Vieri warns of Swedish threat
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Article summary
Christian Vieri believes that Italy will have to improve against a "high-quality" Sweden team on Friday.
Article body
'High-quality team'
Sweden are the early leaders in the section after defeating Bulgaria 5-0 on Monday and, according to Vieri, they are a "high-quality team". The FC Internazionale striker said: "Sweden played a great game [against Bulgaria].
Strong defence
"They have a high-quality team and [Henrik] Larsson is a great striker. They are strong in attack and play at high tempo. As regards the defence I don't know many names but I have seen their opening match and they all seem really strong."
Counters criticism
The Azzurri were criticised by the Italian press for their performance in Monday's goalless draw with Denmark. However, Vieri countered: "I believe the critics were way too severe. We did not play that well and we had some problems, but still we didn't lose and I believe this is the most important thing in opening games.
Avoid mistakes
"Other strong teams had more or less the same problems and I have not seen yet a side playing at their very best. Denmark were very strong, probably stronger than we thought. In the first half we struggled as there was too much space between the defensive line and the attackers. We should have been playing closer to each other. We will try to avoid the same mistake against Sweden."
Narrow margins
Vieri added: "It's not written anywhere that Italy must win. There are other teams as strong as us here. At this level just a few details can decide the result of a game."
Fiore defends strikers
Meanwhile, midfield player Stefano Fiore, a second-half substitute against Denmark and a candidate for Giovanni Trapattoni's starting lineup against Sweden, defended the Italy strikers. "Vieri, [Francesco] Totti and [Alessandro] Del Piero are all great players but probably they did not play at their best against Denmark," the S.S. Lazio player said.
Time to shine
"I believe it was a problem regarding the whole team because we didn't help them as we should have done. However, they are great players and still have time to prove what they can really do in this tournament."
