Tuned to assess merits of past masters

WORLD CUP QUALIFYING:MARCELLO LIPPI and Italy are sure to have plenty of respect for Ireland when they meet them in next week's World Cup qualifier in Bari, says Giuseppe Bergomi, the former Inter full back and 1982 World Cup winner.

Few people are better placed than Bergomi to assess next week’s match for the good reason that not only is he intimately familiar with coach Lippi’s Italy but he is also someone who was coached at Inter for five seasons by Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni, and he also played alongside both of Trapattoni’s assistants, Liam Brady and Marco Tardelli.

Bergomi points out that the presence of the Trapattoni-Tardelli-Brady triumvirate would be enough to make anyone in Italy sit up and take notice, while the fact that Ireland have made such a good start to their group only adds to their threat.

Bergomi said: “Trap is a guy who understands football through and through. In Italy people say that he is past it, but that’s not true. I spoke to him the other day and he has the same enthusiasm that he had 20 years ago, he’s something else, Trap. He is still someone who is brilliant at motivating players, getting the best out of them.”

Bergomi even argues that, at this point in his career, coaching a national team is the “perfect job” for 70-year-old Trapattoni, given that he is not required to train six days a week with the team while he can rely on “very good assistants” like Tardelli and Brady.

Bergomi, who featured in the Azeglio Vicini-coached Italy which eliminated Ireland at the quarter-final stage of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, feels Trapattoni might be able to bridge the gap in quality between Jack Charlton’s Ireland and today’s squad:

He said: “Clearly, this is not as strong a side as the one Ireland had at Italia ’90 and at the 1988 European Championship, that was a very good team, very strong, very physical. Yet, just look at Ireland’s defensive record, they have conceded only two goals so far in the group. Obviously Trap has worked on the defence and if you organise a good defence, then confidence builds. You don’t concede a goal and then maybe you have someone up front who can get one for you.

“When I spoke to Trap, he told me he was very satisfied with his basic team and he also said there were some interesting younger Irish players in the pipeline.”

Bergomi feels, however, that Italy will prove a tough nut to crack. He points out that the team is highly experienced, with Lippi still relying on a key group of players – Buffon, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Grosso, Pirlo, De Rossi – who featured in his World Cup winning side of three years ago.

On top of that there is at least one intriguing new face in Villarreal’s Giuseppe Rossi, who may feature against Montenegro on Saturday and Ireland next week.

Further down the road, he suggests, Inter’s talented 18-year-old Mario Balotelli could make a major contribution to this side.

Bergomi also feels that Bari will not be an easy away venue for Ireland, pointing out that southern Italian fans nearly always create “un ambiente caldo” (literally a warm environment). Furthermore, the Bari fans have seen the Italian team play only three times at the San Nicola stadium since 1990, making this game all the more special for them.

“I remember once as a player when we (Inter) were banned from using our own ground so we went to play a “home” game in Bari because we reckoned we would get plenty of support from the Bari fans . . . and we did.”

Bergomi is not surprised that Trapattoni has started so well with Ireland, given Trap’s various successes in Germany, Portugal and Austria. He also argues that the choice of Brady as an assistant is “inspired”, saying: “You have to have someone like that, someone who not only knows the local scene, knows Trap but also knows football . . . I spent two seasons with Liam and he was a great player and I say that for the benefit of all those Irish fans who never saw him play in Italy.

“He was a player of terrific personality. If there was a penalty to be taken, he took it and he never missed. I was a young player then and he used to say to me, Beppe, if you’re stuck, just give me the ball. Then, with that left foot of his, he did what he liked. I mean, if he had been fast as well, he would have been better than Maradona. He was an exemplary professional on and off the field, one of the best foreigners ever to play in Italy.”

Bergomi argues that, in the wake of that total Champions League whitewash two weeks ago, Italian football badly needs a major morale boost. He does not agree with those who argue that money (or more of it) explains the success of the English Premier League and the failure of Serie A.

“When I watch a Premiership game,” he says, “it could be Fulham v Manchester City, I enjoy myself. The game has pace and rhythm, the fans get behind their teams, they don’t spend their afternoon trying to get at some player. We Italians, however, have an addiction to controversy, our fans don’t accept a defeat.”

Bergomi argues that pressure created by exacting Italian fans tends to cripple Italian teams, stunting the development of young players and making club teams very cautious when they play away from home in European competition: “Whereas I think the Premiership teams take to the field with a lot less pressure and it influences the way they play, faster, more athletic and with less pressure. The foreigners in the Premiership adapt to this instantly.

“Sometimes our excessive obsession with tactics gets in the way, it blocks the player. In contrast, the Premiership players are freer in their minds, they just go out there and play.

“Look at the three Italian sides in the Champions League, their mental approach was all wrong. Inter, for example, only began to play well after they went down 1-0 in the return leg. At that point, with nothing left to play for, they finally came out and played but it was too late.”

These days, Bergomi is the number one “summariser” for Sky Italia, covering Serie A every week. He points out, as an example of what is wrong with Italian football culture, that he now requires police protection at certain grounds such as the Olympic stadiums of Rome and Turin. Fans, annoyed with the way he has called a key incident in a game, tend to be on hand ready to abuse and even assault him.

However, that is Serie A and not a World Cup qualifier in Bari where he expects the atmosphere to be welcoming for everyone, particularly for his old gaffer, Trap.