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Slipperduke

The Camden Cad
Joined
Aug 24, 2004
Messages
4,333
Location
North London
Brazil 3-0 Italy

Fabiano 37,43
Dossena 45 (og)

There are certain times in life when it's actually ok to quit. Howard Wilkinson discovered this in 1992 after winning the title with Leeds United. In an uncharacteristically honest interview, the man who turned a struggling second flight side into champions admitted that he wanted to resign on the basis that life couldn't get much better. He stayed on for another year, Leeds failed to win an away game all season and he was eventually sacked. But if you think that's sad, spare a thought for poor Marcello Lippi.

Three years ago, Lippi was the toast of the nation. In the midst of the Calciopoli scandal, he led the national side to glory in Germany. His was a national team without superstars, where the emphasis was on team-work and a rigid defence. Where Wilkinson dithered, Lippi acted, resigning after his triumph to spend more time with his cigars. There must have been a point during this match, probably just before half-time, where he thought to himself, why on earth did I come back?

If you think the English press can be vicious, you should see the Italian media in action. Lippi has already fought with them during this tournament, especially after they derided his side as 'mummies' in the wake of their defeat to Egypt. This reverse, and the humiliation of being knocked out in the group stages, will bring a new wave of criticism crashing down upon a man who should still be basking in glory.

Italy were bludgeoned out of the tournament in a vicious eight minute first half spell of Brazilian dominance. First Luis Fabiano latched onto Maicon's shot, twirled and deposited it into the bottom corner of Gianluigi Buffon's goal. Six minutes later, the solid Italian defence turned to Swiss cheese as Brazil poured forward. Again, it was Fabiano who was on hand to finish things off. Then, just moments before half-time, Andreas Dossena capped off what has been a marvelous season at Anfield by clumsily sliding the ball past in his own goalkeeper. Fans of the Merseysiders will recognise that flavour of incompetence a mile off.

Italy were better after the break, it would have been some achievement had they actually got worse, but they couldn't quite make the breakthrough. The introduction of Giuseppe Rossi gave the Azzurri a cutting edge but, in Julio Cesar, Brazil finally have a world class goalkeeper. In the end it transpired that just a single goal would have been enough to have seen the Italians through, such was the impact of the Amercia thrashing of Egypt, but even that was beyond them.
There may be something in the accusations that Lippi has allowed his side to age, but he was quite right to argue afterwards that there was little to be gained in fielding a side of youngsters simply for the sake of it, especially as the best ones are still over in Sweden. Objectively, you'd have to say that these were tired players going through the motions after a long season. That this was simply a good side taken by surprise by a better side. That when Brazil are in this kind of mood, there's not a lot that you can do. Objectively, you can say all of this, but unfortunately, the Italian press don't do objectivity. Forced to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous editorials and knowing full well that he could be sat on a deckchair somewhere having a good smoke, this will be a very long year for Lippi.
 
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