ITALIAN soccer chief Antonio Matarrese last night insisted that coach Arrigo Sacchi's head is not on the chopping block despite the Azzurri's early Euro `96 exit.

Matarrese, the president of the Italian Football Federation declared "I believe that Mr Sacchi is one of the best coaches in Europe, if not the world.

"We go back to Italy with applause for the way we played but nothing else, but I don't change my opinion on Mr Sacchi. He is the man for us and, as long as I remain in the Italian Football Federation, then Sacchi will remain also."

Sacchi was non committal on whether German goalkeeper Andreas Kopke should have been sent off for fouling Pierluigi Casiraghi in the box and preventing a certain goal. Sacchi said. "Maybe he should have gone off I don't know. It's not up to me to decide, it's up to the referee.

"More than anything, though, the missed penalty was crucial to Zola himself. His mistake cut him short for the entire match.

"I believe that we played well overall and that we forced the German keeper into some extraordinary saves, especially in the first half. We were in a group of steel. We played well in all three matches and I believe we didn't deserve to be eliminated because of the high quality of our play."

He added ruefully. "I believe that there are moments in life when you cannot reap the harvest for what you have sowed.

"To speak of failure would be incorrect. When you play teams like Germany, the Czech Republic and Russia, and play so well you cannot see this as failure."

German coach Berti Vogts paid tribute to Kopke and insisted the referee was right not to send the goalkeeper off for his challenge on Casiraghi.

Vogts said. "Kopke was world class and afterwards all the players thanked him for his display. But I didn't think he was lucky to still be on the pitch. He was entitled to go for the ball in that situation and, while the penalty was justified, sending him off would have been over the top."

Vogts defended his side's backs to the wall policy, saying. "We didn't want to play defensively but we were pushed back by the way Italy played, especially in the first half."

Vogts paid tribute to the Italians saying. "It hurts to say goodbye to such a fine team like Italy."