Maybe it was because of a command Ventura gave to his players, but after battering Liechtenstein in the first half Italy seemed to feel more comfortable and didn't score any more goals throughout the second half. But Ventura wasn's happy with this, he wanted to get more goals in order to increase their chances to finish in first place. Let's not forget that Spain shares the group with them and has the same points they do.
But Ventura doesn't think about Spain, all he cares about is Italy as he told RAI: "The results of the other sides are irrelevant. If we stopped to count, we could have doubled our tally with the chances we created. But I repeat what I said before, which was that the important thing was to win. I am satisfied with the performance. The first half was good, as we scored four goals and had at least four other clear-cut chances.
"In the second half there was great concentration, we needed just a fifth goal to spark the enthusiasm again, but during breaks in play you could see six of us in the opposition area and that says everything about the attitude. Everyone worked hard and we scored some fine goals. We are working hard - coming up there is Germany and some training get-togethers. We might not see the fruits of the labor tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow - and then we should be proud."
Photo credit: Italy