Donadoni: "I Need the World Champions Back"

Roberto Donadoni will have a hard time coaching Italy from now on. Not only that he began the Euro 2008 campaign with the pressure of coaching the World Champions, but he also managed to squeeze only one point out of two matches so far. And that's surely one more pressure to resist to.

Still, it seems that the president of the Italian Football Federation (GIGC), Guido Rossi, has no intention whatsoever to replace him. Of course, he has a few excuses: some of the WC players were not able to attend the 1st two qualifying matches; he played a difficult away against France, etc. But Guido Rossi is fully convinced that Donadoni is still the best man for the job.

"Donadoni showed me that he's serious in what he does, calm and confident in his abilities. He has the right attitude and the personality to coach a team that won the World Cup. The attacks that he receives from the media are actually meant to hit me. I started a plan for re-building Italian football and I'm not about to stop now", admitted Rossi.

On the other hand, Donadoni badly needs some of the world champions to be in perfect shape and play for him. It is the case of Francesco Totti, the man who almost quit international football after the World Cup. The AS Roma captain has taken some time off from the national team and Donadoni admits that his absence is decisive.

"Francesco did not clearly say that he's going to play for Italy again next year. We talked about it and decided not to push each other's arm. I hope he'll change his mind and play for Italy. And it's the same with the others. I really need the world champions by my side", said Donadoni.

Totti is currently deciding whether he'll continue playing for the national team or not. Since AS Roma will play at least 3 competitions this year: Coppa Italia, Serie A and Champions League, Totti is yet to decide if his body could face more international matches at high level.