Marcello Lippi’s bunch, who crashed out of the Fifa World Cup in the first round after a 2-3 loss to Slovakia, weren’t like the Italian teams of old. They were just an Italian team that was old.
Since returning to the helm, following the sacking of Roberto Donadoni after a similar first round exit at Euro2008, Lippi kept faith with much of the same team he guided so successfully to the world title four years ago in Germany.
As the old adage goes, “time doesn’t stand still for anyone”. Never has it proved more prophetic than in the case of captain Fabio Cannavaro. In Germany, the centreback couldn’t get a tackle wrong, and yet at Ellis Park on Thursday, he couldn’t get one right.
Lippi shouldered responsibility for the fiasco, but having already announced his exit before the tournament began, it will come as scant relief for Ceasre Pirandelli — who will officially assume control of the Azzurri next month.
“I take all responsibility, there are no excuses because when a team comes to a match as important as this with terror in their legs, their heads and their hearts, and don’t manage to express themselves, it means that the coach hasn’t prepared them in the right way,” Lippi said as soon as he entered the press conference dais — before anyone had even directed a question at him.
“I failed to train the team well enough, they weren’t ready for such an important match. For an hour and 15 minutes, for psychological reasons I think, nothing worked,” he added.
Lippi’s selection had been criticised for favouritism shown to certain players, while other deserving candidates were not even included in the squad. The former Juventus manager’s insistence on using the likes of Mauro Camoranesi and Gennaro Gattuso, heroes four years back, but, both of whom had gone past their sell-by date only compunded matters.
Gattuso and Cannavaro, who at two weeks shy of 37 can hardly be at blame for failing to match his impeccable standards, followed their manager into international retirement.
Injuries to playmaker Andrea Pirlo and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon set the Italians back further. But the Italians biggest worry was lack of quality frontmen. From the days of Giuseppe Meazza through Sandro Mazzola, Paolo Rossi, Roberto Baggio down to the heroes of Germany ’06 Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti, Italy have always produced goal-scorers with a knack for producing magic in front of goal.
However, with the mercurial Antonio Cassano and youthful Mario Balotelli not selected, and Fabio Quagliarella, by far Italy’s best player in the tournament, confined to the bench for long periods the end result was inevitable.
The task facing Pirandelli is an uphill one and there is no quick fix to help return Italy to their glory days.