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Much of the Italian build up had been focused on the allergations of corruption and bungs surrounding not only Italian football, but several of the men included in the International squad.
Ahead of their first clash in the 2006 competition many of the press conferences were surrounded with talk of the scandals instead of the upcoming game so it must have been a relief for the Italian side to step out onto the pitch for ninety minutes and let their game do the talking.
They started with top scorer Toni upfront along side Gillardino as well as the 'injury free' Totti in a role just behind. Nesta and Cannavaro marshalled the notoriously tight defense with the only changes to their qualification team being made because of injuries to midfielders Gattuso and Zambrotta.
The Ghanians looked to take on the Worlds best for the first time and much in the form of Angola and the Ivory Coast have a tough ask on their hands to beat the World's best teams to make an impression. Many of the names were unknown in the African's side and familiarity was brought to the midfield through the impressive Essien and Appiah who anchor the centre of the team.
The game started at a high pace with the Italians refusing to be drawn into the high pressing game of their opponents. Where ever possible Appiah and Essien worked posession through the midfield and this brought them some job with some early warnings to the Italian defense.
It wasnt until a shot from Luca Toni hit the cross bar that the game began to open up a little more. The top scorer in Serie A took the ball over the defender on the chest and struck a fearsome volley which came down off the cross bar before bouncing on the line and out to safety.
This moment of magic from the Azzuri woke up the more fancied Europeans and through Totti they almost scored a wonder goal as the captain hit a free kick from fully fourty yards which the keeper was able to parry over his cross bar.
Totti began to find more space in the cool evening of Hannover and several times he played Luca Toni in but the front man on two occasions was thwarted by a combination of good goalkeeper and tight marking. The Italian did break free on one occasion however and it was only down to a tremendous save from the goalkeeper that kept Ghana in the first half.
With the pressure becoming heavier and heavier from Italy it wasnt long before their advantage told, but it took a great goal from Pirlo to break the deadlock. A short corner played to the set piece specialist was not closed down this allowed the midfielder and extra touch to shape himself right before driving a shot low into the bottom corner of the goal.
A great goal just before half time was seemingly enough to give Italy a good standing point into the break but good work down the right and a shot from Pappoe should have resulted in a goal, however a combination of a piece of diving defending and poor shooting led to the best oppertunity being missed.
In the second half Ghana came at Italy and with Essien tested Buffon to the full. After the ball pinged around the Italian area it came to the Chelsea midfielder who hit a shot on the volley which forced a reflex save from the Juve keeper. This sparked the crowd into life and with their large amounts of posession Ghana looked to force some more chances on goal but instead it was Italy who mainly played on the counter during the second period who proffited most from the African's style of football.
An injury scare for talisman Totti who was replaced by Cameronasi led to and Italian shift in emphasis towards containing their opponents. Chance after chance fell to the favourites on the counter and it was only due to several smart saves that the scoreline stayed at 1-0.
Ghanian defender Samuel Kuffour found himself lucky to be on the pitch when he hacked down Italy's Iauquinta when clean through on goal. A linesmans flag his saving grace but it proved to be a warning as when the stretcher bound Italian returned it was he who fed off a long ball and a Kuffour short back pass to score Italy's second.
Justice was somewhat done as the Roma defender's pass was dreadfully short for the goalkeeper but laid nicely into the path of the man he befelled minutes earlier, a simple finish for the Udine striker as he rounded the keeper to cap of a sucessful game one for the Italians.
Though industrious in their work throught the game Ghana looked unlikely to score in the second period though did have two shouts for penalties in the closing minutes. The first for a push on Asamoah, the second and rather more clear cut was for a double sided challenge in the area on Muntari, the referee however did not award the debutants anything and they will look to score their first goal against the Czech Republic in their next game.