Czech Republic 1 Italy 0

Italy went down to a 1-0 defeat thanks to a Vladmir Smicer goal to hand coach Giovanni Trapattoni only his second reverse in nearly two years of matches.

But the Italians were clearly conserving energy throughout the game and hardly made a meaningful tackle.

This allowed the home team to take charge and Smicer had already seen a snap shot tipped onto the cross bar by goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon before he sent a header past the Juventus star - who did touch his effort - after he met a Marek Jankulowski corner to put the Czechs into the lead.

Buffon was replaced at half-time by Gianluigi Buffon and he needed to save well from a shot on the run by former SS Lazio winger Karel Poborsky but Vincenzo Montella almost equalised only to let the bal run away from him when clean through late in the game.