Klose may have boosted his international tally to 55 tying with Joachim Streich as second-highest all-time scorer for his country, 12 behind Gerd Mueller, but he gave the team’s younger players a warning.
“There was room for improvement, our conditioning let us down,” he said. “We kept our shape tactically, but we have many young players and they need to make the next step up now and reach the next level.”
Similarly Italy coach Cesare Prandelli was not going overboard after his side’s win over the Faroes as he seeks to restore their battered image after a disastrous defense of their world title under Marcello Lippi, which saw them come home after the first round of the World Cup.
“We’ve won two games, that’s the most important thing. We’re looking to develop our style of play, things are progressing slowly, but these games are never easy, you still have to play them,” he said.
■BULGARIA COACH QUITS
AP, SOFIA, BULGARIA
Stanimir Stoilov quit as Bulgaria coach on Tuesday after Montenegro inflicted the country’s second straight loss in early European Championship qualifying.
Elsad Zverotic clinched a 1-0 victory for Montenegro with a long-range strike in the 35th minute, four days after Bulgaria was thrashed 4-0 by England.
“This was my last game as coach of Bulgaria,” Stoilov was quoted as saying on UEFA’s Web site. “We lost and our chances of progressing are disappearing. Losing to Montenegro was too much.”
Bulgaria are at the bottom of Group G and play Wales on Oct. 8 in its next Euro 2012 qualifier.
The 43-year-old Stoilov, who had been in charge of Bulgaria since January last year, complained last week that the international retirement of Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov had left a big void up front.
Bulgaria missed several good chances to equalize from Ivelin Nikolov’s header and Martin Petrov saw several long-range strikes thwarted by goalkeeper Mladen Bozovic.
Stoilov introduced Hertha Berlin striker Valeri Domovchiyski and Parma’s Valeri Bojinov in the second half to boost the attack, but they couldn’t produce a goal.
Montenegro could have doubled the lead in the final minutes when Simon Vukcevic’s two strong shots narrowly missed the target.
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