Professor Enrico Castellacci urged players and media to “stop emphasising the temperature” in World Cup games.
Professor Enrico Castellacci urged players and media to “stop emphasising the temperature” in World Cup games.
Thiago Motta was one of the Italy players complaining that the heat in Recife was the “only difference” between them and Costa Rica.
“People must stop emphasising the temperature. It is just one of the variables in a tournament, albeit an important one,” said chief medic Castellacci in today’s Press conference.
“It certainly damaged us, as Costa Rica are more accustomed to it, but that is certainly not the reason we lost.
“The fact remains we will play against Uruguay on Tuesday at the same time, with the same humidity level and the same temperature.”
Italy had held out much better than England in Manaus, but seemed to feel the after-effects and wilted against Costa Rica in a 13.00 kick-off.
“In Manaus it was an evening game and more fresh air. We will try to improve the situation, but we remain convinced that we did everything we possibly could to contain the climate problem.
“We did not find the extreme temperatures and humidity that we feared in Manaus, but they were still very difficult situations to deal with.”
Professor Castellacci was asked how the staff was trying to prepare Italy psychologically for the showdown with Uruguay.
“The lead motivator and psychologist of a team is their Coach. It is down to us to help him with those athletes who might be struggling.
“The game with Uruguay will require a very intense feeling of team spirit.”
Costa Rica launched an official protest to FIFA after seven of their players were taken in for doping tests rather than the usual two.
However, FIFA already explained that five were catch-up tests because those players had missed pre-tournament examinations.
“People forget that after the game with England we had five players taken to the anti-doping tests. FIFA have to test everyone before or during the competition, testing blood and urine for the biological passport.”