Switzerland’s physical tactics sent the Italian coach Marcello Lippi into a tizzy.
BERLIN: With the clock ticking to the World Cup kickoff in Munich, France were upbeat on Thursday after they finally hit form but Italy complained of rough treatment in a stuttering draw with Switzerland.
France, the 1998 winners, had been booed at the Stade de France in their first warm-up match at the weekend against Mexico, but produced a 2-0 victory over Denmark in Lens on Wednesday to boost their spirits. A goal from Thierry Henry and a Sylvain Wiltord penalty were enough to ease past the Danes. Defender Mikael Silvestre said the French were rounding into form at the right time.
“We improved from Mexico, and physically we’re close to being 100 percent.”
The 32 qualified nations have been playing a series of friendly matches designed to try out new tactics and help teams to gel, but Italy coach Marcello Lippi said he had feared for the health of his players in their match in Geneva on Wednesday.
“We came for a friendly, but we came across a team that was aiming for a little more than that,” he said. Lippi said he had been forced to change half his team in the second half because of Switzerland’s physical tactics. “We suffered from so many incidents that I was forced to make substitutions that I hadn’t planned.”
On a positive note, Italy’s talismanic Francesco Totti proved he is regaining sharpness.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia did themselves no favours after a goal from Galatasary striker Necati Ates sent them crashing to a 1-0 defeat in Germany. The result leaves the Saudi team, coached by Brazilian Carlos Paqueta, with just one win in its four warm-up matches for football’s showpiece tournament.
A 1-0 victory over fellow finalists Togo has been overshadowed by recent losses to Belgium (2-1) and the Czech Republic (2-0). Playing a 4-5-1 formation, Saudi Arabia failed to claw back an equaliser despite the introduction late on of Al-Hilal strike duo Sami al-Jaber and Mohammed al-Anbar.
Fellow finalists Trinidad and Tobago suffered an even more humiliating defeat, going down 3-1 to Slovenia, a sole Chris Birchall goal the only compensation in a cold night in Celje.
South Korea, who turned the football world on its head by reaching the semi-finals in 2002, continue their intensive build-up by taking on Norway in Oslo on Thursday and then Ghana on Sunday.
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- Brazil have called on Mineiro to take versatile midfielder Edmilson’s place. Mineiro, who has played just twice for his country but scored the winning goal for Sao Paulo against Liverpool in the final of the World Club C’ships.
- The United States brought in experienced defender Gregg Berghalter to replace Cory Gibbs, while Dusan Petkovic got the call from his father, Serbia and Montenegro coach Ilija Petkovic, to take the place of the injured defender Mirko Vucinic.
- Japan were relieved that defender Akira Kaji, who played a major role in helping the Asian champions to qualify, has recovered from an ankle injury
- Czech midfielder Vladimir Smicer has been ruled out of the World Cup finals due to a leg injury.
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