Pio Esposito lifts Italy past Greece 1-0 on Television Channel

Pio Esposito scored in the 18th minute and Italy beat Greece 1-0 in Heraklion on television channel. Luca Reggiani’s red card turned the last half hour into a holding exercise, but Italy kept the second straight 1-0 result intact.

Esposito’s five-goal mark

The Inter striker’s winner gave him two goals in two matches for Italy against Luxembourg and Greece. It also took him to five goals for Italy before turning 21, a mark only Gianni Rivera had matched among the names in this context, with Meazza still ahead on 11.

Baldini’s two changes

Silvio Baldini made two changes to the starting XI after the Luxembourg win, bringing Ahanor in at right-back for Favasuli and Ekhator into the front three for Cherubini. The reshuffle still produced the same result: Italy opened the scoring, then had to protect it while a man down.

Two wins, one message

Baldini said, "I wanted these boys to gain confidence; now they just need to develop." Pio Esposito was just as direct after the match: "The best thing is that we treated these two games not as friendlies, but with utmost commitment."

That is the clean read on this trip to Heraklion. Italy left with two wins, two 1-0 scorelines, and a young side that handled the result after the setback of the red card, which is a stronger indicator than the scoreline alone.