Turkey got off to a wretched start and struggled to string three decent passes together. On the other hand, Italy were doing their best to make their sub-standard opponents look good. Dodgy goalkeeping at the back from Francesco Toldo was matched upfront, where Filippo Inzaghi paid his personal tribute to the absent Andy Cole with some glaring misses from easy chances.

Contrary to newspaper reports, Stefano Fiore was the Azzuri's best player by a mile, as the Udinese playmaker crafted chance after chance only for Inzaghi to squander them all. Italy took the lead after more woeful Turkish defending when Inzaghi's low cross bounced off the ankles of a defender and Conte twisted his old bag of bones acrobatically in mid-air to deliver a bicycle kick into the net.

Turkey got their act together momentarily to equalize via the excellent Okan, who stole in unmarked to plant a firm header past Toldo from a freekick.

The game only came alive when Del Piero came on as a late substitute. The No. 10 bent a stunning freekick off the underside of the bar with one of his first touches and contrived to further tantalize the Turkish defence with his nifty footwork. Only some last ditch off-the-line clearances and more wasteful finishing by Inzaghi kept the scores level.

The beanpole striker won the winner the only way he knew how when he stumbled under a fair shoulder-to-shoulder charge in the penalty box, picked himself up to convert the resulting penalty, and quickly wheeled away in celebration before his teammates could jump on him and tweak his nipples for his earlier misses.

Turkey threw caution to the win after that but for all their gusto, they just lacked that final quality ball to carve open Italy's defence. The Azzuris were unlucky to have a legitimate injury time goal ruled out for offside when Del Piero broke away and unselfishly sent a low cross to the far post for fellow substitute Di Livio to score. But surely Del Piero has played himself into the starting eleven with this impressive display.

Match Rating: *** Exciting only in fits and starts