Cannavaro and Lippi candidly ponder on World Cup success

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday October 10, 2006

Milan- Three months after lifting their fourth World Cup, Italy seem to be coming to terms with the criticism that several commentators levelled at the game they displayed at the elite event in Germany. Speaking ahead of Wednesday's Euro 2008 qualifier against Georgia, the Azzurri's captain Fabio Cannavaro gave a sample of his trademark frankness telling reporters: "We won the World Cup, but we played poorly," a statement that was in part accepted by his former coach Marcello Lippi.

"Now don't tell us that we play long balls, as in the 1930s, and don't play the ball. We are not Brazil and we don't offer the best of football: we exploit our characteristics.

"In Germany we did not put on a show and now we don't have to play sparkling football just because we won the title."

As Italy have struggled through the early part of the Euro qualifiers, notching a single win in three games, the 33-year-old defender praised the spirit of the team, which remained "the same as at the World Cup," he said.

"Naturally, everybody expects showings like those of this summer, so if you just misplace a pass, complaints pour, but it is a matter of form."

In Germany, Italy's strong point was the solidness of a defence stunned only on two occasions, an own goal and a spot kick, before defeating finalists France in a penalty shootout.

The Azzurri's former coach Marcello Lippi, who resigned shortly after the July 9 final in Berlin, gave his own interpretation of Cannavaro's words.

"I don't think that Cannavaro wanted to say that Italy played poorly. Fabio's thought, which is correct after all, is another: we are not Brazil. We don't have such a spectacular game as tradition and culture, nor can we have it.

"We are used to something else. Our football is careful, rational, practical, and it is exactly what we practised at the World Cup."

As they seek to regain their best form and defeat the bad omen of missing the qualification to the European championship, which happened after their third World Cup in 1982, the Azzurri found support from former selector Arrigo Sacchi.

The trainer who lost the 1994 World Cup in a penalty shootout final against Brazil lent his support for Italy and their current coach Roberto Donadoni, who at the time was a mainstay with the Azzurri.

Sacchi said the 2-0 defeat of Ukraine at the weekend "was an important win. There has been a lot of criticism, but I don't understand why, for the clubs, winning is all that matters. When the national team plays, it matters also how they obtain a win.

"The national team is the mirror of how the league is played, therefore it is difficult for a selector to change in three days the mentality of the game."

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency