Italy ease into semi-finals

Italy 3 Ukraine 0

Luca Toni found his goalscoring form as his two second-half strikes helped Italy see off surprise packages Ukraine 3-0 in a World Cup quarter-final and book a semi-final showdown with host nation Germany.

Italy, who had taken an early lead through Gianluca Zambrotta, absorbed some heavy Ukrainian pressure in the early stages of the second half in Hamburg with the former Soviet state aiming to continue its impressive debut World Cup campaign as an independent country.

However, Toni’s two close-range strikes ended any doubt about the outcome as the prolific Serie A scorer proved he can find the target at World Cup level as well.