FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template
Coach Cesare Maldini warned Italy’s midfielders on Sunday that they will have to clean up their act by Thursday’s World Cup opener against Chile. Italy beat an amateur side 7-0 here on Sunday, fielding two diffrerent teams in each half. But the match yielded more questions than answers, particularly in the middle, where the 1994 finalists failed to get any rhythm.
Maldini said: “I’d said yesterday that this match would be a bit so-so, because of all the hard training we’ve been doing.” But he admitted: “We’ve got to improve in the middle, we’ve to move faster. But this wasn’t a decisive match for the team selection against Chile-it wasn’t a case of people playing for their place in the team.”
And he defended Dino Baggio, the Italian regular in midfield who is returning from injury and who lacked punch on Sunday. Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo, who scored twice during his first half performance, put on a better display in the middle, as did Angelo Di Livio, who looked sharper than his understudy Francesco Moriero. Moriero was nevertheless buoyant about the run-around here, saying: “We’ve definitely made progress in some of the movements.” And his verdict on the game in Bordeaux on Thursday left no room for doubt, whatever the seriousness of a knee injury picked up by his Inter Milan teammate Ivan Zamorano.
“It would be a major blow for them if he missed the game, and a big advantage for us. But whatever happens, I think Italy are superior to Chile and that’s why I’m convinced we’ll win.” If Maldini sorts out his midfield, there was both good and not so good news on Sunday about his attack.
Roberto Baggio, buoyed up by his 22-goal season with Bologna, scored twice in yet another display of exquisite footwork. He will almost certainly start against Chile in place of Alessandro Del Piero, who is recovering from a thigh injury, alongside new strike partner Christian Vieri.
But Vieri, who missed the game in Sweden last week with a stomach bug, was in sluggish and unconvincing form, while his replacement Fabrizio Ravanelli summed up his own performance by missing a penalty. Vieri, who will still be chosen over Filippo Inzaghi, who came on to score a second half hat-trick, said: “I’m satisfied with the way things went today. If we were already on top form then I really would be worried: the World Cup lasts a month, not a week.”
The Atletico Madrid centre-forward has played alongside a number of playmakers-Zinedine Zidane, Del Piero, Juninho and now Baggio. “Roberto has more scoring ability than the others, and he’s also good at giving you the right ball at the right time,” he said. “As for me, all I can say is that I can’t guarantee goals, but I can guarantee total commitment.”
Along with some wizardry from Baggio, Maldini will clearly be counting on that commitment on Thursday.