Juventus Coach Puts on Brave Face
Copyright � 1999 Nando Media
Copyright � 1999 Agence France-Presse
MILAN, Italy (July 19, 1999 9:03 a.m. EDT http://www.sportserver.com) - Juventus coach Carlo Ancelotti was putting on a brave face after the 1996 world club champions scraped to a 1-1 draw with Romanian club Ceahlaul Peatra Neamt in the Intertoto Cup third round.
The Romanians looked both fitter and sharper on Sunday than the Italian giants, who rested several first-team regulars for the club's first official match of the new season.
Ancelotti, who is gambling that a second-string side will be enough to get him into the UEFA Cup, was only spared humiliation by a long shot in the second half from Alessio Tacchinardi.
"It's a result I can live with," said the coach, who replaced Marcello Lippi last February. "We knew that we'd be running risks and we certainly did that, especially in the first half.
"Ceahlaul were playing at a different pace to us and showed more determination. They were also in better shape physically; the match being their fifth of the tournament but our first.
"Even so, we reacted well in the second half, and created a number of scoring chances and got an equaliser.
"Obviously, not everything went that well. But it's only to be expected... the thing now is to be prepared for the second leg at Cesena on Saturday," he told the Gazzetta dello Sport.
Ancelotti, whose main focus next season will be the Serie A, is deliberately holding back the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi, Zinedine Zidane and Edgar Davids.
Del Piero, whose season ended with knee surgery last November, was due to play his first match in eight and a half months on Monday at St. Vincent, against a team of amateurs from the northwestern Aosta Valley region.
