Well, sometimes you have to fail hard to realize its time for change. Italy was obsessed with going back to the 2006 glory days. They thought 15 mins of effort would get them first place and trip to the knockouts. Sometimes that gamble works, this time it failed miserably.
The good news is Lippi is done. His Sutter style favortism to his favorite washouts and hasbeens lead him to some embarassing new stats for the old resume: worst Italian finish since 1974, only Italian manager in history to lead a team to the World Cup and win zero games, longest winless streak (no wins in qualifying, friendlies or WC in 2010) in 50 years.
He wears it well. Hero to Zero in 6 months.
Its also good that after this massacre, you can bet almost no player over 29 on this roster will be picked for the Euro Cup, save Buffon, and possibly Pirlo if he doesn't get any worse. The new manager, Prandelli, is not blind, and will hopefully select a German style roster, predominantly under 27, with only a few overagers for experience.
I'm also thankful that I will never see Gattuso, Cannavaro, Iaquinta, and Marchetti in the Azzurri again. De Rossi was a total goat, but he's too young still to boot. Di Natale is too much of a relegation club man to be of any future use for Italy, only good for timely goals when the game is over. Same with Gilardino.
The only true disaster is if they don't learn from this embarassment.
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