"We did suffer a bit," admitted Italy coach Cesare Maldini. "But everyone performed well, they worked hard and the attackers did extremely well to convert the chances that came their way."

Asked if he thought goalscorer Luigi Di Biagio was Italy's man on the pitch, he said: "I don't want to say if he was the best, we suffered together and we won together."

Cameroon coach Claude Le Roy said: "We got off to a bad start and then we ended up with 10 men against 11. But despite that I think we played well. It was hard to create any chances and it's a shame about the third goal because it made it that much heavier a defeat.