Italy unfazed about missing World Cup seeding

English>>World

Editor's Pick

Italy unfazed about missing World Cup seeding

By Paul Virgo (ANSA.IT) 17:00, October 21, 2013

Email|Print|Comments

twitter

facebook

Sina Microblog

Rome, October 17 - International soccer's governing body FIFA confirmed Thursday that Italy will not be seeded at World Cup, but coach Cesare Prandelli is not fazed about the possibility of coming up against another big national team in the group stage of next year's tournament in Brazil.

The Azzurri dropped from fourth to joint-eighth alongside the Netherlands in FIFA's world ranking after being held 2-2 in their last two World Cup qualifiers, against Denmark on Friday and Armenia on Tuesday.

The seeded teams will be hosts Brazil and the seven highest-ranked qualified teams.

All of the top seven have qualified for the World Cup except Uruguay, who face an intercontinental play-off against Jordan.

But FIFA said Thursday that Italy will not be seeded even if Uruguay fail to qualify because, in this case, the decimal points difference in the rankings between the Netherlands (1135.95) and Italy (1135.61) will see the Dutch take the last place in pot one of the World Cup draw. But Prandelli is philosophical about it. "The seeding is primarily a question of prestige," Prandelli told ANSA. "I'm not scared about the risk of meeting Brazil or Spain straight away (in the group stage). "Look at how it went at Euro 2012," added the coach, whose side reached the final of last year's tournament after being drawn in the same group as world and European champions Spain.

"It's almost better like that. If we want to aim high, I prefer humility and concentration". The seeded teams will be Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Belgium, Switzerland, Colombia and, if they qualify, Uruguay.

Prandelli took over a national team in disarray after Italy's embarrassing group-stage exit at the 2010 World Cup.

The 56-year-old rejuvenated the side and managed to get them playing an attractive offensive style, even though the current squad has fewer stars than teams of the past.

Italy's disappointing end to their qualifying campaign was perhaps not a surprise as they had already qualified for the World Cup beforehand and have a habit of playing below standard when not much is at stake. Prandelli's star striker Mario Balotelli, meanwhile, has called on the media to let him be after he was embroiled in the latest in a long series of furores before Italy's 2-2 draw with Armenia on Tuesday. The 23-year-old hit the headlines on Sunday for grappling with a TV cameraman who got too close and posting a tweet distancing himself from a role assigned to him as a symbol of the fight against the mafia. The player, whose career has been dogged by a long series of incidents of indiscipline, responded to his critics by coming off the bench to score the goal that earned the Azzurri a draw against the Armenians in Naples. "Stop talking and talking and talking and live and let live!," Balotelli said via his Twitter account, @FinallyMario, late on Wednesday. "Live and let me live and you'll see the differences!".

Giancarlo Abete, the head of the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC), said on Monday that Balotelli needed to be more careful, but he also stressed that media attention devoted to him was excessive and that he was in "the eye of the hurricane".

Prandelli said this week that Balotelli would have the national team's full support. "Balotelli has gone through some days of clear unease," Prandelli told ANSA on Wednesday. "We have to rally around him even more. I reiterate that I don't like crusades. "We all realise that he is irreplaceable if we are going to raise our standards. He has to be integrated even more".

（Editor：YaoChun、Zhang Qian）