IF YOU ask Italian coach Cesare Prandelli about the historical precedents that sees Italian pre-tournament “scandals” develop into Italian tournament victories, he just smiles and puts his hand up in the air.
The precedents are there, of course. Remember how Paolo Rossi came back from a betting scandal-related suspension just in time to inspire Italy to a 1982 World Cup win in Spain?
Then six years ago, when the Italians arrived in Germany for the World Cup, every reporter in the world wanted to ask them questions about the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal. The Azzurri answered those questions on the pitch by winning their fourth World Cup.
So then, when Prandelli met with the media shortly after arrival in Krakow last night, your correspondent suggested to him that, given the precedents, Italy are guaranteed winners of this tournament.
After all, Prandelli spent all last week trying to fend off the negative impact of the latest “Last Bet” football scandal, one that cost him a squad player in Mimmo Criscitio and one which also featured the alleged excessive betting habits of his captain and goalkeeper Gigi Buffon.
The affable Prandelli took the point and smiled broadly, saying: “I would have preferred to arrive here in another set of circumstances but rest assured we’re ready to go . . .”
Even Prandelli’s much quoted threat last Friday to withdraw Italy from the tournament was much “redimensioned” last night, with the coach implying that, as we had suspected, that threat was much more rhetorical than real.
“What is said is said, I don’t want to go there anymore,” said Prandelli.
So for once, Prandelli was able to talk (mainly) football to the media. On the injury front, one Juventus defender, Giorgio Chiellini, has recovered but another one, Andrea Barzagli, is very doubtful for Italy’s opening game in Gdansk on Sunday against the reigning World and European Champions, Spain.
As for Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli, apparently struggling with a thigh strain, he is expected to be fully fit for Sunday.
Asked how he felt about opening his tournament against Spain, Prandelli commented: “The good thing is that it is our first game and we come into without having lost to anyone. The bad thing is that it is Spain.”
Considering the week he has just endured, Prandelli was striking a very positive note last night. Even a lacklustre 3-0 defeat by Russia in a Zurich friendly last weekend does not seem to worry the Italian coach.
“I took all sorts of positive signs out of that game. For a start, we’re in very good shape and for a second we showed that we are a team that wants to go out there and play football . . . This is a very responsible and enthusiastic group of players,” he said.
This morning, the Italian team mood is due to change radically when the players, like many of those who have travelled to Krakow for these finals, go on a visit to the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, just 30 miles from Krakow.
Asked about this visit, Prandelli said: “There are many, many good reasons why everyone should go there . . . It is important that the younger generations understand how little it can take for things to become a huge, human disaster . . .”
On the same note, Prandelli said that he had already informed the Italian Football Federation that he and his players were ready and willing to partake in fund-raising activities for the victims of the recent earthquake in Emilia Romagna which killed 25 and which wreaked immense damage to the region’s industry, agriculture and cultural patrimony.
