BARI, Italy (AP) - Luca Toni scored two goals Wednesday to lead Italy to a much-needed 2-0 win over Scotland in European Championship qualifying.
Toni used his 1.93 meter (6-foot-4) frame to convert headers in the 12th and 70th minutes.
"Toni has a great ability to finish," Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said. "He did it once on a free kick and the other was on a beautiful play."
The World Cup champions now have 10 points in Group B, two less than Scotland, France and Ukraine. Italy's next group match is against the Faeroe Islands.
It was Italy's third straight win after a rough start to qualifying and it may have saved Donadoni's job.
"Maybe I was being presumptuous, but I expected nothing less," Donadoni said. "This team showed its quality."
The Azzurri drew with Lithuania and lost to France in their opening two qualifiers and beat Ukraine and Georgia in their previous two matches.
"Nothing has changed. We've just had more time to work together," said Donadoni, who took over when Marcello Lippi resigned after the World Cup. "We still have some things to perfect and we've still got to worry about all the opponents in front of us.
"We're taking it game by game. I never like making all sorts of calculations."
Italy dominated the opening minutes and Toni nearly put the Azzurri ahead in the sixth minute, but his header went wide.
Toni also had two other early chances before outleaping the defense to head in a free kick by Massimo Oddo.
"The free kicks we allowed really cost us. That was a lesson in European football," Scotland coach Alex McLeish said. "It would have been fantastic for us to take something away tonight, but we're still in the fight."
After the fast start, Italy took some pressure off and Scotland started coming forward more.
Still, Scotland couldn't produce a shot on goal until Lee McCulloch surprised goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon from beyond the area in the 33rd. Buffon had some trouble gathering the ball but no opponents were near to make an attempt on the rebound.
Udinese forward Antonio Di Natale started the second half with three straight charges on goal for Italy. The Hearts goalkeeper stopped two of them and Di Natale was called offside on the other.
In the 57th, Di Natale floated a cross into the area that Toni met with a weak shot on goal.
Mauro Camoranesi provided the cross that Toni headed in by the far post his second goal. The Fiorentina striker now has 12 goals in 28 appearances for Italy.
"We tried not to leave them too much space but you can't take away from Toni his ability in the penalty box," McLeish said.
Toni exited to a standing ovation in the 87th minute.
The Azzurri have now beaten Scotland all six times they've played in Italy, and have won seven of seven games in Bari.
A crowd of 37,500 - including a Tartan Army of 5,000 Scottish fans - attended the game at San Nicola stadium.
Lineups:
Italy: Gianluigi Buffon; Massimo Oddo, Fabio Cannavaro, Marco Materazzi, Gianluca Zambrotta, Gennaro Gattuso, Daniele De Rossi, Mauro Camoranesi, Simone Perrotta (Andrea Pirlo, 77), Antonio Di Natale (Alessandro Del Piero, 66), Luca Toni (Fabio Quagliarella, 87).
Scotland: Craig Gordon; Graham Alexander, Stephen McManus, David Weir, Gary Naysmith, Gary Teale (Shaun Maloney, 66), Barry Ferguson, Paul Hartley, Scott Brown (Craig Beattie, 86), Lee McCulloch (Kris Boyd, 81), Kenny Miller.
