THE Italian’s were not a happy bunch after their first round Euro 2004 exit. Denmark and Sweden met in their final Group C clash knowing that a 2-2 draw would send Italy crashing out, regardless of what the Azzurri did against Bulgaria, and lo and behold, Sweden bagged a last minute equaliser to send the 2000 beaten finalists home.

While players such as Gianluigi Buffon cried fix, the suits of the Italian Football Federation got on with finding a replacement for Giovanni Trapattoni. They found their man today, as Marcello Lippi took over in what proved to be an inspired appointment.

Trapattoni had spent four years in charge of the national team and had overseen a disappointing 2002 World Cup going out, albeit in controversial circumstance, to South Korea in the second round.

Two years later Il Trap had even worse luck, but refused to fall on his sword, instead waiting until his contract expired before leaving for Benfica.

Marcello Lippi had risen through the managerial ranks steadily over the previous two decades. Hie really began to make a name for himself at Juventus, leading the Old Lady to five Scudettos during his two spells at the club.

With a contract that only ran until the end of the 2006 World Cup Lippi wasted no time in getting Italy to the finals in Germany and after convincing friendly wins over the Netherlands and Germany in the run-up to the tournament all was looking good.

However, as the team gathered for their pre-tournament training camp, a bomb was dropped, as the Calciopoli scandal exploded all over the world’s press. Several of the team had to make frequent trips to Rome, Milan and Naples to be questioned and Lippi was particularly in the spotlight due to his close links to Luciano Moggi, the mastermind behind the scandal.



As if that wasn’t enough the team were shocked to hear that Gianluca Pessotto, the former Juve right-back who had played with much of the squad and just take over as Juve’s team manager had attempted suicide, throwing himself off a building and sustaining horrific, but not life-threatening injuries.

Lippi’s Italian squad went into siege mentality mode, much like their predecessors had in 1982 when they had their own match-fixing crisis. They were crucified and given no hope by the Italian press, but Lippi got on with the job and brought the World Cup back to Italy.

Lippi stated that this was his “most satisfying moment as a coach” and sensibly got the hell out, as the proverbial hit the fan when the Calciopoli trial was over. After a two-year sabbatical Lippi is back in the hotseat following Roberto Donadoni’s disappointing tenure.

Check out a dramatic clip following Italy’s World Cup campaign below and also have a gander at what we were on about this time last year. Until tomorrow football fans…

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