Italy came back from a first half deficit to defeat Czech Republic 2-1 on Tuesday night at the Juventus Stadium.
Former Lazio striker Libor Kozak opened the scoring before Giorgio Chiellini and a Mario Balotelli penalty in the second half assured the Azzurri of three points and a place at next summer’s World Cup in Brazil.
Italy started the match on the front foot and came close to taking the lead in the 11th minute. Marek Suchy’s clearance was blocked by Christian Maggio and the ball fell to Mario Balotelli outside the box but Petr Cech did well to palm the effort out for a corner.
The visitors stunned the home side in the 19th minute as they took the lead from a well worked counter attack. Tomas Rosicky picked out Petr Jiracek down the left wing and the Hamburg player sent in a wonderful cross that went across the goal and onto the foot of an outstretched Kozak to give the Czech’s the 1-0 lead.
Italy switched to a four-man defence after the goal and should have equalized in the 24th minute as Emanuele Giaccherini found Balotelli with a pass just outside the six-yard box, but the AC Milan striker sent his powerful effort crashing off the crossbar.
Balotelli’s bad luck continued only minutes later as Cech could not control Andrea Pirlo’s long range effort and spilled the rebound but the former Inter man sent the rebound high over the crossbar.
The Italian striker had another chance in the 37th minute as Pirlo found him with a looping cross in the box but this time Cech did well to parry the effort away.
With the half coming to a close both sides exchanged chances as Antonio Candreva’s long ranged effort was denied by Cech once again. Off the resulting corner the Czech’s found space on the counter and David Limbersky’s lovely dummy left Kozak with time and space but his effort went just wide of goal as Gianluigi Buffon was left flat footed.
The Azzurri came out ready to take the game to their visitors in the second half and it didn’t take long for them to level the score. Cech badly missed a clearance opportunity off an Italian corner allowing Chiellini to header home from close range and score in front of his home supporters at the Juventus Stadium.
Minutes later Italy took the lead as Theodor Gebre Selassie dragged Balotelli down in the penalty box, allowing the Milan striker calmly step up and slot home from the penalty spot to give the Azzurri the 2-1 advantage.
The away side responded in the 65th minute as Jiracek found some space through the middle before unleashing a left footed strike from outside the box, but Buffon was able to easily handle the effort.
Kozak saw a headed effort go wide of goal in the 75th minute, but the real damage was inflicted on Manuel Pasqual as an errant elbow from the Czech forward left the Fiorentina captain with a nasty gash on his forehead. He was subsequently subbed off for Juve defender Angelo Ogbonna.
With the match all but done second half substitute Daniel Kolar picked up his second booking with minutes left to play, forcing the away side to close out the match with ten men.
Referee Jonas Eriksson blew an end to proceedings soon after and secured Cesare Prandelli and the Azzurri of their place in Brazil next summer with two matches left to play, the first time that has happened in Italy’s history.
Follow Adriano Boin on Twitter: @Boin44
