Toni at the double

Italy will meet hosts Germany in the World Cup semi-finals as they beat Ukraine 3-0 in Hamburg.

In contrast to their games in the tournament to date, Marcello Lippi's side started the match quickly and soon found a way through the Ukrainian defence.

Just six minutes had elapsed when Gianluca Zambrotta hit a fierce shot which was simply too powerful for Shovkovskiy to handle.

Italy commanded the pace of the match but it took until just before the hour mark for them to make the game safe when Luca Toni headed in his first goal of the tournament.

Ten minutes later, Italy wrapped up their most convincing performance of the World Cup with a third goal as Fiorentina forward Toni converted Zambrotta's cross.

Ukraine's defence never really got to grips with the intelligence of the Italian forward play, especially the positions adopted by Francesco Totti and the rampaging runs of the Italian full-backs.

Even before Zambrotta's opening goal, Ukraine were given a warning as to the attacking intend evident in the Italian play when Mauro Camoranesi was allowed to run and run at the defence before shooting marginally wide.

The tendency of the defenders to back off and drop deep against any forward runners was exploited perfectly by Zambrotta who scored a wonderful goal.

The Juventus man cut in from the right, exchanged a mesmeric one-two with Totti, whose back-heel gave the defender the room to run at goal.

His 25 yard effort was well struck and though Olexandr Shovkovskiy dived low down to get his hands to the ball, it beat him for sheer power.

Ukraine barely threatened Gianluigi Buffon's goal in the first half as the typically well-marshaled Italian defence was able to deal with most of what Oleg Blokhin's side could throw at them.

The closest they came to getting back on level terms were a poorly placed header and a deflected shot from Andriy Shevchenko and a 30-yard effort from Anatoliy Tymoschuk which went well wide.

However the World Cup debutants were more cohesive in the second period and they came agonisingly close to an equaliser when Maxim Kalinchenko's downward header was brilliantly saved onto the post and wide by the outstanding Buffon.

Italy survived, but only just, and eight minutes later they were indebted to Buffon again when he produced another remarkable save to deny Gusev at point-blank range.

Italy then made Ukraine pay for their profligacy as Totti knocked a short corner to Fabio Grosso before curling over a perfect cross which was met by Toni, whose downward header was guided perfectly past Shovkoskiy.

Still Ukraine sensed there was a way back into the match and, two minutes later, Kalinchenko struck the woodwork for a second time when he rose above Grosso to direct a looping header against the bar.

Italy sealed the result with eleven minutes to go when they created a delightful third goal. Camoranesi and Grosso combined to set Zambrotta free on the right and he cut in before crossing low to Toni who finished with ease.

Italy 3-0 Ukraine, FIFA World Cup, Hamburg, 30 June 2006

Italy: Buffon, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Barzagli, Grosso, Perrotta, Pirlo (Barone, 68), Gattuso (Zaccardo, 76), Camoranesi (Oddo, 68), Toni, Totti.
Subs not used: Amelia, Del Piero, Gilardino, Iaquinta, Inzaghi, Nesta, Peruzzi.

Goals: Zambrotta 6, Toni 59, 69

Ukraine: Shovkovskiy, Nesmachniy, Sviderskiy (Vorobey, 20), Rusol (Vashchuk, 45), Tymoschuk, Shelayev, Gusev, Gusin, Kalinichenko, Milevskiy (Byelik, 72), Shevchenko.
Subs not used: Nazarenko, Pyatov, Rebrov, Rotan, Shust, Voronin, Yatsenko, Yezerskiy.

Attendance: 50,000.

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium).