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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