Italian Coach Lippi Puts on a Show

Italy Coach Marcello Lippi is playing games with Italian reporters, and it's pretty fun to watch.

He put on a show for international reporters after the Italians beat the Czech Republic on Thursday, going on rambling tirades about the Italian reporters, then laughing and joking and pretending he was just being funny. It started when someone asked him to explain one of his substitutions, and then about the refereeing and match-fixing scandal in Italy's Serie A. Lippi spent the last five minutes of his news conference riffing on the state of the Italian media.

In fact, before the moderator could call on a journalist for the last question of the briefing, Lippi took over. He said he was sick of being criticized for not revealing his lineups and indulging in conversations about his strategy, and bemoaned the speculation and angst it causes.

"I don't want to share anything with you," he said at one point. "I don't want to give you the lineups. I don't have to give you the lineup. I'm not going to give you the lineup."

He told the international reporters on hand not to believe what is written and said about him in Italy, and said he's not a boor, he's not mean and that, in fact, he's kind of a funny dude who is just misunderstood.

Finally, after about four minutes or so, he started to crack himself up -- and offered the following.

"Of course, I'm being humorous," he said through an interpreter. "We'll I'm being half-serious. Maybe I'm being serious."

You be the judge.

-- Jason La Canfora

Plea for Peace

With the Dachau concentration camp as their backdrop, soccer fans yesterday warned of the danger hate poses to the sport.

About 120 of them used both the World Cup and the bleak surroundings to protest anti-Semitism and hooliganism.

"Sometimes the England fans and German fans hate each other. Hating thy neighbor can lead to this," said Mark Perryman of England Fans, an organizer of the event along with Jewish athletic organization Maccabi Great Britain.

Dachau, the first camp erected by the Nazis, is just 12 miles from Munich's World Cup stadium, where Germany plays Sweden today.

German and English fans, and a smattering of Poles and Israelis, heard two Holocaust survivors tell harrowing tales of life in the camps. They then toured Dachau.

The English fans were hopeful a so-far peaceful 2006 World Cup signals the waning of violence and hooliganism at soccer's showcase tournament.

Ian Lewis, from Chester in northern England, said his favorite moment during the World Cup came when he joined 20 English fans on the streets of Cologne in a rousing rendition of their national anthem. The Germans nearby broke into applause.

"That one was really sweet," Lewis said. "People are bringing their kids to this one. You couldn't do that before. . . . The sane have finally got the World Cup back."

-- From News Services

No Free Pass

Simone Barone probably could have run all the way from Hamburg to his home near Naples and Filippo Inzaghi still wouldn't have passed him the ball.

Barone was alongside Inzaghi waiting for a pass and an easy goal when Inzaghi kept the ball instead on a long breakaway and scored in Italy's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic on Thursday.

Barone may have been in a better position to score, but Inzaghi, fighting for playing time, thought better of passing. Team manager Luigi Riva, Italy's all-time leading scorer with 35 goals scored between 1965 and '74, laughed when asked about Inzaghi's decision.

"A pure striker has to be an egoist," Riva said. "When he's in the area he's got to shoot. For a striker, if your team wins 4-0 but you don't have your name on the scoring list, you might as well not even care."

-- From News Services