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| June 13, 2002 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 1, 1423 |
Italy face early elimination
OITA (Japan), June 12: Italy need to beat Mexico on Thursday to banish the spectre of a humiliating early exit from the World Cup, after a couple of doubtful refereeing decisions and a rejuvenated Croatia knocked them out of their stride.
Group leaders Mexico, having beaten Croatia and Ecuador already, can settle for a point against Giovanni Trapattoni’s side in their final group G game and still make it through to the second round.
Defeat for either side would leave the door open for Croatia, who play Ecuador — a team who themselves still have an outside chance of qualifying in a tight group despite having no points.
Anything but a win for Italy will make them hostage to the result of the match between Ecuador and Croatia match, which will be played at the same time.
Three-times winners Italy, one of the pre-tournament favourites, made a confident start to the Cup with a 2-0 victory over Ecuador.
But on Saturday they suffered what defender Alessandro Nesta called a “blackout” against Croatia, losing 2-1, and opening up the possibility of going out in the first phase for the first time in 28 years.
Midfielder Gianluca Zambrotta, one of the few Italians to come out of that game with any credit, says the players have put the refereeing decisions, which saw two Italy goals ruled out, behind them and are fully focused on the make-or-break game in Oita.
“It is an important game, if we fail we are out. We are alert and very motivated and we have the desire, make no mistake about that,” said Zambrotta.
“We are fired up and we have a responsibility to really produce the goods. It will all be decided on the field,” said the midfielder.
There is growing pressure on Trapattoni to finally revert to the formula used during Italy’s unbeaten qualification campaign - with Francesco Totti operating behind two strikers Christian Vieri and Filippo Inzaghi.
But the Italy coach will have to wait for news on the fitness of Nesta and midfielder Cristiano Zanetti before settling on his line-up.
Both players have foot injuries and it will only be after training on Wednesday that Trapattoni will know whether the pair are ready to line up against the Mexicans.
The last time Mexico failed to make it past the first phase of a World Cup was in 1966, although they did not qualify for the finals in 1974, 1982 and 1990.—Reuters
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