Manager greeted like a long-lost cousin at Ireland's Euro 2012 Italian training camp, writes PADDY AGNEW
AS REPUBLIC of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni walked up the steps of the town hall in Montecatini Terme yesterday afternoon, he was stopped and warmly greeted by local hotel owner Franco Biondi, someone he has known for more than 40 years.
The thing about Montecatini is that Trap has been coming here with different teams, both as player and coach, for more than 40 years. Thus, it was normal enough for him to pick this handsome, 19th century spa town, with all its echoes of the “Grand Tour”, as a training base in May for Ireland en route to the Euro 2012 finals.
Normal for him and a major bonus for Montecatini, a point that was warmly underlined at a civic reception yesterday by town mayor, Giueseppe Belandi. Pointing out that the town was preparing itself for a “very important week”, the mayor claimed that it would be an “honour and a privilege” to play host to a great man (Trapattoni) and to a “great country” whose national colour (green) just happened to be the colour of a good football pitch.
In theory, the reason for Trap’s visit yesterday, in the company of FAI chief executive John Delaney, was to take a look at the Irish team’s training pitch at nearby Borgo a Buggiano. In practice, Trap already knew the facilities well and was glad to report last night that everything was more than ship-shape.
In the meantime, the town council got in on the act, extending a warm welcome to Trap and the Irish prior to a brief news conference for local journalists, where all the questions were about such as Balotelli and Del Piero, with not a mention of McClean, Keane, Duff or any Irish player.
In particular, the Italian media wanted to know how he felt about preparing his side just 40km up the road from Coverciano, the Italian Federation centre, where Cesare Prandelli will be preparing the “Azzurri” for the very same first round Group C.
“Look, we’ll be doing our preparation and he’ll be doing his. I didn’t want to meet Italy in the first round and I just hope that the game against Italy won’t be the game that will decide everything . . . As for the training camps, I don’t believe in all this spy stuff, there will be no problems.”
Asked if he would take Manchester City’s “enfant terrible” Mario Balotelli to the finals, were he the Italian coach, Trap kicked elegantly to touch, with a big smile: “I am not Prandelli.”
Other questions concerned 37-year-old Alessandro Del Piero, another of the many great players to have been coached by Trap. Did he think it was right that Juventus had already decided to bring down the curtain on the player’s career, notwithstanding the fact that he was still capable of coming off the bench to score the winning goal in a crucial 2-1 Juventus defeat of Lazio the other night?
“Well, if Alessandro wants to make himself available for Ireland, we’ll have him, no problem”.
On a day when there was a lot of trotting up and down “memory lane”, Trap was inevitably asked about local Serie A giants Fiorentina, a side coached by him in the 1990s. With a mischievous smile and a glint in his eye, Trap preferred not to dwell on Fiorentina’s current difficult moment, opting instead to recall the night at Wembley when his team had knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League, thanks to a powerhouse goal from Argentine ace, Gabriel Batistuta.
As for Montecatini, Trap expressed the hope that his players would make the most of the restorative qualities of the town’s atmosphere and famous spa waters. In the meantime, mayor Belandi assured him that he would be rooting all the way for Ireland, Italy match notwithstanding, adding: “In the end, Trap, thanks for existing.”
