Cesare Prandelli quits as Italy coach
Baku, June 25 (AZERTAC). In the end, Cesare Prandelli did the decent thing. Italy have won four World Cups and his countrymen demanded a fifth.
Prandelli has quit, resigning after a 1-0 defeat against Uruguay in Natal knocked them out. England’s head coach should have quit, too, after the worst World Cup campaign in this country’s history.
Hodgson is a decent man — as we have placed on record many times — but we will be surveying the wreckage of this tournament for years to come. At the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, we couldn’t even beat Costa Rica. They are ranked 28th in the world. Two years ago Prandelli led Italy to the final of Euro 2012. Football is a cruel game.
Watching Hodgson, shredded by the experience of a World Cup that he has already conceded he underestimated, it is time for someone else to have a crack at the top job. It is the most prestigious job in English football and whoever turns this team into a formidable, fighting machine in the future will be lionised.
But the FA have backed and offered their full support for Hodgson, a man who loves this job more than anything in life.
No-one disputes that.
After touching down in England with the rest of the squad, Hodgson will return to his new home in Chelsea to spend some time with his wife. It is today, and in the weeks ahead, when Hodgson has to work out a way to glue this all back together again.
Against Costa Rica there was no pattern to England’s performance, no encouragement. The future is frightening.
Hodgson spent the entire game in the dug-out, leaving the motioning and pointing in the technical area to his assistant Ray Lewington.
It is possible that he felt embarrassed, particularly after his admission that he had underestimated the World Cup in Brazil. For future reference, football tournaments do not come any bigger than this one.
After this sterile 0-0 draw with the group winners, Hodgson claimed that England’s performance had given the supporters something to cheer about. That is some claim.
He said: ‘They gave us an ovation that, obviously, our results didn’t merit.
‘We wanted more. The reaction of the fans was quite brilliant. We are so sad and disappointed for them because we know what they’re going through. We are very grateful for the emotional moment at the end where they showed their support.’
England finished bottom of Group D after losing to Italy and Uruguay in their opening two fixtures.
They were spared the ultimate humiliation by drawing 0-0 with the group leaders to gain one point.
It is true that the thousands who made the trip to Belo Horizonte and were stationed behind the goal saluted the players at the whistle.
Daniel Sturridge had run over to them and thrown his No 9 shirt into the crowd before the rest of the team arrived.
But to think that anyone who watched this game believes this was a good performance is living in a fantasy land, and the least the fans deserve is some honesty.
What cannot be overlooked is that this tournament has been an unmitigated disaster and we are sick of hearing empty promises.
To hear that we are building for the future again must make every supporter sick to the stomach. Let’s build for the here and now.
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