One in the eye for Italy

By Suzanne McFadden

The pressure is on the "Barone" - Italian skipper Francesco de Angelis - to keep the $100 million dollar Prada America's Cup challenge alive today.

His friends say that although he is nicknamed the Baron, for his gentlemanly demeanour, he is rugged enough to fight back from 3-4 down to AmericaOne in the first-to-five Louis Vuitton Cup final.

But his old crewmate and rival skipper Paul Cayard was last night questioning whether Prada could handle the strain now the Americans are on a roll.

Another loss to AmericaOne today and it is arrivederci Prada. If Luna Rossa wins, it comes down to sudden-death tomorrow to determine the 2000 challenger.

Prada were feeling the heat yesterday when they made a horrendous call on the water.

They let almost a mile of water fill between them and AmericaOne on the first beat, and so suffered their third defeat a row.

It is not easy for de Angelis - the "good guy in the white hat" - sailing his first America's Cup with a voracious Italian audience hanging on his every tack and gybe.

But he has plenty of believers. "I know when he is in a bad situation he rises like a phoenix from the ashes," a close friend said.

Cayard won an Admiral's Cup sailing with de Angelis, and speaks highly of him.

"I think Francesco has a lot of experience, and he's mature enough to do the best he can. I feel like I have a lot of killers sailing with me right now ... and when I sail with him I feel like that too," he said.

"But I have a feeling we can deal with the pressure better than they can.

"It's a hard thing to stomach to see someone come back on you from 3-1 down, to what's happening now. I've always suspected that us getting back to even would be pretty tough on them."

AmericaOne had a series of hiccups yesterday, but they held it together to win by 1m 6s. Cayard was relaxed last night, but by no means cocky. He still, rightly, gives Prada a chance of winning.

"They have a fast boat, a good team, but it all depends how they manage that now," he said.

"The difference is the human factor. That factor's on our side."

De Angelis' tactician Torben Grael will also take some of the heat today. He admitted that he made the wrong call persisting with the left while AmericaOne made a huge gain way over on the right yesterday.

But he said last night that he always wins the big events coming from behind. "In my world championship in the Star class, I was 20 points behind in my last race. For my Snipe world title I won the last three races in a row."

But the most telling comment from the Italians after yesterday's loss was de Angelis' admission that the Prada afterguard always follow a plan on the first beat decided before the race begins.

Cayard was amazed. "I was thinking to myself, man we're a lot more dynamic than that. We have our eyes a lot more open than that."

No matter who wins in the next two days, there is a universal wish that this series will be decided on the water - and rumours that red protest flags will fly on the final day are untrue.