Italy - 2 Scotland - 0: If anyone had any doubts about the crisis afflicting Scottish football, those doubts would have been dispelled by the reaction of recently appointed manager Walter Smith to his side's 2-0 defeat at the San Siro on Saturday night.
At the end of a game that had seen his side barely cross the halfway line for the first 45 minutes before experiencing a mini-renaissance in the first quarter hour of the second half, Smith pronounced himself relatively satisfied: "I asked my players for a better performance than some of our most recent games, and I got it."
If this was "better", one shudders to imagine what the Scots looked like when they were "worse". The ironic thing is, against Marcello Lippi's semi-experimental team, a visiting side with a dash of audacity and one or two elements of international class (Scotland had neither) might even have picked up a result.
Smith argued afterwards his side's second-half showing merited a draw. Indeed, it was true Italian goalkeeper Gigi Buffon made two superb saves in the space of three minutes, first from Southampton midfielder Nigel Quashie and then from Wolves striker Kenny Miller, in the 51st and 54th minutes, with the score on 1-0 for Italy.
Yet the fact Scotland were still in the game at half-time owed much more to Italy's failure to make the most of their total dominance. The exciting front pair of Alberto Gilardino and Antonio Cassano, backed by Francesco Totti and Andrea Pirlo, had produced some stunning football.
Time and again, however, the Italian front line chose the path of creative dalliance rather than straight on goal. When Cassano did get himself in front of goal, sent through by splendid passes from an inspired Pirlo, he prompted an excellent save from Robert Douglas in the 26th minute and six minutes later got the ball in the net, but from an offside position.
Tired of the profligacy shown by his forwards, Pirlo stepped up to resolve matters, slotting home an impeccable 35th-minute free kick after Everton's David Weir was adjudged to have fouled Gilardino.
From then until half-time, the Italians continued in their wasteful way, Gilardino and Cassano giving a master class in the art of one-touch football to set up a 45th-minute chance for Totti, only for the AS Roma captain to blast his shot over the bar from six yards out.
Convinced the match was over, the Italians were rocked by Scotland's much bolder attitude in the opening quarter hour of the second half. Those chances for Quashie and Miller were a wake-up call for the Italians, who, tiring visibly on the rainsoaked pitch, were less convincing than in the first half.
In the end, Lippi was forced to tighten up his midfield, bringing off Totti and replacing him with Daniele De Rossi in the 73rd minute. It fell again to Pirlo, who struck an 85th-minute winner with another majestic free kick.
Afterwards Smith described Italy as the dominant team in the group and Lippi said Scotland were a "much improved side" by comparison with the one he had seen earlier in the group.
ITALY: Buffon; Bonera, Cannavaro, Materazzi, Chiellini, Camoranesi, Pirlo, Gattuso, Totti (De Rossi 72), Gilardino, Cassano (Toni 83). Subs not used: Roma, Zaccardo, Grosso, Blasi, Esposito. Booked: Cannavaro, Gattuso, Bonera. Goals: Pirlo 35, 85.
SCOTLAND: Douglas (Gordon 39); McNamara, Pressley, Weir, Naysmith, Caldwell, Hartley (Crawford 76), Ferguson, Quashie, McCulloch, Miller (O'Connor 85). Subs not used: Anderson, O'Neil, McCann, Webster. Booked: Hartley, McNamara, Quashie, Pressley, Caldwell.
Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Greece).
