Hamburg: Italy continued their ominous march towards the World Cup final with a 3-0 victory over Ukraine that contained all the classic ingredients of the Azzurri in full tournament mode.
After Gianluca Zambrotta's early goal they cruised through the first half then, after Ukraine briefly threatened with a flurry of attacks early in the second, stepped up a gear with two in 10 minutes from striker Luca Toni before closing the game down.
Friday's result meant that the Italians have conceded just one goal in their five games in Germany - and that was a freakish own goal by defender Cristian Zaccardo in the 1-1 Group E draw with the United States.
It has not been easy progress, however, and Italy have had to work hard from the start, sharpening their form along the way.
Ghana pushed them hard before losing 2-0, the Americans roughed them up in a game of three red cards and they withstood an early challenge from the Czech Republic before emerging 2-0 winners to top the group.
They then needed Francesco Totti's injury-time penalty to get past Australia in the second round after again being reduced to 10 men but defending superbly.
On Friday, despite Ukraine twice hitting the woodwork at 1-0, the Italians never seemed in danger and used the minimum energy required to get the job done.
The introduction of substitute fullback Massimo Oddo meant that all their outfield players have now played a part, as coach Marcelo Lippi lived up to his promise of trying to distribute the workload throughout the squad.
The defence, without suspended Marco Materazzi and injured Alessandro Nesta but again superbly marshalled by captain Fabio Cannavaro, looked generally solid while goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was in impressive form.
Gennaro Gattuso was again a tireless performer in midfield and, should they make it to the final, Italy will be praying he does not collect another yellow card en route that would rule him out.
There was an added bonus of Toni finding the net to quieten the critics who wanted him dropped after he failed to carry his record-breaking Serie A form into his first major tournament.
Toni's double made him Italy's eighth different scorer in the competition so far, another bonus for a coach who has the luxury of classy performers in every position who do not panic when faced with a goalscoring opportunity.
Italy now face Germany on Tuesday with the hosts mentally and physically drained from their penalty shootout victory over Argentina.
It is their first World Cup meeting since the 1982 final which Italy won and a repeat of a classic semi-final encounter in 1970 when Italy emerged victorious 4-3 after five goals in extra time.
Those looking for omens will point out that since that tournament, when Italy lost 4-1 to Pele's Brazil in the decider, they have reached the final every 12 years.
They won it in 1982, lost to Brazil on penalties in 1994 and now, another 12 years on, are one game away.
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