Lippi relishing 'fairy tale'
Photo Gallery
Italy coach Marcello Lippi is not a man given to the melodramatic or sentimental statements so common in Italian football so it is surprising to hear him refer to his two years in charge of the Azzurri as a "fairy tale".
With just over a month to go to the start of the FIFA World Cup? finals in Germany, Lippi got together with his team for a two-day training session this week and had time to take stock of the progress made during his period at the helm of one of the favourites for the title.
"It has been a very nice experience, a fairy tale. To be coach of the national side is to realise a dream. When you enter this sport you dream of achieving the maximum and the maximum is the national side," Lippi told Reuters in an interview.
In his two spells at Juventus, Lippi won five Italian titles and took the Turin club to four UEFA Champions League finals, winning the continent's top trophy in 1996, but he says he has enjoyed the move out of club football.
"It is an improvement in your quality of life. With a club you are playing every three days - you have Serie A, the Champions League, the travel, the press conferences, preparing, watching videos. With the national team, you have great prestige but the games are every month or two months, the quality of life is certainly better," he said.
One of the first tasks he set himself was creating a team spirit in the Italy camp, replicating a club atmosphere among players from rival sides - no easy task in Italy where the rivalry between the top clubs often spills over into public rows.
"It is difficult, but not impossible. If they come into the national side, they find something positive and they can leave their problems with their clubs at the door," said the coach.
The silver-haired Lippi is the quiet force behind Italy. Unlike his predecessor Giovanni Trapattoni whose team disappointed at the FIFA World Cup four years ago and failed to make it out of the group stage at the UEFA European Championship in 2004, he rarely loses his temper in public and he is circumspect when analysing his team's progress.
"It's gone well, I'm very satisfied. I have the impression that the team has become a strong group who are happy to be with each other.
"There is a great desire to produce something good, to make up for the recent times. That doesn't mean we will be victorious but I can feel they are good together and ambitious," he said.
After a slow start under Lippi, Italy qualified comfortably for the finals and their 4-1 friendly victory over hosts Germany in February enhanced the team's status as one of the main challengers to Brazil at next month's tournament.
"We have had two years' work, made choices and selections and this year we have played in a certain way at home and abroad - I hope that Italy will continue to play in this manner, with personality, desire and enthusiasm," said Lippi.
The coach is reluctant to elaborate on the differences between his side, who face Ghana, Czech Republic and the United States in Group E, and that of Trapattoni. "The only thing that comes from the recent tournaments is a great desire to redeem ourselves," he said.
Lippi never appeared at the FIFA World Cup as a player and is clearly relishing the chance to make an impression on the game's biggest stage although he believes the tournament could produce many tight games.
"I think there will be a great battle between the traditional teams, there are many excellent coaches who organise the teams well and there will be little to choose between the sides.
"That balance, you could say, might not make for wide-open matches but that doesn't mean there won't be a great desire to play open and attacking football," said Lippi.
Poll