They are renowned for cherishing their elders in Italy and in something that could be depicted as an hour of need, the Azzurri will tonight step back in time to clench close to their bosom a Godfather of the modern game. For a man brought out of cold storage after two years, the gregarious Marcello Lippi is projecting a warm front ahead of the friendly with Austria in Nice.
Lippi conceded yesterday that he is not so much back from the dead, as back from the dread. He cajoled his country into lifting the World Cup in 2006, before realising he had made a grave error by choosing to depart. Apart from Lippi, only Vittorio Pozzo in 1934 and 1938, and Enzo Bearzot in 1982 have guided Italy to World Cup success. It is rarified company in which to revel, and has earned Lippi plaudits from his contemporaries that include the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Comparable in looks to the actor Paul Newman, Lippi, 60, also has an air of Tony Bennett about him. Like the US-reared Italian crooner, his teams tend to sing heartily. While Bennett left his heart in San Francisco, Lippi's will be very much in Milan. "It is time to win something again," he opined.Steely haired, stoney faced and exuding as much authority as a mafia don, there will always be a place deep within the soul of football for such a stimulating figure.
It was the failings of Roberto Donadoni this summer that enabled the second coming. Italy were walloped 3-0 by Holland in their opening game of Euro 2008. They were fortunate to escape with a 1-1 draw against Romania, and a 2-0 win over a France side reduced to 10 men was hardly convincing. They were sterile in losing to the winners Spain on penalties in Vienna in the quarter-final, leading the Italian FA to dispense with the contract of Donadoni.
Having escaped his mummified state to become a father of his nation once again, Lippi will hope to douse Italy with gold dust. "I immediately regretted leaving the national side. So many times, I said to myself 'what an imbecile I have been'. This time round it is even more fantastic." Elsewhere in tonight's friendlies, European champions Spain visit Denmark while Holland, under new coach Bert van Marwijk, face Russia in Moscow in a match that will invoke memories of the Dutch's 3-1 quarter-final defeat at Euro 2008. Raymond Domenech's France, who had an even worse Euro 2008 than Italy, face Sweden in Gothenburg tonight. They suffered defeats to Holland and Italy in a tournament that was eminently forgettable for them.
Meanwhile, life for Lippi starts to get a whole lot more memorable this evening. @Email:dkane@thenational.ae