On a very hot late afternoon in Canberra, where the temperature was still hovering near 40C, the Italians were the smarter and more skilful when compared with an Australian team that showed they have a long way to go. Joanne Peters was given the captain's armband for the night, this being her final International appearance.
The result, 5-1 to Italy, was deserved as the younger Matildas lacked cohesion. Australian coach Tom Sermanni made no less than five changes to the side that drew 2-2 at Parramatta Stadium last Saturday afternoon.
"The big turnover in the squad" stated Sermanni, was one of the main reasons for the result. "We had new players coming into the team and players coming back from injury.
"Combining that plus Cheryl (Salisbury having retired last week) you have a feeling of an Australian cricket team and it will take a little while for us to get back to where we were a year and a half ago.
"These games are good for us to get these kind of results, instead of closer to major qualifiers. We will be looking at new W-League players to see who can make the step up to national level."
After Peters gave the Italian goalkeeper a scare with a shot from some 25m out, Italy took over. The wing-play, that was evident as a threat in the first game, came to the fore in this match-up.
During the week Pietro Ghedin, Italy's coach, did some key work with his players. "We found problems with our defenders who were spread out over the park. Once we fixed that we could overlap on the flank and use Patrizia Panico to assist in the midfield."
That certainly worked early and the left side of the Australian defence was exposed twice in the opening ten minutes. Alessia Tuttino fed Panico down the right and her cross evaded all but the unmarked Melania Gabbiadini who headed past an exposed Lydia Williams in goal.
Then Roberto D'Adda fed a ball to Giulia Domenichetti, who sent in a cross from the right. Williams tried to tip the ball over for a corner, but in doing so only sent it onto the bar, allowing it to bounce in front of a gleeful Panico to head home from 2m out into the unguarded net.
Two-nil was not good, but six minutes on and the Matildas were three to the bad. The defence again exposed Williams, this time not stepping up to attain an offside and allowing Gabbiadini to accept a through ball. Williams rushed out of the box, but was not strong enough when the two met, the ball falling into the path of Pamela Conti who pushed it into the empty net, Williams laying sprawled on the turf.
The rest of the period was eventful, with little actual goalmouth action that pertained to a chance. That is, expect for Australia's best player on the park, Lisa de Vanna, who flicked a Katie Gill cross with her head just wide of the far post.
Sermanni would need a miracle to happen after the break and thus he sent in three of the more experienced players in Collette McCallum, Heather Garriock and Sarah Walsh. It was the latter who added quite a bit of spark, something needed to assist de Vanna up front.
After having gifted two goals quite cheaply, Sermanni said he "hoped to get better rhythm and more confidence" in his team. "They need to start competing in the game and hopefully we can change the momentum."
Certainly the play was more in the Italian half early on in the second stanza, but when Italy broke just under a quarter of an hour in, Tatiana Zorri put in Panico behind the defence and she slid the ball under the advancing Williams to break the Australian's hearts.
"As soon as we conceded that fourth goal you could see that it knocked the stuffing out of us again," lamented Sermanni. "When you start chasing the game it tends to become dysfunctional, players start to lose discipline, lose the thought process and then lose organisation and then with that you often lose your rhythm."
To their credit, Australia did make sure that they were not to go empty-handed away from this tussle, lest to say the Italian goalkeeper, Chiara Marchitelli, had a lot to do with the goal. When a cross was not cleared and ballooned to McCallum about 25m out, she let lose with her trusty left foot, a half-volley that bounced right in front of Marchitelli. The keeper fumbled the ball and then watched, in dismay, as it spun past her and over the line.
A little momentum had been gained, yet the Matildas were unable to convert when the opportunities arose. McCallum put Walsh through, but the keeper came out well to block the shot and then Lauren Colthorpe had the goal at her mercy from a delightful Garriock cross, but could not capitalise missing the goal completely.
Then, with ten minutes to go, Panico put the exclamation mark on her, and Italy's, performance by completing a hat-trick. A low cross from the right by Gabbiadini was half-volleyed by Panico giving Williams no chance.
All that was left was to give of Jo Peters a send off when she was substituted with five minutes left. Ghedin also gave his two stars a chance to have their own applause when he substituted both Gabbiadini and Panico late in the game.
Ghedin was obviously overjoyed with the way his team performed. "We played extremely well. The good running, the good system to move the ball, and everything went perfectly."