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The right-back believes that his side still have a big chance of progressing in the competition.
Jun 18, 2009 5:50:53 PM
Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluca Zambrotta - Italy
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Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluca Zambrotta - Italy
Italy’s hopes of advancing to the final four of this year’s Confederations Cup took a heavy blow, as they suffered their first ever defeat against an African nation, after going down 1-0 to Egypt in Johannesburg.

They are now level on points with the Pharaohs with just one group game remaining, however Gianluca Zambrotta still believes that the Azzurri are the favourites to join Brazil in the final four.

“This result does not mean anything yet, as we still have a great chance of qualifying,” Zambrotta affirmed in an interview with Corriere dello Sport.

“As was the case against the United States, we had the wrong approach in the opening 30 minutes, however we bounced back well, especially in the second half.

“We could have easily scored three of four times tonight, if only we had a little more luck on our side.”

The World Champions must now face an in-form Brazilian outfit, and ensure they achieve at least a result, in order to give themselves any hope of making it to the semi-finals.

“This game will obviously be our last chance, so we will have to sit tight and go for it.

“We lost against them in February, 2-0 in London, but we are keen to avenge that defeat and to move forward.”

The Italians will need to achieve a better result than the Egyptians do against the US, otherwise it could be all over until 2010 for them.

Source Adrian Del Monte, Goal.com