On the half-hour mark Rocchi opened his Olympic account with the easiest of tap-ins, as Motta did most of the work by riding two tackles down the right and placing an inch-perfect cross on the veteran’s foot.

Korea seemed to be in shock, but gave Pierluigi Casiraghi’s men a scare on the stroke of half-time when Park Chu Young’s looping header cracked against the bar.

After the break Rossi should’ve made it 3-0 but his lob was a little off target, then Giovinco’s spectacular half-volley was nullified by an offside flag.

The tension rose on the field and a scuffle broke out after Kim Jung was caught on camera striking Giovinco in the face in an off the ball incident. It was not seen by the referee, though, and so play was allowed to continue.

The Korean goalkeeper only managed to keep out Giovinco’s curling free kick with help from the upright.

Fiorentina star Montolivo completed the rout in the final minutes, as Italy went on a classic counter-attack sparked by Acquafresca. Montolivo’s first sweeping right-foot strike from outside the box thumped the base of the post, but he deposited the follow-up in with his left.

Italy 3-0 South Korea
Scorers: Rossi 16 (I), Rocchi 31 (I), Montolivo 88 (I)
Italy: Viviano; Motta, Coda, Criscito, Bocchetti; Montolivo, Cigarini, Nocerino; Giovinco (Abate 77), Rossi (Dessena 82); Rocchi (Acquafresca 58)
South Korea: Jung Sung Ryong; Shin Kwang Hoon, Kim Jin Kyu, Kang Min Soo, Kim Dong Jin; Oh Jang Eun (Cho Young Cheol 85), Ki Sung Yong, Kim Jung Woo; Park Chu Young, Shin Young Rok, Lee Keun Ho
Ref: Eimwaller (Aut)

Fortunately for the Azzurri, they broke the deadlock with their first chance against the run of play. Antonio Di Natale did it all by himself, running at the defence and taking advantage of the extra space to smash a low right-foot strike between the goalkeeper and the near post. The defenders backed off the Udinese striker and were made to pay for it.

Cyprus remained extremely aggressive and were very unlucky not to equalise almost immediately. Barzagli's horrid mistake left Okkas through and Buffon came tearing out to close it down, the ball fell to Kostantinou to bring a goalline clearance out of Cannavaro and in the final attempt Aloneftis ballooned over.

It was a wide open and entertaining match in Larnaca. Camoranesi chopped the pass over the defence to combine with Andrea Pirlo, but the Milanista only scuffed the shot which skimmed the near post.

Fabio Grosso also got a knock to his back when he fell badly during a corner and was forced off the pitch to make way for Roma's Marco Cassetti. In the opening 18 minutes, Italy lost two of their first choice defenders.

Gilardino stung the palms of Gheorgollidis with a fierce right-foot effort after exchanging passes with Toni, then Camoranesi tested the goalkeeper. Aloneftis was not far off target with a spectacular overhead kick.

Cyprus earned a thoroughly deserved equaliser on the half-hour mark. Buffon had once again been able to deny a Charlambides close-range finish, but could do nothing when Cassetti was caught napping on the loose ball by Aloneftis. The Roma defender's hesitation was disastrous.

Okkas fired a snapshot over from 25 metres, while Pirlo's free kick was off target and Toni was inches away from getting his head to a Camoranesi cross.

In the final minute of the first half, Italy went very close with Cassetti's volley beaten away at the near post by Gheorgollidis' knee from a Di Natale assist. However, at the other end Cannavaro's error almost proved very costly indeed as he was attacked by Kostantinou. The half ended with the fifth Cypriot corner.

Lippi realised his team was hopelessly unbalanced and used his final substitution to introduce midfield warrior Gennaro Gattuso for the ineffective Toni, pushing Di Natale further up the field. After five minutes Di Natale went round the goalkeeper and hit the back of the net, but he was correctly flagged just offside.

Di Natale went on the counter and curled past the far post when he should perhaps have provided a cross to Gilardino. Gianluca Zambrotta created a chance Gilardino had deflected out for a corner.

The Azzurri had two great chances in quick succession. A deflection sent Gilardino clear through the centre and he fired at Gheorgollidis, then as the move continued Daniele De Rossi's lob was inches off target.

Moments later the Cypriot goalkeeper parried a blistering Pirlo free kick into the path of Barzagli, who didn't get enough power to it from six yards and allowed a goalline clearance!

De Rossi unleashed another powerful effort from distance that stung Gheorgollidis' palms, from the resulting corner Gilardino nodded wide.

Cyprus very nearly took the lead on 74 minutes, as substitute Christofi burst between Cannavaro and Barzagli with a remarkable change of pace, but Buffon did just enough to narrow the angle and force him to flash a shot across the face of goal.

Barzagli charged down a Makridis snapshot, while Charalambous volleyed a corner just past the upright with Buffon rooted to the spot.

Gilardino nodded Camoranesi's corner over, but with four minutes to go Aloneftis went on the counter against Cannavaro and his finish was palmed out by Buffon. From the corner the entire stadium jumped, as Charalambous prodded inches wide from six yards!

Once again, Italy had an incredible stroke of luck to win the game in stoppages. Gilardino flicked on a long ball with his heel for Camoranesi, who dummied a shot and instead chipped the pass to the unmarked Di Natale for an angled volley!

Cyprus: Gheorgollidis; Nikolau, Charalambous, Christou, Garposiz, Makridis, Charalambides, Michail (Yiasouni 72), Aloneftis, Okkas (Pavlou 73), M Kostantinou (Christofi 63)

Italy: Buffon; Zambrotta, Gamberini (Barzagli 4), Cannavaro, Grosso (Cassetti 18); Camoranesi, Pirlo, De Rossi, Di Natale; Toni (Gattuso 46), Gilardino

Ref: Vink (Hol)