Italy were heavily vilified by the Italian press, following their unexpected 1-0 loss to Egypt in the FIFA Confederations Cup on Thursday. A first-half header from midfielder Mohamed Hommos handed Egypt a well-earned 1-0 victory over the world champions, who failed more than once to bring the score level. Renowned paper La Gazzetta dello Sport described the Azzurri's display as a 'complete striptease', referring to Gennaro Gattuso, whose shorts were accidently pulled down in a challenge with Egypt ace Mohamed Abou-Treika. "Our players volunteered to perform a complete striptease," the Italian publication commented on a large photo of the funny incident. Corriere della Sera, another well-known Italian paper, suggested that Italy's chance of reaching the Confederations Cup has become slim, saying that Marcello Lippi's men wasted a 'golden opportunity' to go through. Totto Sports, on the other hand, highlighted the Egyptians' prostration after they celebrated the precious winner. "Their heads were on the ground. They were thanking God for the goal, or maybe for the below-par form of Italy," the newspaper said. "Egypt recorded a deserved victory, after Luca Toni, Vincenzo Iaquinta and Giuseppe Rossi squandered a myriad of scoring opportunities." Praise from Spain
The Egyptians' prostration The Spanish media were also full of praise for the six-time African champions. 'Egypt set alarm bells ringing' was the headline of Marca's match report. Marca also referred to Nigeria's recent win over France in a friendly game, vouching for the capabilities of the African teams. AS, however, reported that an out-of-sorts Italy side were thrashed by Egypt, and added an interesting ancient history background in the report. "The Pharaohs once built statues to commemorate their champions. Now the Egyptians have to build new ones for those who defeated the Italians, whose ancestors, the Romans, conquered Egypt a couple of millenniums ago," the paper commented. Egypt coach Hassan Shehata and fit-again goalie Essam Al-Hadari were both highly acclaimed by the majority of the Spanish papers on Friday. Al-Hadari, 36, was referred to as the 'High Dam', which is his most popular nickname in Egypt. El-Mundo pointed out that Egypt remained consistent after Mohamed Zidan was taken off due to injury. The report also mentioned that Shehata's men have a substantial chance of reaching the Confederations Cup semi-finals.
