Slovakia a new symbol of defeat for downcast Italy

ROME - A new word is entering Italian football jargon to indicate a particularly painful and humbling defeat - Slovakia.

The Central European nation, which Thursday beat Italy at the World Cup and qualified in their place for the Round of 16, could also become a synonym for a licking that is not easily forgotten.

Their 3-2 win in South Africa was comparable to that of North Korea, who in 1966 in England qualified in similar fashion from the group stage through an unforgotten 1-0 win over Italy.

“It has been a Korea,” a phrase used with a shake of the head after your team has been thrashed has become common among Italian football buffs.

And it gained in status in 2002, when South Korea beat Italy 2-1 in the Round of 16 at the World Cup they hosted jointly with Japan.

Hints that Slovakia could become a bogey team came from Gennaro Gattuso, a 2006 world champion who played the first half of Thursday afternoon’s game after being sidelined in the previous dull 1-1 draws against Paraguay and New Zealand.

“They made us Cavalieri della Repubblica (a high title of honour), now they’ll make us Cavalieri of shame,” he said.

Media reaction to the Azzurri’s leaden performance was scathing. The defeat was seen as one of the worst ever suffered by an Italian national team, which won the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Coach Marcello Lippi, the hero in Germany, had his name turned to Macello (slaughterhouse).

The coach had no choice but to accept the blame, but fans and the media did not miss the chance to vent their anger at the 62-year-old, who returned to steer the Azzurri in 2008 after a two-year break.

Commentators agreed that arrogance, which is perceived as a characteristic trait of the coach, was a major fault - although a certain amount of conceit can come natural after you win a World Cup.

“I owe you no explanations,” Lippi often replied when questioned on his selection of players, while his main concern was to instil confidence in his men and among the increasingly disgruntled supporters.

“We trusted Lippi and we were wrong,” wrote la Repubblica commentator Massimo Mauro, a former footballer.

Of course, Mauro did not forget to mention “the players who showed themselves to be inadequate for an event of this level.”

As manager and selector, Lippi could only try and hide the inadequacies, but the feeling that his mission was doomed was hinted at ahead of the Slovakia debacle by football federation president Giancarlo Abete.

“There is an objective difficulty that is not linked to the World Cup, but is part of a rather long series of games,” Abete said.

“(Our difficulty) to score goes back to the qualifications. As our team scores only a few times, there is, of course, a situation of great concern when you concede a goal.

“The problem is (poor) scoring and the general quality of (players), which is something we will have to reflect on after the World Cup, but it is not linked to the presence (or absence) of a single player.”

Abete noted that after 2006 Italy has had very few players in the rankings of the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World player awards, while the Under-21 team was also having trouble.

“It is a matter of finding new players as most of the champions we have are getting older,” he said.

New coach Cesare Prandelli knows that he will have to start from scratch when he takes over from Lippi - looking to avoid another Korea, or a Slovakia.