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Buffon: Stop thinking like losers and focus on Ireland clash
Jun 17, 2012 12:26:00 PM
The Azzurri captain has warned his team-mates not to be distracted by the possibility of Spain and Croatia drawing ahead of his side's clash with the Irish on Monday
Gianluigi Buffon has lambasted the Italian media's preoccupation with what he called "the wrong issues" ahead of Italy's final Group C game against Republic of Ireland at Euro 2012.The Juventus keeper hit out at the newspapers in his home country as headlines in the past days contained more talk of a possible arrangement between Croatia and Spain for a 2-2 draw, a result which would send both teams to the quarter-finals, than on Italy's own crunch game against Ireland.
| CAN LIGHTNING STRIKE TWICE? |
| Alex Mott | Italy Expert The Juventus goalkeeper has hit out at the Italian media's conspiracy theories ahead of the final round of group matches on Monday. But they could perhaps be proved right: eight years ago, Sweden and Denmark played out a 2-2 draw to knock the Azzurri out of Euro 2004. Could Spain and Croatia be about to do the same? |
However, as Rooney has formed solid partnerships with Ashley Young and Welbeck while playing with them at club level for Manchester United, the obvious casualty from the team would appear to be the Liverpool forward.
But Carroll wants Roy Hodgson to select his team on merit, and believes his bullet header that opened the scoring in the Sweden match proved he is worth a place in the starting XI.
Carroll told The Mail on Sunday: “'I think I put myself about in the game against Sweden. Now I've just got to do that in training and try to keep my place.
“Obviously, Wayne is a fantastic player with great qualities and we need him in the team. I would love to play alongside him - any player would - and I've never had that chance before.”
The former Newcastle man praised the delivery of his club and international team-mate Steven Gerrard, who set up that opening goal against the Swedes.
Carroll explained: “It was a great ball in by Stevie and I just had to get my head on it and get it on target.
“I thought it was a great win. We stuck together as a team. We got the three points, which is what mattered. We showed what we're about after we went behind and came back really well.”
"For two days people have exclusively been talking about a biscotto," Buffon said on his personal Facebook page, using the colloquial term which roughly translates to 'stitch-up'."A biscotto here, a biscotto there, a biscotto up, a biscotto down ... it’s as if we’d already beaten Ireland," he continued.
“As if we owned the culture of suspicion and were the only ones who could use it ... As if drawing a match is the same as getting a 2-2 result ... As if settling for a result (that satisfies both teams) in the last 20 minutes is the same as fixing a game ... As if the others were always the guilty parties ... As if in order to hide our insecurity and fragility we always need an alibi."
Buffon then went on to urge his countrymen and team-mates to concentrate on the 90 minutes against Giovanni Trapattoni's side and cast all thoughts of conspiracy aside.“Let us focus on ourselves and try to win the match. The rest is hot air, bar talk, the conjecture of mediocrity and thinking like losers.”
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