Tag: Italy

Soccer: Italy’s coach critical of Balotelli after win against Mexico

Andrea Pirlo celebrates scoring the opening goal for Italy against Mexico yesterday
Andrea Pirlo celebrates scoring the opening goal for Italy against Mexico yesterday

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli tore a strip off tearaway striker Mario Balotelli despite the controversial star grabbing the winner in the 2-1 Confederations Cup victory over Mexico at the Maracana.

Balotelli sealed the win 12 minutes from time with a fine, muscular finish, but Prandelli was furious after the Milan striker was booked for stripping off his shirt in celebration.

“Mario needs to stop taking his shirt off after scoring a goal. Picking up silly bookings is not a good idea in a tournament as difficult as this one,” said Prandelli, having already castigated Balotelli for his sending off in the recent World Cup qualifier against the Czech Republic.

But as regards the performance, sparked by a sumptuous opening free-kick goal from evergreen cap centurion Andrea Pirlo, Prandelli pronounced himself satisfied with the Italians having shrugged off a limp warm-up draw against Haiti.

“It was a very tactical match but we dominated it for the most part. Mexico were trying to get into it on the counter-attack when we made mistakes. But we stopped them from finding their game and dictating the place. That’s what we tried to do and we managed it,” said Prandelli.

“Mexico came up against a very solid Italian team.”

Italy now head for Recife in the north to meet a Japan side beaten by Brazil in their opening game and coached by fellow Italian Alberto Zaccheroni as they look to keep pace with the Brazilians before their final pool showdown.

“He (Zaccheroni) knows us well and how we do things,” said Prandelli. “I know Alberto and we will have to be alert to anything. We are already concentrating on that next match.”

Mexico coach Jose Manuel de la Torre said Italy had to thank their “individual” moments of brilliance for their win.

“That was what made the difference,” said de la Torre in noting the majestic showing and free-kick finish of Pirlo.

“We came up against a very well-organised team with very good players, but it was their individual brilliance which proved the difference between us.

“We have a few things we need to work on and now we will focus on the next match against Brazil,” in Fortaleza, de la Torre concluded. – AFP

900 migrants cross to Italy by sea in one weekend, 7 drown

Clandestine immigrants on their way to Italy in a rubber dinghy
Clandestine immigrants on their way to Italy in a rubber dinghy

Seven immigrants drowned on Sunday during an attempted crossing to Italy by gripping on to a large tuna fishing cage towed by a trawler, according to witnesses from among the 95 people rescued by the coast guard.

Italy’s coast guard rescued the migrants off the shores of Sicily after reports came in of dozens of people clinging desperately to the tuna cage out at sea.

Survivors later told rescue workers that seven people with them had drowned after they had tried to scramble on board the trawler when the crew cut the line linking the boat with the cage.

Witnesses said the victims had been pushed back into the sea, Italian media said.

Rescuers pulled more than 250 people in several boats to safety on Sunday, as the number of people who landed in Italy over the weekend rose to over 900.

More than 100 men from Eritrea were taken to Lampedusa island off the Sicilian coast on Sunday, along with a further 55 people from a different boat, some of whom had jumped into the water at the sight of the coast guard.

On Saturday, some 690 immigrants were rescued from boats with engine trouble or dinghies that had begun taking on water, including a baby girl born during the crossing from Turkey.

Good weather has raised fears of increased numbers of migrants trying to reach Italy by sea. – AFP

Councillor calls for black Italian minister ‘to be raped’

Councillor Dolores Valandro

A councillor belonging to Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League party called Thursday for the country’s first black minister to be raped, sparking an outcry and her expulsion from the party.

“Won’t someone rape her, just to make her understand what victims of this terrible crime feel? For shame!” Dolores Valandro, a councillor in Padua in Northern Italy, wrote on Facebook alongside a photograph of African-Italian Immigration Minister Cecile Kyenge.

Valandro was apparently reacting to an article on a website called “all immigrant crimes” which detailed an alleged attempt by a Somali in Genoa to rape two Romanian girls, Italian media reports said.

Kyenge said “everyone should feel offended” by the comments, and said she had long battled against violent language and behaviour.

Her reaction was supported by Prime Minister Enrico Letta, who said: “Cecile Kyenge is right, each one of us should feel offended, I feel offended.”

“The words do not deserve any comment, just disdain. Cecile deserves solidarity from me, the government and the country,” he said.

Valandro later apologised, saying: “It was a something I said in a moment of anger. When I’m angry I vent that way.”

Kyenge, an eye doctor and Italian citizen originally from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has been subjected to a barrage of racist attacks since being appointed minister in February.

She has drawn heated criticism from the League over plans to push for legislation that would allow children born in Italy to immigrant parents to get automatic citizenship instead of waiting until 18 to apply. – AFP

Italian soccer fans sentenced for ‘racism’

AC Milan's Kevin-Prince Boateng

Six fans of lower-division club Pro Patria have been issued jail sentences from 40 days to two months for inciting racial hatred during a January friendly against AC Milan.

After repeated racist chants directed at him during the match, Milan and Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng kicked the ball in anger at a section of the crowd, took off his shirt and walked off the pitch with the rest of the Rossoneri.

Milan players Urby Emanuelson, Sulley Muntari and M’Baye Niang were also targeted by the chants.

Prosecutors had requested four- to six-month sentences.

The ANSA news agency reports that one fan received a 40-day sentence after collaborating with authorities, while the other five fans received two-month sentences.

The fans were also fined a total of ?10,000 ($13,000), plus trial expenses. – AFP

FIFA to discuss ‘concrete proposals’ to fight racism

FIFA is to discuss “concrete proposals” for combating racism over the next few months and plans to put them into effect in May, soccer’s governing body said on Friday.

The proposals will be chewed over by FIFA’s executive committee at its next meeting in March and then presented to the annual Congress in Mauritius in May which is expected to have the final say, FIFA said.

“I am very pleased with the ideas that have evolved today and look forward to the deliberations with the executive committee next month,” said FIFA president Sepp Blatter following a meeting of the strategic committee.

“The aim is to present to the FIFA Congress in Mauritius in May concrete actions, as well as strong sanctions which will really have an impact.”

FIFA did not elaborate on what the proposals were.

Blatter has previously suggested that points deductions and even relegation could be used as sanctions for teams whose supporters are found guilty of racist behaviour.

Bulgaria, whose fans racially insulted a Danish player, and Hungary, whose fans were found guilty of anti-Semitic behaviour during a friendly at home to Israel, were recently ordered to play their next home World Cup qualifiers behind closed doors.

Italian authorities have drawn up plans for stopping games in cases of racism. Referees and the fourth official have been told to report incidents to public security officials who would have the final say. – Reuters