Italy coach Marcello Lippi apologised on Thursday night for selecting an Italian team “with terror in its heart” and accepted full responsibility for the world champions' humiliating early exit from the World Cup.
The World Cup holders crashed out of the tournament in the most dramatic game South Africa has witnessed so far, losing 3-2 to the first-time finalists Slovakia who progressed to the knockout phase at Italy's expense.
The biggest shock of the competition to date means that both the 2006 finalists, France and Italy, have failed to survive the group stage.
If the French fell out among themselves, Italy simply failed to turn up, leaving their departing coach, Marcelo Lippi, perplexed by three abject performances yet willing to accept all of the blame.
“I take full responsibility,” Lippi said. “If I was part of the success in 2006, I have to take the blame for this failure too. If a team shows up at an important game with terror in its heart and head and legs, it must mean the coach did not train them as he should have done. I thought the men I chose would have been able to deliver something different but obviously I was wrong.”
“The players didn't play right, they didn't press, they didn't build, they didn't do anything. I still have belief in the players but no one would believe that was the real Italian team, the one you saw out there. I don't want to play the victim but the leader is always responsible.” — © Guardian News and Media 2010
