Anecdotes, memories and jokes characterized the evening entitled 'Prometeon Meet the Titans' at the Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber in Milan with Fabio Cannavaro, Marco Materazzi and Luca Toni who, together with Giuseppe Bergomi, Fabio Caressa and Roberto Righi, General Manager of Prometeon Tyre Group, retraced the emotions of the journey that led theItaly to win the World Cup football 2006 in Germany.
“Lippi had very clear ideas from the beginning, he said 'my dream is to reach the final against Brazil' – Cannavaro recalled – Thank goodness he was wrong, France is better, people who butt heads always pay off…”, joked the former Azzurri captain, returning to Zinedine Zidane's headbutt on Materazzi.
“The best memory is seeing Cannavaro lift the cup with all of us proud of what we had achieved”, added the former Inter defender. Among the protagonists of that World Cup was also Francesco Totti, called up at the last minute after a bad injury. “Lippi's experience was seen there – Cannavaro explained – The first thing he did was go to Rome, talk to Francesco and give him the motivation to make an important recovery."
At the time, the climate that accompanied the national team in Germany was not the best due to the outbreak of Calciopoli. “Attributing the victory to that is not fair and it bothers me a bit. – admitted the Italy captain in 2006 – It's not that we gave our all because we were in a moment of crisis, we were stronger and we showed it on the pitch".
Among the funniest anecdotes, one related to Massimo Oddo. “He was the group's hairdresser. During training the coach went up to him and asked 'so, are you ready?'. And he said, 'yes, I'm ready to play'. But he didn't understand that Lippi just wanted to get his hair cut”, Cannavaro said before becoming serious again. “The team was fundamental for the coach - he concluded - It is no coincidence that there was not a single individual who emerged, from that World Cup a team emerged”.
Article published on 3 October 2023 - 18:25
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