Italy’s coach to take a break from football

Johannesburg, June 24 (IANS/AKI) Italy’s coach Marcello Lippi says he will take a break from football for several months, after the defending champions crashed out of the World Cup on Thursday with a shock 2-3 defeat to Slovakia.

“I don’t intend to do any training for a while. I’ll take a break for a few months and then re-assess things with a clear mind,” he told a media conference.

Serie A side Fiorentina’s former trainer Cesare Prandelli will take over the Italian national squad.

The Azurri needed to beat Slovakia in Thursday’s match to qualify for the second round of the World Cup, which Italy has won four times.

For some of the Italian players, their humiliating first-round exit from the competition was too much.

Fabio Quagliarella, who scored Italy’s second goal against Slovakia reportedly left the pitch in tears and had to be comforted by team captain Fabio Cannavaro.

Lippi said he was “enormously disappointed” by the result.

“I thought the men I chose could have given something more, but they weren’t able to,” he said.

“This time we couldn’t pull it off.”

Italy finished at the bottom of the section with just two points, only managing 1-1 draws with Paraguay and with New Zealand.

“This is where we are at with Italian football. If in three matches, we can’t manage to win once, it’s only right that we should be on our way home,” commented Italy’s veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

“We’ve let people down, that is undeniable,” he said.

Buffon only played in the first half of Italy’s match against Paraguay but was forced to leave the pitch with a serious back injury.

Slovakia’s win put them through to the second round as Group F runners-up to Paraguay who drew 0-0 with New Zealand.

–IANS/AKI