In the warm sunshine at the Coverciano country-club cum Italian training camp outside Florence yesterday, the house guests seemed deceptively calm. As Italy's vital World Cup qualifier against England looms in Rome on Saturday, Italian coach Cesare Maldini remains cool, repeats much and reveals nothing.
Maldini could have opted to train in Rome this week, but he knows the "Eternal City" and the extra pressures, via fans and media, it might well have created. In the hills where the great Florentine family of Renaissance patrons, the Medici, used to hold literary evenings in their summer villas, Maldini and his players continued their quiet preparations.
Asked about a remark attributed to his opposite number, Glenn Hoddle, who had apparently joked that if Italy did not want Roberto Baggio, then they could pass him on to England, Maldini yesterday refused to be provoked.
"Look, as far as I and other Italian coaches are concerned, there are certain things we don't talk about. We have our own code of conduct, others can do as they see fit."
Asked about his likely side for Saturday, Maldini was even less revealing, saying only: "Everyone in the squad could play. Even if I've no real doubts, I'm still cautious. I want to see how training goes today, tomorrow and on Friday and then I'll decide . . . I will name the side on Friday or Saturday".
Familiarity with Maldini tempts one to suggest that it will be Saturday, rather than tomorrow, when we see his side and that, furthermore, it will be Saturday evening, approximately half an hour before kick-off at that. At the moment, Maldini continues to have one definite area of uncertainty linked to the questionable fitness of Juventus defender Ciro Ferrara, who continues to have a 5050 chance of playing.
Apart from Ferrara, Maldini's only other problem concerns his midfield replacement for the suspended Roberto Di Matteo. At the moment, Lazio's Diego Fuser seems the favourite to line out alongside Dino Baggio and Demetrio Albertini.
Apart from Ferrara and the replacement for Di Matteo, the Italian side seems to pick itself. Angelo Peruzzi in goal, Alessandro Costacurta as sweeper with Fabio Cannavaro and either Ferrara or Alessandro Nesta are the probable central defence with Paolo Maldini at left back and Angelo Di Livio at right back. Up front, Christian Vieri remains favourite to play alongside Gianfranco Zola.
Yesterday, as on Tuesday, Maldini faced a certain amount of criticism in the Italian media for the lack of "creative" players in his squad. Somewhat exasperated, the Italian coach asked one reporter: "What do you mean by creative players? Is Zola not a creative player?"
Earlier in the week, Maldini had faced a similarly "astute" question about the lack of players from current league leaders Inter Milan in his squad. This time, the coach just laughed and said: "It's true, I wanted to call up Ronaldo (Brazilian), Djorkaeff (French), Zanetti (Argentinian) and Winter (Dutch), but they wouldn't let me. Ah well, maybe the next time."
