Italy coach: I won't quit

ROME (Reuters) -- Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni has rejected calls for his resignation ahead of his side's European Championship qualifier against Wales on Wednesday.

Italy's lackluster 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia on Saturday provoked a storm of criticism and calls for the return of Trapattoni's predecessor, Dino Zoff.

"The truth is that you journalists would like to change the coach every two months," he was quoted as saying in La Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday.

"When I was 40, I reacted to results differently. Now I'm calm, I sleep at night, I don't see ghosts."

Trapattoni's popularity is at rock bottom after winning just two out of his last nine matches in charge, including a humiliating 1-0 loss in a friendly against Slovenia in August.

After Italy's scrappy 2-0 win against Azerbaijan in their first Euro 2004 qualifier last month and their second round exit in the World Cup to South Korea, Trapattoni needed a win against Yugoslavia to restore confidence.

Instead they were forced to come from behind, Alessandro Del Piero equalizing from a free kick in the 38th minute after Predrag Mijatovic had given Yugoslavia the lead 11 minutes earlier.

The result left Trapattoni isolated and embattled, but he denied he had lost the respect of his team.

"Either the players are liars and they're hiding their disaffection for me, or they don't have a problem.

"I always say to them: 'Trainers come and go. It's you who must be responsible.'"

He did, however, add that his side were not playing as well as they did in qualifying for this summer's World Cup when they won their group in style, with six wins in eight games.

"A couple of years ago Italy were responding better and winning easily against Romania and Georgia. Something is missing.

"Let's see what happens in Wales," he added. "With a good result we can stay at the top of the group and wait for better times."

Inzaghi to miss clash with Wales

ROME (Reuters) -- AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi has been ruled out of Wednesday's European championship qualifier against Wales because of a foot injury and also looks doubtful to return to Italian league action at the weekend.

The forward aggravated a foot injury during Italy's 2004 Euro 2004 qualifier against Yugoslavia on Saturday and is struggling to be fit for his club's weekend Serie A match against Atalanta.

"I played against Yugoslavia in pain, a pain that's now making it difficult to walk. I can't put my foot on the ground," he was quoted as saying in the Corriere dello Sport newspaper on Monday.

"To continue playing would be an enormous risk. I don't want to make the same mistake I made when I was at Juventus and a slight groin strain ended up in a two-month layoff.

"I want to be clear: I love playing for the national team. But I'll only come back when I'm fit...Very probably I won't be able to play for Milan [against Atalanta]."

Inzaghi's place in the team for Wednesday's Group Nine game in Cardiff will be filled by England-based Massimo Maccarone, who made an explosive debut for Italy when he earned a crucial penalty in Italy's 2-1 win over England in a friendly in March.

Inzaghi has been scoring freely in Serie A and the Champions League despite the foot injury for the last three weeks, but after a subdued performance against Yugoslavia, he has decided to take a rest.

Maccarone was playing in Serie B with Empoli when he made his Italy debut. Since a transfer to Middlesbrough in the close season he has scored four goals in the English premier league.

Maccarone initially feared that a move abroad could result in being overlooked for a national team place. This call-up, however, has raised his hopes that he could start ahead of established strikers such as AS Roma's Vincenzo Montella.

"I've won a bet with myself," he was quoted as saying in Corriere dello Sport. "I chose to go abroad to make my debut in a top division, I started well and now the national team is calling."

"Wales won't be easy, for sure," he added. "They (the Welsh) are people who never give in. You find spaces, however, more easily in their football, just like you do in the English game. And I've already taken advantage of them four times."

Wales can mix it with very best, says Bellamy

NEWCASTLE, England (Reuters) -- Striker Craig Bellamy insists the days of Wales being considered easy prey by their international rivals have gone.

Mark Hughes's buoyant side face Italy in a Euro 2004 qualifier at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Wednesday aiming to maintain a sequence of encouraging results.

Wales have beaten Germany and Finland and drawn with Argentina, Croatia and the Czech Republic during the last 12 months with performances that have rebuilt their reputation.

"There is a buzz about Welsh football," Newcastle United's Bellamy told Newcastle's The Journal newspaper on Monday.

"There is a confidence that has been missing in the past and expectations from the players and fans are both high.

"We feel we have an excellent chance of making the European championship. We have played against some very good sides over the past 12 months and we have matched them.

"I don't think anyone looks at us as being an easy option anymore and Italy will be no different.

"It is a massive game for both teams. We are playing the best team in the group and it will be a great experience."

A 2-0 win in Finland last month gave Wales the best possible start to their qualifying Group Nine campaign. Italy, who drew 1-1 with Yugoslavia on Saturday, lead the section with four points from two games.

Hughes has been credited with engineering the country's revival and Cardiff-born Bellamy was eager to praise the former Manchester United and Wales striker.

"He has been a massive influence for Wales, both as a player and as a manager and he has been fantastic for me as a player as well," said the 23-year-old.

"He has helped restore Welsh football. He got us playing as a team with a lot of pace in it that scares teams. But the most important thing is that we are a hard team to beat now, we are nobody's pushovers."

Bellamy, one of Hughes's most important players, singled out Tottenham Hotspur's Simon Davies as a key member of the side.

He said: "Simon is a very tricky player and he has been performing superbly in the Welsh team."

Bellamy's club colleague, Gary Speed, who will be hoping to make his 70th Welsh cap in Wednesday's match, says the forward could take the Italian defenders by surprise.

"Hopefully Craig will surprise them because he is the kind of player who can make the difference in a team," Speed said.

"He can get a goal out of nothing and create chances himself."

Yugoslav press praise impressive draw in Naples

BELGRADE (Reuters) -- Daily newspapers in Belgrade on Monday hailed Yugoslavia's impressive 1-1 draw against Italy in a Euro 2004 Group Nine qualifier in Naples on Saturday.

"It was an impressive performance and a great result against one of the strongest teams in Europe," said the high-circulating daily Sportski Zurnal.

The paper added that Yugoslavia were unlucky not to have won the match, referring to a point blank save by Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to deny Darko Kovacevic in the second half.

Debutant Nemanja Vidic was singled out for praise after an impeccable man-marking job on Italy's prolific strikers Filippo Inzaghi and Vicenzo Montella.

Manager Dejan Savicevic, however, warned in daily Vecernje Novosti that the result would mean nothing if they slipped up in their first home fixture against Finland on Wednesday.

"We played well against the Italians, we were unfortunate to let in a deflected free kick and the point we won in Naples will be significant only if we beat Finland in Belgrade," he said.

"We must forget Italy immediately and concentrate on the match ahead of us."

The daily Blic said Yugoslavia had shown that a recent 5-0 drubbing at the hands of the Czech Republic in a friendly was a "momentary weakness."

"The lads rose to the occasion this time and showed that the horrific defeat against the Czechs was just a bad day.

"They came away with a point and Italy's keeper Buffon took away the other two with a couple of good saves."

Ex-Fiorentina striker Predrag Mijatovic put Yugoslavia ahead in Naples in the 27th minute before Alessandro Del Piero equalised shortly before halftime.

 

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