Italy

The famous boot of Italy is one of Europe’s iconic landmarks, and it is inhabited by Europe’s most successful football nation. Italy have won the World Cup on 4 previous occasions and, going into the tournament, are the World Champions having won in Germany in 2006. Whether they will remain so on leaving African soil is yet to be decided.

Italy is only one of two nations that have won the World Cup consecutively, although the tournament was very different in 1934 and 1938 to what it is now. Brazil, unsurprisingly, are the other successful country, having won in 1958 and 1962, another era long gone. Yet, to rule Italy out on the assumption that it is clear that the teams you face play doubly as hard to prevent you from earning glory again is somewhat misguided.

Italy are once again under the control of Marcello Lippi, after he was coaxed back to manage the national side after a poor Euro 2008 campaign. The ex-Juve man relies heavily on the Juventus of today to provide players for the squad, players which he has known for a prolonged period it seems, with as many as 6 or 7 of his probably starting 11 being over the age of 30, and not by a short way either.

This age factor does appear to be a cause for concern, with many believing the likes of Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Buffon, Pirlo, Camoranesi and Gattuso – to name a few – are far beyond their use-by date. However, when you consider that Italy generally rely on 1-0 concrete defensive victories, what better players would you want then those that have enough experience to know how to keep a sinking ship afloat?

Qualifying, although at times a little nerve-racking, was, in statistical terms, a breeze. Admittedly a lack of goals were scored, with Gilardino being the top scorer on a less than impressive 4, especially so when 3 of those goals came against Cyrus in the final match having already qualified. Yet, you do not need to score many if you do not concede many, something which the Azzurri are more than adept at.

Despite this wealth of experience and class that will mean we witness Grosso and Zambrotta bombing up and down their respective wings, whilst Pirlo creates in the middle of the park, with Camoranesi providing some fire-power and a fiery attitude to proceedings, it is Daniele De Rossi who has gradually stolen the Italian crown that players such as Del Piero and Francesco Totti have donned before him.

This midfield maestro has it all. He creates, breaks-up play, scores and his work-rate is above all else. The talisman of the Azzurri is expected to take over the captaincy once Cannavaro’s legs finally give way (with the reason why he has been able to last so long probably due to the fact he has less height with which his legs have to hold up than any other world renowned central defender). Cannavaro may wear the armband, but De Rossi wears the Italian nation on his heart.

Buffon will be expected to keep his goal empty of balls throughout the tournament, whereas Gilardino and Iaquinta will be hoping to do the opposite down the other end. Both are good target men to hit, but their goal scoring record leaves much to be desired. But then again, so does Emile Heskey’s. Expect these two tall target men to cause enough havoc for other members of the Italian squad to finish off the moves.

South Africa sees Italy drawn in Group F where they face Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia. It may be harder to find an easier World Cup group. I say may and not will because there is a slight chance you possibly have not seen England’s draw... This is not to say it will be easy, just the group is favourable for the Italians who should comfortably make it through the group stages. This should set them on their way, especially with a second round match against Denmark, Japan or Cameroon facing them afterwards.

The quarter-finals though should see Italy face Spain, or possibly even Brazil. At this stage, despite their wealth of experience, with goals hard to come by, a loss may be on the cards for Lippi’s men. However, a lukewarm Italian side won in 2006, can an aging one win in 2010?