KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2010 / SPORTS
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WORLD CUP
Team Italy, Marcello Lippi and the sea
The 62-year-old coach is on track to take oldest squad into South Africa 2010 tourney
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
The old men and the sea
That, with an earnest nod toward Hemingway, would be an apt title for a story on Italy's quest to retain the World Cup it won in Germany four years ago.
To understand why, let's travel to the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio and talk to one of its native sons, Marcello Lippi.
That's what FIFA.com did before Germany '06 and here is what Lippi, the coach of the Azzurri, said:
"I've told my friends to leave their boat engines running when we play those make-or-break matches. If we lose, I'll need to make a quick getaway and hide out at sea. If we win
going out in a boat will be an evocative and peaceful way to celebrate."
said that all he wanted was to go home to Viareggio and do a little fishing.
"If we lose, I'll need to make a quick getaway and hide out in the sea."
Italy did win, overcoming 10-to 1 pretournament odds and defeating France on penalty kicks in the final in Berlin to become world champions for a fourth time. Only Brazil, with five titles, has won more.
In the afterglow of victory, Lippi
And yet, he is back, once again at the helm of the Italian national side and trying to become only the second man in soccer history to coach two winning World Cup teams.
It was another Italian who achieved that feat. Vittorio Pozzo coached Italy to victory in the 1934 World Cup in Italy and the 1938 tournament in France. In between, Pozzo _ like Lippi 70 years later _ had success in Berlin.
MARCELLO LIPPI Team Italy coach
coaching the Azurri to the soccer gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games.
L i p p i,
62, who
won world,
European and
five Italian
champions-
hips with
Juventus, already has overtaken Pozzo in one category. During qualifying for South Africa 2010, he broke Pozzo's record of 30 consecutive unbeaten games in charge of Italy.
"I am really happy with this," he said at the time. "But what's important is that we won the World Cup during that time,
otherwise the record would have been worthless."
As it turned out, Lippi's record stretched only to 31 consecutive unbeaten games and was brought to a crashing halt when his team was shut out by Brazil in a friendly in London in February 2009.
That defeat was followed by losses to Egypt and Brazil, again, at the Confederates Cup in South Africa last year, failures that brought loud calls for Lippi to inject youth into his aging team.
As always, Lippi was unmoved.
"I'm not letting go of my old boys," he told RAI, Italy's state-owned broadcast company. "It's not as if Brazil or Spain has an average age far inferior to ours.
"I probably won't have them in the side when they are going gray. But, for sure, we will do far better than most with them at next year's World Cup."
If Lippi sticks with what got him there, as expected, Italy will have the oldest squad at South Africa 2010.
After Italy flopped at Euro 2008 under Roberto Donadoni, Lippi was brought back and the team did not lose a single game in World Cup qualifying, going 7-0.3. The Azzurri are ranked fifth in the world by FIFA.
Cannavaro, FIFA's world player of the year in 2006, who is 36.
Then there the likes of Gianlucca Zambrotta, 33, Mauro Camoranesi, 33, Luca Toni, 33, Francesco Totti, 33, Fabio Grosso.
32. Gennaro
Gattuso,
32. Andrea
Pirlo, 31, and
Vincenzo
Iacquinta, 30.
Gianluigi Buffon is 32, but that's young for a goalkeeper, especially one regarded as
one of the world's best.
The trick for Lippi is to get some younger legs in the outfield.
"If we win, going out in a boat will be an evocative and peaceful way to celebrate."
He does have the likes of defenders Giorgio Chiellini, 25, and Davide Santon, 19, influential midfielders Daniele De Rossi, 26, and Riccardo Montolivo, 25, New Jersey-born forward Giuseppe Rossi, 23, forward Fabio Quagliarella, 27, and striker Alberto Gilardino, 27, but he has so far rejected calls for others to be considered.
The problem is, Lippi is not an admirer of players who admire themselves. As he recently told the Milan sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, "I don't want roosters in the chicken coop."
impressed by Brazilian born forward Amauri, 29, of Juventus. Amauri became an Italian citizen this month specifically for a shot at making the World Cup roster.
Nor does Lippi sound overly
"This does not mean he will
MARCELLO LIPPI Team Italy coach
be called up." Lippi said. "He will be followed like all the other players."
Can Italy win it again? Can Lippi match Pozzo and win a second World Cup?
"I don't see
why I can't do that," he told FIFA. com in Johannesburg in March. "If we can apply everything we know out on the pitch, then we'll have the chance to show what we're capable of and go on and win the competition again."
And if not, well, Lippi can always go fishing.
As he told England's World Soccer magazine in 2007, "It's a good thing to have six months off every now and again."
So, no matter what happens in South Africa. Lippi will head back to Viareggio in July, at least for a while.
MLB
The old men move along. The sea will always be there.
Blue Jay's Cecil pitches seven perfect innings
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The left-hander allowed one hit over eight innings, striking out a career-high 10.
CLEVELAND — Brett Cecil took a perfect game into the seventh inning for the Toronto Blue Jays and settled for a 5-1 win over the Cleveland Indians on Monday night.
Cecil (2-1) lost the perfect game
April 17.
Grady Sizemore with one out in the seventh. He then walked Shin-Soo Choo but came back to strike out Austin Kearns before Jhonny Peralta ruined the no-hitter
Before Peralta delivered in the seventh, the closest Cleveland came to a hit was a line drive by Matt LaPorta leading off the third inning that was backhanded by
Kevin Gregg gave up a one-out single to Sizemore in the ninth. He walked Kearns with two outs, then fired a called third strike past Peralta on a full count to complete the two-hitter.
Blue Jays pitcher Brett Cecil allowed one hit through eight innings, and Toronto defeated Cleveland, 5-1.
third baseman Jose Bautista.
Toronto hit three off home runs off Mitch Talbot (3-2), giving the Blue Jays an AL-leading 41.
and shutout with one swing. Peralta lined a 2-2 pitch to left field, scoring Sizemore to get Cleveland within 4-1.
Cecil was seeking to pitch only the 17th perfect game since 1900 and the first in Cleveland since the Indians' Len Barker did it against Toronto on May 15, 1981.
Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez pitched the only no-hitter this season, the first in Rockies history, over the Atlanta Braves on
Toronto's only no-hitter was by Dave Sieb, 3-0, over the Indians at old Cleveland Stadium on Sept. 2, 1990.
Bautista's two-run homer put Toronto
ahead in the second. Travis Snider hit his fourth of the year in the fourth and John Buck connected for his fourth in the eighth to make it 5-1.
Buck is 9 for 15 (.600) with four homers and eight RBIs in his last four starts. He opened the season in a 9-for-58 (.155) slump.
Toronto made it 3-0 in the third. Aaron Hill doubled with one out and scored on a two-out single by Vernon Wells.
That gave the Blue Jays 13 homers in their last six games.
Talbot, a rookie right-hander,
had not allowed a homer in his
MLB
BOSTON — Dustin Pedroia's three-run homer capped Boston's seven-run sixth inning and sparked the Red Sox to a 17-8 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night.
Boston batters LA with seven-run sixth
Bill Hall and Adrian Beltre each hit their first homers in a Red Sox uniform, both two-run shots, and Kevin Youkilis has a solo blast.
the ninth.
Clay Buchholz (3-2) gave up four runs on eight hits in 5 2-3 innings — his worst start of the season. It was the first time in five starts he's given up more than three earned runs.
The Red Sox built a 5-0 lead with three runs in the second and two in the third
Mike Lowell went 4 for 4 with four RBIs and three doubles, and J. D. Drew had four hits and drove in three runs.
Boston snapped a three-game losing streak after getting swept by Baltimore over the weekend.
The Angels have lost four straight for the second time this season.
off Joe Saunders (1-5)
A big roar from the crowd went up when the scoreboard operator walked onto the left-field track before the bottom of the sixth and updated the Green Monster's manual scoreboard with the Bruins' 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL playoffs.
two career starts against Cleveland. His previous high for strikeouts was nine against the Indians last July 21.
Cecil made his major-league debut against the Indians last May 5 and came in with an 0.69 ERA in
Maicer lzturis hit a two-run double for Los Angeles.
The Angels closed it to 7-4 but Boston broke it open when it sent 11 batters to the plate in the sixth
The crowd had plenty to cheer about in the bottom of the inning when the Red Sox scored seven.
previous 19 1-3 innings. The right-hander gave up five runs and eight hits over eight-plus innings, leaving after Buck's homer to open
Associated Press
Congratulations to the Class of 2010!
This year the KU Alumni Association has joined with KU Endowment to give you a special graduation gift, a one-year membership in the KU Alumni Association.
Wieners for Seniors, Wed., April 28, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Adams Alumni Center
Grad Grill, Thurs., May 6, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Adams Alumni Center
Commencement Lunch, Sun., May 16, from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Outlook.
Finally, the all-nighters and daily treks up the Hill have paid off. And now we want to help you celebrate your success here at KU! The KU Alumni Association staff would like to officially welcome you to alumni status!
Please join us for:
If you are interested in becoming a Life Member of the KU Alumni Association, take advantage of our limited-time offer; you can purchase a life membership for $500 (half price!) until June 30, 2010.
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Student Alumni
Leadership Board
www.kualumni.org