After early World Cup exit, Italians ponder on Prandelli successor

Rome, June 26 (IANS) The day after a premature exit from the FIFA World Cup, Italians reacted to the disappointment by wondering about what lies in the Azzurri's future and, most of all, who would take up the position just vacated by coach Cesare Prandelli.

All major media and sport web sites scrutinised the people's mood Wednesday, launching online opinion polls, and Italians were encouraged to have their say, reports Xinhua.

Considering first reactions, readers seemed to favour former Inter Milan and Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, and former Zenit St. Petersburg coach Luciano Spalletti among several other names.

A lot of time and endless comments were indeed dedicated to the matter, as if Italy were trying to find a 'positive' way to overcome the frustration for a team's performance regarded quite unanimously as very poor.

The names submitted as most eligible successors of Prandelli were more or less the same in all media -- the already cited Mancini and Spalletti, ex-AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri, ex England team boss Fabio Capello, current Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni and retired Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin.

Some media web sites added a generic 'foreign coach' to the list.

The question seemed to drive Italians into frenzy for a while. By late Wednesday afternoon, in less than 10 hours, more than 34,000 readers had taken part in the online survey of leading Corriere della Sera daily.

Here, Mancini and Capello were in 'pole position' with 27.9 percent and 22.6 percent respectively.

Some 8,000 people gave their opinion to La Repubblica newspaper website, and again Mancini and Spalletti were leading the preferences with around 40 percent and 37 percent.

On the Turin-based La Stampa newspaper, the survey gathered around 3,100 participants and preferences were more equally divided between Mancini, Capello, and Spalletti.

The same happened with Italy's two main sport newspapers, La Gazzetta dello Sport and Il Corriere dello Sport. Several thousand readers were ready to have their say, with Spalletti, Mancini, and Capello variously regarded as most fit for Prandelli's job.