocz for Koman and Varga at half-time in a bid to turn the game around.
But Holland continued to look brighter and Dirk Kuyt soon made it 3-0. Van Persie was sent clear by Sneijder and squared unselfishly for the Liverpool forward to tap into an open goal.
Van Persie completed the rout on 78 minutes as the Arsenal midfielder was the beneficiary of Van der Wiel’s square ball after awful defending from Roland Juhasz.
Goals in either half from Philippe Mexes and Yoann Gourcuff saw France continue their resurgence under Laurent Blanc as Les Bleus recorded a routine 2-0 win over Luxembourg.
Mexes rose high to head in the opener after 28 minutes and after the French had missed numerous further chances to bolster their goal difference it was Gourcuff who steered in the second with 20 minutes remaining to give the French a sixth consecutive victory.
Gourcuff benefited from a low cross by fit again Franck Ribery – with whom he has reportedly patched up differences which lingered from last year’s World Cup where a player revolt left French hopes in tatters.
Blanc and company now look to have drawn a line under their World Cup humiliation under his predecessor Raymond Domenech with both Ribery and Patrice Evra back in the fold after serving bans for their roles in the infamous training ground strike in Knynsa, South Africa.
After starting out on their Euro campaign with a shock loss to Belarus, France have swiftly got back on the rails and this latest success at the Stade Josy Barthel means they have opened up a four-point lead on their erstwhile conquerors – though the Eastern Europeans have a game in hand.