Italy boss Cesare Prandelli has looked forward to Sunday’s Euro 2012 Final against Spain – as well as discussing his own future.
The Azzurri progressed to the Kiev showdown after impressively defeating Germany 2-1 in Warsaw on Thursday evening.
“My players were extraordinary against Germany and I’m proud that I can train them,” the tactician stated this afternoon.
Italy boss Cesare Prandelli has looked forward to Sunday’s Euro 2012 Final against Spain – as well as discussing his own future.
The Azzurri progressed to the Kiev showdown after impressively defeating Germany 2-1 in Warsaw on Thursday evening.
“My players were extraordinary against Germany and I’m proud that I can train them,” the tactician stated this afternoon.
“When a team represents a country abroad then you understand the importance of what you are doing,” he continued.
“I hope I can prepare for the Final against Spain well. Even if we only have a day, we’ll look to understand and find their weaknesses as we did against Germany.
“It won’t be easy as Spain have won the Euros and the World Cup over the last four years.
“On Sunday, we’ll look to play football starting from Gigi Buffon when we have that possibility. If we can not do that then we’ll find a different solution.
“The important thing is that when we have the ball the side continues to play football.”
Italy have impressed with their ball possession at Euro 2012 and that was again evident against Germany just days after they dominated England.
“I have always said that for me Spain are a reference point and they are, but we can be one too,” said the Coach who has been likened to Arrigo Sacchi for changing the Azzurri’s style.
“I’m not like Sacchi,” he added. “Arrigo is an innovator, I just looked for a path to make the best of our work.
“When we started work at Coverciano we knew that we were preparing for a difficult competition, but we wanted to be protagonists.
“To do that we needed to understand how to read games, that the team had its own style of play, especially when the side were in possession.”
Prandelli was inevitably asked about his future given reports that he could consider quitting after the competition – even though his contract expires in 2014.
“I didn’t say that I was leaving,” he stated. “I simply said that I miss the day-to-day training of club football. That doesn’t mean that I will go. I’ll evaluate things.
“When, during the season, they say no one is interested in the national team they’re telling the truth. This is what leaves me perplexed.
“During a tournament like this everyone becomes a fan – then from September onwards they don’t talk about it anymore for seven months.
“Many interests come before the national team… The situation is different in other countries.
“When I took this job I thought about the quality of my life as well. That quality of life has been poor in the last two months, there have been some heavy days and I no longer had that serenity which I was looking for.”
Prandelli is believed to be frustrated by the attitude of Italian clubs who blocked his efforts to hold ‘stages’ where he could train potential internationals during the season.
The tactician’s idea was to spend three days training goalkeepers and defenders, then midfielders and then attackers.
He was also angered by the police raid on their Coverciano training base which led to the omission of Domenico Criscito from the squad after he was named in the betting probe.