Tardelli says Italy will play

SOCCER:MARCO TARDELLI has reacted with surprise to Cesare Prandelli's suggestion that Italy could pull out of the European Championships, with the former World Cup winner predicting that Ireland's group rivals will be in Poland and admitting that he is anxious for the game between the two countries to take place.

After the ongoing and widening investigations into match-fixing prompted prime minister Mario Monti to suggest that Italian football might benefit from a period of isolation during which it could clean itself up for good, Prandelli, a former team-mate of Tardelli at Juventus, said that he would not oppose such a move.

“If you told us that for the good of football we should not participate, it wouldn’t be a problem for me,” the manager said on Italian television.

“There are things that I believe are more important,” he continued. “I dislike crusades. I prefer to face up to things and not take positions without considering the consequences. I would rather only to talk about football, but events are conspiring against this.”

Nineteen people have been arrested in connection with the investigation over the course of the last week and Prandelli has been forced to drop at least one player from his European Championship squad. Tardelli said, however, that innocent players and the Italian people shouldn’t suffer for the crimes of a tiny minority.

“I’m sure, I’m sure they will go,” he said after helping to oversee a training session at Borgo a Buggiano in which all of the Irish players participated.

“Italy is very important and they will be in Poland because it is about only some players. Not all of football in Italy is involved. I am surprised (he said it), but maybe sometimes Prandelli says some things so as to pressure the players and the people that are around the team.

“I am very sad that this is all happening again. I saw this in 1980 (the Totonero betting scandal) when many players (most famously Paolo Rossi) were disqualified. Ten years ago (the match-fixing scandal that centred on Juventus and resulted in the club’s relegation) and now.

“We need to clean up the situation because if we can carry on like this, it is very bad for football and the Italian people.

“I like to stay out of Italian football in Italy but I want that my people are recognised for the right reasons.

“They are honest people. It’s my country. And (at these championships) I want to fight against my country, but honestly.”

Tardelli expressed satisfaction, meanwhile, with the way the Ireland squad’s preparations came along yesterday with Stephen Hunt back in full training while Shay Given and John O’Shea looked entirely comfortable during the end of session game.

That game featured what appeared to be further confirmation of Giovanni Trapattoni’s intended selection for tomorrow week’s game against Croatia in Poznan with the players numbered one to 11 in the squad the manager submitted to Uefa on Tuesday taking on the rest of the squad.

It is all likely to come as welcome reassurance to Kevin Doyle whose status as an automatic starter and Robbie Keane’s partner in attack had looked as though it might come under threat following a difficult season at club level in the Premier League.

Even more predictably, the likes of Keith Andrews, Sean St Ledger and Stephen Ward all featured for the “probables” while the “possibles” had a slightly more cobbled together look about them with Stephen Hunt at left-back and Simon Cox on the right wing.

Paul McShane played at centre-back, meanwhile, and Stephen Kelly at right-back.

Tardelli acknowledged that O’Shea must still provide reassurance regarding his fitness by coming through the game in Budapest on Monday without any recurrence of the ankle problem that prevented him from training properly last week, but there appears to be growing confidence amongst the management team that the Sunderland defender will, barring mishaps, be okay.

Asked about the decision to contact Marc Wilson regarding his availability in the event that replacements need to be called in, Tardelli said that three or four players had been made aware that they be might be needed but that there was little point in discussing the matter until Monday’s game was out of the way and it is clear whether they will be asked to travel.

The Irish squad, meanwhile, will leave Montecatini tomorrow morning when they fly to Budapest ahead of Monday evening’s game. On Tuesday they move on to their tournament base just outside Gdansk.

Before they leave, however, Trapattoni and Tardelli will be honoured at a reception in Montecatini this afternoon with brass plaques bearing their names to be inserted into the pavement outside the town hall.

Names already there include Marcello Lippi, Pele and Henry Kissinger.