Sport
Haiti holds Italy to a 2-2 draw
Haiti’s Peterson Joseph (l) and Italy’s Claudio Marchisio tussle for the ball during the friendly game between Haiti and Italy, June 11, 2013. PHOTO/Felipe Dana
(Reuters) – Italy were embarrassed by Haiti on Tuesday as the Caribbean side scored two goals in the last five minutes to secure a 2-2 draw in a friendly despite falling behind after 19 seconds.
Haiti’s players, who gave Spain a few frights before losing 2-1 to the world champions at the weekend, celebrated deliriously on the pitch at Vasco da Gama’s Sao Januario stadium after shocking their illustrious opponents who slunk quietly away.
Italy, playing only 36 hours after arriving in Brazil for the Confederations Cup, went ahead through Emanuele Giaccherini before Haiti had even touched the ball and, after their opponents had wasted several chances to equalize, added a second through Claudio Marchisio in the 72nd minute.
They seemed to have survived everything Haiti could throw at them until Davide Astori fouled Jean-Eudes Maurice in the penalty area and Olrish Saurel converted the penalty with five minutes to go.
Italy looked dazed and weary when a long ball forward found Jean Philippe Peguero and he poked it past goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigiu to the joy of the neutrals in the crowd.
“We know that 2-2 is a really bad result,” a sheepish Italy coach Cesare Prandelli told RAI television. “We agreed to play this match, we arrived yesterday, we made a lot of changes but we needed to show a different spirit.”
“You could see today we lost every single sprint, so we hope in five days the team can begin to deliver.”
The sides had met once before at the 1974 World Cup when Haiti memorably took the lead before Italy eventually hit back to win 3-1.
