Italian minister tells Prandelli's team to go to Euros

Italian Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri has told the national team to go to Euro 2012 and play with pride after coach Cesare Prandelli said he would have “no problem” if the authorities would rather his team withdraw from the competition due to the match-fixing scandal.

Prandelli indicated he had sympathy with those – including Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti – who have said this week it might be better for football to take a break in the country until what appear to be deep-rooted problems with match-fixing are solved.

“If you told us that for the good of football we should not participate, it wouldn’t be a problem for me,” Prandelli told RaiSport.

“There are things that I believe are more important.”

But with little over a week until Italy’s opening fixture against Spain, Cancellieri indicated there would be no call from the authorities for Italy to sit it out.

“The European Championship is a major international tournament. Play, and play well for Italy,” she said.