Cape Town, June 25(ANI): Italy coach Marcello Lippi has taken full responsibility for his team's humiliating World Cup group stage exit.
The defending champions lost 2-3 to World Cup debutants Slovakia, who qualified for the last 16 with Paraguay.
"I take all responsibility. I haven't prepared this team well enough," The Telegraph quoted Lippi, as saying.
"There are no excuses because when a team comes to a match as important as tonight's with terror in their legs, their heads and their hearts, and don't manage to express themselves, it means that the coach hasn't prepared them in the right way."
"I failed to train the team well enough, they weren't ready for such an important match. For an hour and 15 minutes, for psychological reasons I think, nothing worked. I didn't think we could win the World Cup, but I though we would do better," he added.
The 62-year-old, a national hero when he led Italy to 2006 World Cup glory, had already announced that he would step down again after the finals.
He had quit after the triumph in Germany, but returned in 2008 after Italy's disappointing European Championship campaign under Roberto Donadoni.
"I don't regret coming back, I came back with great enthusiasm. I have no intention of getting straight back into coaching and training after this. I'll take some months off and we will see," Lippi added. (ANI)
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