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England qualifies after 0-0 tie; fans clash with police
ROME (AP) -- England played an Italian-style game to perfection.Needing only a draw to clinch a berth in next summer's World Cup finals, England stayed back and held off Italy's attacks just enough for a 0-0 tie at Olympic Stadium on Saturday night.
The result gives England first place in Group 2 ahead of Italy, leaving the 1994 World Cup runner-up the unenviable task of playing a two-game playoff with another second-place team in order to reach next summmer's finals in France.
"We dug in there, we got a result," said England midfielder Paul Ince, swathed with bandages and five stitches in a head wound. "They could have easily won it, you know, right at the end. They could have scored at the end. But overall, I think we deserved to win."
Named captain for the game, Ince was England's strongest player as Italy, needing victory to qualify automatically, was kept out by his well-organized team and also suffered from the 76th-minute expulsion of Juventus midfielder Angelo Di Livio.
During injury time, Ian Wright hit the Italian post with the goalkeeper and defence trailing behind him and, from an Italian breakaway, Christian Vieri shaved the England post with a powerful header.
"We went from one emotion to another," said England coach Glenn Hoddle. "I thought the header was going in."
As England yielded few chances, their fans took a beating from the Italian police.
Hundreds of English fans in the 81,200 crowd in the Olympic stadium clashed repeatedly with baton-wielding police. About a dozen fans, some from each side, were sent to hospital, as was one police officer.
Rarely coming out of a defensive shell, England did well to hold off a team that had to win and return to soccer's biggest stage after failing to reach the 1994 World Cup finals.
It was the tactical sort of match of few risks that Italy has been known for through the years, and put an end to the Azzurri's streak of 13 straight World Cup wins at Rome's Olympic Stadium.
"What a performance," Hoddle said. "I really thought we deserved to win. We got the tactics right and played with belief. And we have done that for the nation. It's eight years since we qualified. This is where the hard work starts."
England topped Group 2 with 19 points from six wins, one loss and one tie with unbeaten three-time titlist Italy second with 18 (five wins and three ties).
Italy coach Cesare Maldini called it "an injustice" that his team would have to face a playoff, despite going through qualifying play undefeated.
"I think our team did everything possible to win," Maldini said. "It didn't happen."
He made by far the boldest move of his 10-month tenure as Italy coach by inserting three forwards in the starting lineup for the first time, with surprise starter Filippo Inzaghi alongside Vieri and Gianfranco Zola in support.
With the unbalanced alignment, the Italians set off at a fast place and the game initially resembled an English Premier League match. There were plenty of early balls into the England penalty area toward the front three.
England, by contrast, played slowly and patiently through the midfield with most of the play fed through the former Lazio star Paul Gascoigne.
Ince, who spent two seasons with Inter Milan in Serie A, ran off the field in the 13th minute for treatment to a cut above his right eye. He returned seven minutes later with stitches in the wound and produced the first chance of the game in the 29th minute.
Taking a pass from the left, Ince let fly with a powerful knee-high shot which goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi did well to fist away with a reflex save.
NEXT ROUNDS: Round of 16 || Quarter-finals || Semi-finals
GROUP A: Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Scotland
GROUP B: Austria, Cameroon, Chile, Italy
GROUP C: Denmark, France, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
GROUP D: Bulgaria, Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain
GROUP E: Belgium, Holland, Mexico, South Korea
GROUP F: Germany, Iran, United States, Yugoslavia
GROUP G: Colombia, England, Romania, Tunisia
GROUP H: Argentina, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan