Italy vs. Albania Match Recap:
Not the most thrilling of matches, but it was yet again another successful clean sheet for Ginaluigi Buffon and the Azzurri. A two to nothing victory over Albania helped Italy step even closer to World Cup Qualification.
In the 10th minute Albania fouled striker Andrea Belotti in the penalty box after he was trying to locate a ball from a free kick. 2006 World Cup champion Daniele De Rossi stepped up to the spot and buried the kick into the bottom left hand corner.
Then in the second half is where the game got interesting, during the first ten minutes a small group of Albanian fans started to set off a bunch of fireworks that caused the match to be suspended for five minutes. After the delay was finished the players returned to the pitch and then the level of talent started to show.
Italy kept pressing down the flanks and drawing fouls for free kicks and recording multiple corner kicks as well. Albania drew three different yellow cards in the second half and they occurred from frustration fouls with Marco Verratti being an extremely difficult player to pry the ball away from. During the 71st minute Davide Zappacosta played a fantastic cross into the box that met Ciro Immobile’s head to the far post and in for the second and final goal of the match.
Italy remained tied with Spain a top of the group with 13 points each with five games to play. Italy and Albania won’t meet until the final game of qualifications, which will occur in October. Italy won’t have to worry about their next match until June 11th against Lichtenstein.