Chalk Up Another for the Home Team : Soccer: Italy beats Uruguay for its fourth consecutive shutout, 2-0. Schillaci’s third goal of the tournament is a beauty.
ROME — Host Italy moved an impressive step closer to the World Cup here Monday with a 2-0 second-round victory over Uruguay.
Its fourth shutout in a row put Italy into the quarterfinals as co-favorite with West Germany. The Italians will play surprising Ireland here Saturday in the quarterfinals.
The victory before a sellout crowd of 73,303 on a hot, still summer night in Olympic Stadium triggered a pealing, city-wide block party that filled and consumed Roman streets that had been deserted while the game was under way.
Once again it was Salvatore (Toto) Schillaci, he of the crew-cut and baggy pants, who brought Italy to its feet Monday.
A rough-cut Sicilian who started the tournament as a reserve but has become a national hero in the last two weeks, Schillaci scored his third goal of the tournament in the 65th minute.
With the help of sub Aldo Serena, Schillaci mastered confusion in front of the goal, emerging alone about 10 yards out. Emphatically, with his powerful left foot, he lofted the ball past the fingers of Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Alvez.
Was it the most beautiful goal he had scored, asked an Indian journalist.
“All goals are beautiful,” said Schillaci, who spent long years in soccer’s equivalent of the minor leagues before making it to the bigs, where he now plays for Juventus of Turin.
Italy added the icing in the 83rd minute when Serena beat Alvez on a header.
Uruguay, playing a measured, damage-control game, slowed the Italian attack but never solved Italy’s defense. Passes went astray at midfield and Uruguayan shooters were repeatedly beaten by Italian defenders.
Italy started fast and dominated the first half but still was sidetracked by Uruguay’s slow style. Fouls were common and three Uruguayans were warned before the half, including goalie Alvez for delay of game, and one Italian. English referee George Courtney warned a fourth Uruguayan in the second half.
In all, hard-pressed Uruguay out-fouled Italy, 38-22, and outshot the Italians, 9-8, but most of those shots were from outside and carried little sting.
Italy pressed time and again, but came up short against a supple Uruguayan defense. Uruguay, by contrast, had trouble keeping the ball in Italy’s half of the field.
Nearly halfway through the second period, the momentum was so Italian that the giant, flag-waving crowd, sensing a kill, had risen to its feet in anticipation. Then came Schillaci.
“He has uncommon speed and explosiveness,” said Uruguayan Coach Oscar Tabarez. “He’s very tough to cover.”
The victory was particularly satisfying for supporters of Roma, the Italian first division club that normally plays in the giant stadium. Ruben Sosa, Uruguay’s most dangerous attacker, plays for Lazio, cross-town rival of Roma.
Indeed, it was a small world here Monday night, since six of the losing Uruguayans play in the Italian first or second division.
With the exception of midfielder-fullback Luigi De Agostini, replacing injured attacking midfielder Roberto Donadini, Italy’s lineup was the same as for its impressive 2-0 victory against Czechoslovakia in its final game of the first round.
Uruguay, a nation developed by Italian and Spanish immigrants and a longtime South American soccer giant, has slumped in recent years. Going into Monday’s game, though, it was one of only three countries in the world with a winning record against Italy: 2-1-2 dating to a 3-2 Olympic victory in Amsterdam in 1928.
