Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Donadoni may pay a high price for defeat . Lippi back in charge of Italy?

The ANNOTICO Report

Lippi back in charge of Italy?

Marcello Lippi will return to lead Italy despite initial denials from the 2006 World Cup winning coach.

The official announcement on releasing Roberto Donadoni from his current contract has yet to be made public,  but the 60-year old has been a popular figure to take over the reigns for the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Sources close to the former Juventus boss maintain that the announcement will be made public within the next 48 hours or so.

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/8278712/A-stroll-through-Italy-and-the-Serie-A

Donadoni may pay a high price for defeat

Bangkok Post – Thailand

W. Ruja Wong Santi

June 24, 2008

Italy are dead, as could be their coach Roberto Donadoni.

The Azzurri were successful in containing Spain to a scoreless draw before going out on penalties in the quarter-finals.

From the start, the world champions made it clear that they wanted to play for a draw and they got the desired result.

They lost in the shootout after two of their four penalty takers _ Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale _ missed from the spot.

According to Donadoni, he did not pick the penalty takers but the team decided together and went with those who felt they were ready.

De Rossi might not have been ready, though. He badly missed from the spot for Roma against Manchester United in the Champions League last season.

He probably wanted to make amends for the miss for his club but instead got further pain.

In 120 minutes, Italy, who were without suspended playmaker Andrea Pirlo and hard-tackling midfielder Gennaro Gattuso, did a good job in neutralising Spain's attack led by David Villa and Fernando Torres.

But while their attack was generally dull and clueless, Italy did have a couple of good chances which were denied by Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Italy paid the price for their misfiring strikeforce throughout their campaign as they could only score three goals in four games.

The goals were from two midfielders, Pirlo and De Rossi, and a defender, Christian Panucci.

Pirlo scored from the spot and De Rossi from a free-kick. Both were against out-of-sorts France in Italy's 2-0 win in the group stage.

Panucci was on the scoresheet only because of a blunder by Romania's defence.

Italy lacked midfielders who could score from open play in the mould of Francesco Totti when their forwards failed to deliver.

Italy strikers _ particularly their top marksman Luca Toni, who scored 39 goals for Bayern Munich last season _ could not find the net.

Donadoni might have regretted his decision to axe veteran striker Filippo Inzaghi from his Euro squad.

Inzaghi, who had a good season with AC Milan, is one of the best finishers in the box and his ''dive'' could have been a decisive factor.

Not surprisingly, Donadoni, who took over Italy after the 2006 World Cup, was held responsible for Italy's negative approach.

The Italian press was quick to speculate that Donadoni would be sacked to pave the way for the return of his predecessor, World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi.

Donadoni is only a scapegoat as Italy always play like that. Lippi's side also played in such a negative style during the World Cup.

Lippi became a world champion only because Italy had luck in the shootout against France in the final. Normally poor penalty takers, all five Italian kickers hit the target.

Had luck been on Donadoni's side in the shootout, it would have been very different and he could have been hailed as a master tactician who tamed Spain's attack. Donadoni could have paid the price for not winning the ''lottery.''

http://www.bangkokpost.com/240608_Sports/24Jun2008_sport01.php

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