THE Italians have to put trust in Cesare Prandelli-the man who is set to succeed Marcello Lippi as Azzuri head coach.

It is also central that players like Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Buffon, Pirlo and Gattuso hang up their boots and gloves as far as international football is concerned following a dismal display in South Africa.

The defending champions were forced to pack their bags after Thursday’s 2-3 defeat against Slovakia, whose premier football league does not even come anywhere close to the Serie A.

The result meant that the four-time winners finished bottom of the group (F).

Italy’s poor run in the event can partly be blamed on Serie A clubs who have resorted to signing foreign players as they chase for domestic and European glory at the expense of Italy’s youngsters.

But Lippi also concedes that he did not do enough to prepare the team.

"I take full and complete responsibility for what happened. I took the decisions, I had the power and I got it wrong. I thought we were prepared, evidently I was wrong”.

One area Lippi got wrong was to shut the door on the likes of Antonio Cassano, Mario Balotelli and Francesco Totti.

While the Azzuri are out, it is not a very big surprise because they were never on the same level in terms of quality with the likes of Brazil, Spain, Argentina or England.
Let’s wait for 2014.

Ends