Search: ' Dino Zoff'

He looked as though he might be a key player for Barcelona, but now Lazio can't give him away. Paul Virgo profiles the man who is following him around Europe

In the summer of 1998 the Lazio president Sergio Cragnotti forked out £10 million for a promising Spanish lad called Ivan de la Peña. Not a modest sum by any stretch, but Cragnotti was satisfied it was money well spent. According to reliable sources he’d landed himself the next Maradona. Offer Cragnotti the price of a second-hand Fiat Panda for De la Peña today and he’ll take your arm off.

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Monday 3 French striker Robert Pires confirms that he is to sign for Arsenal, saying: “I would have preferred to have played for Real Madrid but I am happy to link up again with my French friends.” Middlesbrough announce that they are prepared to give Paul Gascoigne a free transfer.

Tuesday 4 Brazil withdraw from the contest to stage the 2006 World Cup in exchange for getting African support for their bid in 2010. Franz Beckenbauer is aghast: “What happened is horse trading and now their vote will probably go against Germany.” Concacaf ’s Jack Warner claims to have suggested to the FA that they pull out. “They will be humiliated. The writing is on the wall and as a friend I thought I’d tell them.” Valerenga of Norway become the latest club to turn down the chance of taking Paul Gascoigne on loan. “We are not a summer rehabilitation centre,” sniffs their chairman. Dino Zoff resigns as Italy coach a day after being publicly criticised for “amateurish” tactics by Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi. Luton manager Lennie Lawrence is sacked by the club’s new board.

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Criticism of Italy's tactics is not likely to change the way they play, says Roberto Gotta

Car horns stayed silent on Sunday night, July 2. How ironic it has been to see one of the dullest, most defensive national teams of all time come within a minute of winning a tournament they had entered without much hope. Whenever Italy enter a tournament with low expectations, they fare much better than when they are expected to do well. It happened in Argentina 78 and, memorably, in Spain 82, when the Italy camp was torn by controversies and the team was barely seen as capable of progressing to the second round (which they did, just), then went on to win it.

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UEFA seem intent on changing the transfer system. Guy Osborn & Steve Greenfield explain how this could affect England and beyond

It seems barely a week goes past these ­days without a new proposal to regulate the international movement of players. The most rec­ent have involved reintroducing restrictions on foreigners, standardising transfer win­dows across Europe and effectively abol­ishing the transfer system. Yet again, it appears that poor old Jean-Marc Bosman is the root cause of most of these ideas.

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Wednesday 1 "I have apologized to the England players and I want every England supporter to know how sorry I am," says David Beckham as the England squad return from France. "There is an empty feeling inside," says Glenn, "but I have had an encouraging call from the prime minister." Ex-Rangers boss Walter Smith changes his mind about joining Sheffield Wednesday in order to become the new Everton manager, their fourth in four seasons. "I am under no illusions about the size of the task," he says, which is handy. Ron Noades makes himself manager of Brentford, saying: "I can spend and do what I like and I am very excited," words that may come back to haunt him by, ooh, the end of September. John Hollins takes over at Swansea. Bolton allegedly beat off Paris St Germain to sign Jamaica's teenage winger Ricardo Gardner for £1 million.

Thursday 2 Steve Bruce becomes player-manager of Sheffield United. Caretaker boss Steve Thompson stays on as assistant, with Wigan manager John Deehan coming in as coach. Got that? 

Monday 6 Danny Wilson leaves Barnsley to take over at Hillsborough. He'll be replaced by John Hendrie. "I told Wednesday to go away, but I was honour bound to tell Danny of their approach," says miffed Barnsley chairman John Dennis. Man Utd will face either LKS Lodz of Poland or Azerbaijan's  Kapaz in the second qualifying round for the Champions League. Celtic will play Croatia Zagreb if they get past St Patrick's Athletic. Cup winners Hearts meet Estonia's Lantana. In the UEFA Cup, Rangers also go to Dublin to take on Shelbourne, while Kilmarnock play Zeljeznicar from the newly recognized Bosnian league.

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