WORLD CUP: Slovakia 3, Italy 2

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, June 24 (UPI) -- Robert Vittek scored a pair of goals that boosted Slovakia to a 3-2 victory Thursday over Italy and into the knockout round of the World Cup in South Africa.

Slovakia opened the day in fourth place in Group F, but the win -- only one of two in the group's six round-robin games -- allowed it to pass Italy (0-1-2) and New Zealand (0-0-3) and finish second in the group behind Paraguay (1-0-2).

The Slovaks (1-1-1) will meet the Netherlands, which won all three of its Group E games, in an elimination game Monday.

Vittek put Slovakia up midway through the first half when Italy's Daniele De Rossi lost control of the ball near the top of the box. Slovakia's Juraj Kucka controlled the ball and passed to Vittek, who squeezed between two defenders to break free before driving the ball low and into the goal.

Slovakia took a 2-0 lead in the 73rd minute off a corner kick, which came in low from the right to Vittek, who had an easy try for the goal.

Italy got its goal about 8 minutes later when Antonio Di Natale punched in a rebound, but Slovakia's Kamil Kopunek locked the game away with a score in the 89th minute. It turned out that goal was needed as Italy's Fabio Quagliarella managed a goal in stoppage time and Simone Pepe just missed an excellent chance to tie the score 5 minutes into extra time.