Daniele Zoratto's National Under-16s also won the second of their two friendly matches against Qatar in Coverciano, his side coming away with an impressive 3-1 win at the Federal Training Centre.

Zoratto spoke after the game: “We saw some very interesting players out on the pitch in these two friendlies. We pulled some new boys into the squad, boys who we had seen at the Torneo dei Gironi and who had earned a call-up to the National Team: they responded very well out on the pitch and I can be nothing but happy about that.”

The match. The Azzurrini Coach once more started with a midfield diamond for this second game, but did make some changes to his starting eleven. The front two was composed of Vignato and Turco, and it was the latter who opened the scoring in the 20th minute, his precise header breaking the deadlock. The Juventus forward popped up again just six minutes later, once more using his aerial skills to beat Katoul with a tap-in after the Qatari goalkeeper’s initial save.

Although the match seemed to be firmly in the hands of the Azzurrini, Ali found a way back into the game for his side in the 29th minute following a corner kick. Italy looked flustered and Qatar looked to take the most of it, Surag winning a penalty just a minute after the away side’s goal to make it 2-1. However, Boseggia came up big to keep out Alsharshani from twelve yards, preventing Qatar from drawing level in the game.

Italy really looked for the killer blow in the second half and it only took them 18 minutes to find it. Masala popped up on the end of Pelamatti's cross, striking the ball first time past a helpless Katoul to make it 3-1 at full-time.

Italy 3-1 Qatar

ITALY (4-3-1-2): Boseggia; Vona, Zambelli, Cagia, Pelamatti; Rossi G., Doratiotto, Rossi R.; Accornero; Vignato, Turco. Subs.: Bonucci, Missori, Regonesi, Faticanti, Biagetti, Maressa, Mancini, Masala, Ledonne, Semenza. Coach: Zoratto.

QATAR (4-3-3): Katoul; Abdulnasir, Hasa, Ali, AlRaeesi; Alsharshani, Abouelela, Almejaba; Elkhatib, Al-Quraishi, Surag. Subs.: Abrahim, Elnagar, Al-Rawi, Al-Naimi, Al Shaaibi, Elnoiri, Irfan, Al-Dosari, Al-Naimi, Amer, Al-Saeed. Coach: Nardi.

REFEREE: Maccarini (Arezzo). Assistants: Vagheggi and Pacifici.

GOALS: 20’ and 26’ Turco, 29’ Ali, 63’ Masala

NOTES – Bookings: Missori and Al-Raeesi. Added time: 2’, 2’.