The coach: “This is football, but I’m proud of my boys. The future? It’s not important to talk about it now”
After the unfortunate knockout, Rino Gattuso arrives on Rai’s microphones with tears in his eyes, after having embraced the whole team: “The boys didn’t deserve this beating for their performance, their commitment, their love. We had three chances to score, sorry, this is football, I’m proud of my boys, it hurts because this World Cup to play was for us, for the families, for all of Italy and for our movement. It’s a blow that’s difficult for everyone to digest.”
joys and sorrows
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A few refereeing decisions have caused controversy. “I don’t want to talk about the referee – says the coach – but this is football, sometimes I rejoiced, sometimes I took blows, but the team surprised me too with what they put on the field and showed. It’s been years since we’ve seen a national team with a heart like that. We could have scored the second goal, but it doesn’t count for anything now. It seems we can do more, but today we did what we had to do. The incidents condemned us, we made mistakes like the sending off, but the team gave everything. I apologize why didn’t I manage to bring Italy to the World Cup. It will take some time to get over this very hard blow for my future. Then in the conference he returns to the referee: “Many things didn’t convince me.”
