Marcello Lippi, the Italian coach, had come to South Africa with limited ambitions. He did not expect to retain the World Cup but neither did he expect to be going home even before the knockout phase had begun, only the fourth holder to suffer such an ignominious fate.
But, after Italy’s defeat by Slovakia saw them finish bottom of Group F with two points, the 62 year old refused to blame the referee for denying Italy an equalising goal or his players.
Instead, performing more like an operatic star at the La Scala, rather than in a rugby stadium converted for the use of football, the 62 year old silver haired Lippi said, “I am here for self condemnation. I am not into victimhood. I take all responsibility for what happened. There are no excuses because, when a team comes to a match as important as tonight’s with terror in their legs, their heads and their hearts, and don’t manage to express themselves, it means that the coach did not train them logically, tactically and psychologically. I did not train the team well enough. They weren’t ready for such an important match. I failed.”
I have never in all my time covering football and listening to managers conduct their post match analysis heard anything like this. This was high Italian drama of the kind none of us had witnessed.
Lippi’s performance was clearly designed to head off Italian criticism of a man who was a hero to his countrymen four years ago when his team lifted the trophy. But it left unanswered the crucial question as to why Italy only started playing in the last 15 minutes or why he did not bring on the Napoli man Fabio Quagliarella until half time or Milan’s Andrea Pirlo until the 56th minute. Quagliarella made a difference when, 2-0 behind, Italy scored two goals, including a delightful chip by the Napoli man. This period also saw Martin Skrtel clear off the line, with the Italians convinced it had crossed the line, and a Quagliarella goal which looked good ruled out for offside. Had it stood it would have meant Italy clawing back to 2-2. Minutes later Kamil Kopunek, who had just come on, scored and the Italians were doomed.
Although Lippi did not blame his players, they willingly accepted responsibility. The first-choice goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who only played the first half against Paraguay due to a herniated disk in his back, admitted, “It’s our fault. Slovakia and New Zealand are teams worth respecting but nothing more. If we can’t beat at least one of them, it’s only fair that we go home.”
Buffon also highlighted one of Lippi’s failures. He came to South Africa with nine players 30 or older, led by the 36-year-old Fabio Cannavaro. “The difference” added Buffon “between 2006 and 2010 is that there are no longer enough players like (Francesco) Totti and (Alessandro) Del Piero.”
Buffon sees the first task of Cesare Prandelli, announced as Lippy’s successor even before the competition, to start a new cycle, “I hope he’s got his ideas in order, because the current situation of Italian football isn’t great.”
Like Lippi midfielder Gennaro Gattuso, admitted Italian football had “touched rock bottom” and along with Cannavaro joins Lippi in bidding goodbye to the national team.
Italian despair was balanced by Slovakian joy. Making their debut in the World Cup their coach, Vladimir Weiss, described the victory as “the second happiest day of my life, the first being the birth of my son”.
Robert Vittek, who scored Slovakia’s first two goals, confessed, “We did not expect to have the game so much under our control.”
Slovakia will now face Netherlands with nothing to fear. “We have,” said Vittek, “nothing to lose as newcomers. We have surprised once. Holland are one of the favourites for the World Cup and we will do everything possible for another surprise.”
But, for all his goal scoring feats, will young Robert ever be able to match Lippi and make football seem like a visit to the opera?
June 25th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
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