Norway 0-2 Italy: Extending the honeymoon with Conte

New coach Antonio Conte's team easily won all three points at Oslo in the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

Italy's victory was decided by goals in the first half of each half, with Simone Zaza opening the scoring in the 16th minute and Leonardo Bonucci finishing the score in the 62nd.

This was Conte's first victory with the Italian national team in an official match, but the second consecutive victory for the team under his new reign. In the friendly match against the Netherlands at home in Bari on September 4 - Conte's debut match - Italy also won 2-0.

Italy is off to an impressive start with new coach Conte. Photo: Reuters.

Like the previous victory over the Netherlands, the 3-5-2 system that brought Conte great success at Juventus - winning three consecutive scudetti - continues to be effective for Italy, without the inspiration of the injured Andrea Pirlo.

With two wingers in Mattia De Sciglio and Matteo Darmian, Italy constantly tormented the Norwegian defence with a series of attacks. De Sciglio, a 21-year-old Milan international, was the one who initiated the opening goal when he brought the ball up. A drop-kick from striker Immobile allowed Zaza to break free and finish hard. The ball hit a home defender before going into the net, beyond the reach of goalkeeper Orjan Nylan.

Norway responded well to the goal and gave the visitors a scare with Joshua King's shot going just over the bar. But Italy continued to dominate proceedings and created more problems. Giaccherini missed two chances, with one hitting Nyland's hand and another going just wide after a sharp counter-attack from the visitors.

In the second half, with Italy lulling them to sleep, Norway lost their guard and conceded a second goal. Bonucci stepped up to take part in a corner kick and headed in precisely from Manuel Pasqual's cross.

This goal almost broke Norway. They almost conceded a third goal, if not for Nyland's excellent save to deny Sciglio. The crossbar also saved the home team a goal after Zaza's shot. In the next situation, Alessandro Florenzi rushed in to score the rebound, but could not beat Nyland.

Conte arrived and brought new vitality to Italy, which was exhausted after failing to qualify for Euro 2016. Photo: AFP.

Italy had another good chance to score after beating Nyland, but defender Vegard Forren was on hand to save on the line, denying Zaza's shot. However, 2-0 was enough for Italy to claim their first three points in Group H.

According to VnExpress