(no subject)
Vieri confirms retirement plan
Christian Vieri confessed he was on the verge of abandoning football after the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup in Germany.
“I never saw an entire match of the Nazionale, not even the Final. I only managed to watch short parts of it,” said Vieri in an interview.
“I felt like a caged lion, I just couldn’t sit still in front of the TV, I felt really bad,” added the striker who was rumoured to be appearing in the Italian version of ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!’
“I spent entire nights dreaming of the World Cup and that is when I really thought that I would retire from football. In those moments I thought a television career could be an alternative, although I never considered the option of starring in a reality show. Then I convinced myself that football is my life, it’s what I know how to do.”
The former Juve man recently agreed to a minimum wage contract with Atalanta, where he appeared during the 1995-96 season.
The 33-year-old had already accepted a reduced £575,000 salary in return for a one-year deal with Sampdoria in July, but then didn’t join the team for pre-season training and tore up his contract in August.
Vieri offered his services to Juventus as well, who showed no interest in netting the much-travelled hitman, before closing the deal with Atalanta.
Bobo was also involved in a fight in a restaurant in Milan on Monday, compounding his already difficult summer.
The player was approached by two Sampdoria fans, who insulted him for his decision to leave the club. Vieri’s friends then reacted and began chasing the Blucerchiati, where it’s alleged punches and a chair were thrown, but the situation was quickly calmed thanks to the intervention of Vieri himself.
Luckily no major injuries were suffered by the people involved and no charges were brought.
France match not decisive, says Donadoni
Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said his country's UEFA Euro 2008 group B clash with France has come too early to be decisive.
The two European giants, who contested July's FIFA World Cup final - which Italy won on penalties - are undoubtedly the favourites in their group. But Donadoni believes it is too soon to suggest an adverse result would harm either side's qualification hopes.
"It is clear that it's a special match. Obviously the French will want to show their strength at home," said Donadoni. "We have to be concentrated. It's the second match in the pool. It's too early to say it will be decisive.
"We are chasing a goal: qualification. And it is only at the end that anything will be decided."
While France coasted to a morale-boosting 3-0 win in Georgia in their first match of the group, Italy were held to an embarrassing draw by Lithuania in Naples.
Most of the Italian team have yet to start their league campaigns with their clubs as the Italian season has been delayed over the infamous match-fixing saga.
Donadoni feels his players can make up for any fitness deficiencies with desire.
"The guys are feeling good. They have shown that they are hungry. Before and after Lithuania we've been confident of producing good results."
And the Italy coach is not worried about talk of revenge as France hope to make up for losing the World Cup final on penalties.
"Whether it's a special atmosphere or a match for revenge, it is up to us to turn that to our benefit."
Albertini stands by Donadoni
His former Milan teammate is under pressure already, but FIGC representative Demetrio Albertini has publicly backed Roberto Donadoni.
“Our faith in Donadoni is total, regardless of the result against France,” stated the vice-commissioner in a Press Conference this evening.
The Azzurri boss took over from Marcello Lippi in the summer, but so far his World Cup winning squad has managed just a 2-0 friendly defeat to Croatia and 1-1 Euro 2008 qualifier with Lithuania.
The Italian media has already suggested that tomorrow’s crunch match with France in Paris will be decisive for their hopes of reaching the tournament and for Donadoni’s future.
“It’s true that with the Nazionale you can never have too much time to wait, but to talk about this game as a last chance saloon is exaggerated,” added Albertini.
The two men were teammates at Milan and former Barcelona midfielder Albertini was instrumental in picking Donadoni as Lippi’s successor.
There are claims this week that this poor start to his Azzurri career will be helped by the return of Lippi in a consultant’s role.
“We have never contacted Lippi,”assured Albertini. “If we want to continue building things up just to knock them down again, then the Press is on the right track. It’s the same old story. Let’s just give Donadoni the space to work.”
It is a familiar scenario, as many members of the Italian media lobbied to have Lippi fired ahead of Germany 2006, citing his name in the early days of the Calciopoli investigation as incompatible with the job of representing the nation at a World Cup. He was cleared of all wrong-doing.
FIFA.com remembers Facchetti
Classy, elegant, gifted and loyal, Giacinto Facchetti was a person and a player wrought from different stuff than his fellow professionals. As Dino Zoff, another icon of the Italian game put it, "It was impossible not to love him."
The son of a railway worker from Bergamo, northern Italy, Facchetti hardly seemed destined for a life in football. Standing 1.88m tall, he had anything but the average physique for footballers of his era, but his sheer athleticism gave him an immense advantage. Capable of running 80 metres in 9.90 seconds, he was only one tenth of a second shy of the Italian record.
First to notice the youngster's elegance was none other than Calcio great Giuseppe Meazza, who presented the then-16-year-old Fachetti to Inter Milan in 1958. The Serie A giants initially sent him to his hometown club Atalanta Bergamo, but called him back a few months later. Committed and hardworking, Fachetti spent the next two years developing himself into an exceptional player to add to his raw athletic ability. He would attend school in the morning in Bergamo, quickly force down a sandwich, take a train and a bus to Inter's training ground, before having to make the journey back home in the evening. For an adolescent that was a lot to ask, but the young Fachetti never wavered from his goal.
His rewards were not long in coming. In 1960 he met the coach who would change his life: Helenio Herrera. The father of catenaccio, 'Il Mago' had just joined Inter and had no equal when it came to seeing the true worth of a player. Taking one look at Fachetti in training, with his exceptional technique and physical capabilities, Herrera announced to his colleagues: "He will be the heart of my team."
Herrera moves him back
Whereas the club's previous manager had intended to use Fachetti's height to win headers up front, Herrera immediately positioned him at left-back, and it was in that position that he made his Serie A debut on 21 May 1960 as Inter won 2-0 away to Roma. Paradoxically, Facchetti was about to become the most attacking defender in the Italian championship while playing for the most defensive team in the land.
For Herrera, Facchetti was the ideal player to start moves for his forwards. Blessed with such incredible speed, he would race down the left channel before either whipping in a cross or trying his own luck. In 634 matches for the Nerazzurri in all competitions, the explosive full-back found the back of the net 75 times.
"He invented something magical by being the first full-back to go forward and unsettle defences by taking on his opposite number," explained his former team-mate Luis Suarez. "His crosses were so precise, despite the fact that he'd just expended a lot of energy bringing the ball forward." Exploiting that talent for 20 years alongside friends and colleagues such as Sandro Mazzola, Mario Corso and Tarcisio Burgnich, Fachetti wrote the most glorious chapters in Inter's history.
The whole of Europe learnt all about him at the UEFA European Championship in 1968, and the rest of the planet followed suit at the 1970 FIFA World Cup Mexico™. His semi-final contest with the other great European defender at the time, Franz Beckenbauer, will long remain in the memory. Over a period of 14 years, Fachetti contested 94 matches for his country, wearing the captain's armband in 70 of them and netting three goals in the process. "He was a true captain," recalls Gigi Riva. "We both played on the left and whenever I was tired or in trouble, he was always behind me to offer help and when we were on top he would provide me with assists."
A great man
Struck down with injury just before the 1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina™, Fachetti was forced to call time on his playing career, but he never left the game he loved. Following a brief period as vice-President of Atalanta in 1980, he returned to Inter and gradually rose through the ranks before becoming the club's 19th President on 5 January 2004.
As a player he was sent off just once, for ironically applauding a referee. There was no malice in his game, though, and as an official he proved to be a perfect gentleman, steering clear of controversy and offering help and expertise to coaches, not least Enzo Bearzot during Argentina 1978. According to Gianni Rivera, "Giacinto was an even greater man than he was a player. All his life he did good things for football. He was a straightforward and upright man. He leaves us at a time when our game never needed him more."
A father of four (Barbara, Vera, Gianfelice and Luca), Fachetti was also a FIFA anti-racism Ambassador and a member of the FIFA Football Committee. "It is with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of our great friend Giacinto Facchetti," declared FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter in homage. "We will remember him as an exceptional player, a capable official and, above all, as a wonderful man. As a FIFA coaching instructor for almost ten years and a member of the FIFA Football Committee since 1998, he left his mark not only on his own club, Inter Milan, but also on Italian, European and world football through his technical knowledge and human qualities. We have all lost a true friend in Giacinto and we will never forget him."
Pessotto discharged from hospital
Former Juventus and Italy international Gianluca Pessotto, who suffered multiple fractures after leaping from his office window in an apparent suicide attempt, was discharged from hospital on Tuesday.
Currently employed as Juventus' team manager, Pessotto was taken from Turin's Molinette hospital to his home in an ambulance.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport's website, Pessotto was smiling and joking as he boarded the vehicle.
The 35-year-old, who was said to have been depressed following his retirement as a player after 11 years with Juventus, jumped from his office at the team's headquarters in June and fell 15 metres to the ground.
His wife Reana said that he had struggled to adapt to the team manager's role after hanging up his boots.
Reana Pessotto said she had argued with her husband just before he plunged from the second story window because he called her to tell her he wanted to cancel a holiday they had arranged.
In mid-July he was declared out of danger and told that he would not suffer any long-term mental damage or physical paralysis.
Pessotto was not implicated in the match-fixing scandal which cost Juventus their place in Serie A, Italy's top division.
A versatile player who could play in defence or midfield, Pessotto was a Champions League winner with Juventus in 1996.