EURO 2000: Zoff wants more
from Italy
June 15, 2000
SportsServer
GEEL, Belgium - Italy may
have turned on one of its best performances for more than a year in its
2-0 win over Belgium, but coach Dino Zoff said on Thursday he wants more
from his men at Euro 2000.
Italy is sitting pretty at
the top of Group B with a maximum six points from two games. It will qualify
for the quarterfinals without even kicking a ball if Turkey and Sweden
draw later in the day.
But not even its coolly-taken
victory over the Belgians on Wednesday night and its near-certain place
in the last eight were enough to change Zoff's cautious approach to these
championships.
"I'm pleased, but I don't
want to give myself any illusions," he told a news conference at the team's
training ground here. "We haven't won anything."
And he added: "We can improve.
We have to keep possession and keep the different departments on the move,
rather than just clear the ball. And we need to be quicker moving into
space.
"But at the same time, you
can only do what your opponents allow you to do."
Zoff is currently alternating
Francesco Totti with Alessandro Del Piero in the creative attacking role
alongside an off-form Filippo Inzaghi.
But the Italian coach, a
World Cup winner in 1982, gave little realistic chance of picking both
Totti and Del Piero in what would be a popular starting line-up.
"It would be my dream too,"
he said. "But you also have to take the balance of the team into account."
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