For Italy, it’s time to begin

For Italy, it’s time to begin

For Italy, it’s time to begin

June 13, 2010 - Cape Town, South Africa - epa02199990 Italian national soccer team captain Fabio Cannavaro performs during his team's training session at the Green Point-Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, 13 June 2010. Italy will play their first Group F preliminary round match against Paraguay on 14 June 2010.

By Mirko Corli, writing from Torino

As usual, there is no public support for the Italian national team. People are arguing about the players that Lippi left home (Cassano, Balotelli, Totti, Del Piero, etc.) and do not feel very confident about the Azzurri’s upcoming performances.

I think Lippi’s picks are not the best he could do. There’s a clear lack of personality and quality in Italy’s football: Cassano, Balotelli and Totti are the dismissed players with those qualities. Lippi’s intention is to build up a strong team full of high-motivated players, everyone with a huge fighting spirit despite of all the critics. Lippi had done this even in Germany four years ago and it was the key to winning the World Cup.

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