Italy cites poor fitness for failure

I wonder how many teams are going to blame the altitude for poor performances?

The first shock in the warm-ups was Italy's 2-1 defeat to Mexico yesterday, which has provoked strong criticism in the Italian press.

Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro couched blame for the defeat as "a gap in fitness levels" while coach Marcello Lippi said his team's physical condition wasn't as good as that of their opponents.

Arsenal's Carlos Vela and substitute Alberto Medina set up a 2-0 lead for Mexico before Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci struck a late consolation.