Lippi's exit leaves Italian fans asking why

ROME, July 12: On the face of it Marcello Lippi's decision to quit as Italy coach looks like the decision of a man determined to bow out on a high.

After all, what could top Sunday's penalty shootout win over France in the World Cup final? But the revelation by Italian Football Federation (FIGC) vice-president Giancarlo Abete that Lippi made his decision weeks ago, maybe even before the World Cup started, puts a different gloss on his departure.

Lippi gave little clue as to why he had decided to step down.

In his resignation statement he said simply that he had ''come to the end of my role'' -- a strange admission for a coach who had just won the sport's biggest prize and whose team was on a 25-game unbeaten streak.

In the hunt for reasons behind Lippi's departure, Abete's statement was maybe more revealing.

In it, he praised Lippi for his ability to do a great job in the middle of the ''great difficulties'' rocking Italian football -- a reference to the match-fixing scandal whose verdicts are expected later this week.

Certainly, Lippi did not escape untouched the fallout from the allegations that four clubs from Italy's Serie A sought to influence the appointment of referees and linesman in matches during the 2004-05 season.

Juventus -- the club Lippi steered to five Serie A titles and the 1996 Champions League -- are at the centre of the scandal and could be relegated to Italy's third division or lower.

Though the allegations date from a period when Lippi had already left Juventus, two of the key defendants -- Juve's former general manager Luciano Moggi and former chairman Antonio Giraudo -- were his colleagues during his years at the club.

Lippi's relationship with the men inevitably casts a shadow over his achievements.

He then risked getting dragged even further into the scandal in late May when his son, Davide, was questioned by magistrates in Rome investigating sports agency GEA World for allegations of ''unfair competition with use of threats and violence''.

It took a public vote of confidence by FIGC commissioner Guido Rossi to end speculation that Lippi was about to be sacked days before the start of the World Cup.

Even when the team arrived in Germany, there were signs that Lippi's usually ice-cool exterior was melting.

He was unusually animated on the bench, kicking out at water bottles when Italy scored a goal and sarcastically rejecting suggestions that his team were fortunate to beat second-round opponents Australia thanks to a controversial last-gasp penalty.

He also talked about missing the daily contact with players he got from working in a club.

Perhaps that nostalgia for club football lay at the root of today's decision.

Lippi, far more than his predecessor Giovanni Trapattoni, tried to run Italy like a club, often referring to the team as ''Club Italia''.

It was a winning philosophy, which refashioned Italy in his own image, turning a bunch of talented, but often squabbling underachievers into a group of single-minded winners.

Lippi has said he wants to continue coaching. Clubs will be queuing up to employ him.

During his two years in charge, Italy played 29 matches, winning 17 and losing only two -- a 2-0 defeat on his debut against Iceland and a 1-0 loss to Slovenia, both in 2004.

REUTERS

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