DUISBURG, July 2: Italy coach Marcello Lippi, preparing for Tuesday's World Cup semi-final against Germany, was forced to open his training session to the public after hundreds of noisy Italian fans turned up to watch.

Lippi has kept his evening training sessions closed to the public and press but after the team were greeted by around 300 cheering fans on Sunday the Italian Football Federation changed plans and opened the gates, half an hour after the session began.

Italy, who rarely bring many fans with them to major tournaments, have enjoyed plenty of support from German-based Italian supporters throughout the competition.

On the opening day of the finals, an Azzurri friendly match against the youth team of German second division club MSV Duisburg was watched by a crowd of 25,000.—Reuters