World Cup preview: Italy
Coach: Marcello Lippi
Key player: Antonio Di Natale
Previous best: Winners 1934, 1938, 1982 & 2006
Fabio Grosso’s penalty flew past Fabien Barthez in the French goal, and Italy were world champions in Berlin.
It was their fourth success, and four years on few things have changed.
Marcello Lippi is still the manager, Gianluigi Buffon is still the goalkeeper, Fabio Cannavaro is still the captain, and Gianluca Zambrotta, Mauro Camoranesi, Daniele De Rossi, Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo are still in the team. All are four years older and four years wiser, but are they four years better?
They were impressive in qualification, finishing six points ahead of second-placed Republic of Ireland. Lippi – who returned as coach following Roberto Donadoni’s failure at Euro 2008 – saw his side hit the ground running, and they never really looked back after October 2008’s 2-1 win over Montenegro courtesy of two goals from Liverpool’s Alberto Aquilani, who misses the finals with fitness concerns.
Qualification was all but secured when Georgia’s Kahka Kaladze, of AC Milan, scored two own goals to gift the Italians a 2-0 win in Tbilisi last September, and Lippi was able to turn his attentions towards finalising his squad.
All of his final 23 are based in Italy, although the 36-year-old Cannavaro will move to Al-Ahli of Dubai after the World Cup, and with an average age of over 28, they are one of the oldest squads in the tournament. That’s not to say that they are past it though.
Antonio Di Natale was the top scorer in Serie A last season at 32 years old and in a mid-table Udinese side, while Pirlo is still a formidable creative force in attacking midfield and Buffon is widely recognised as one of the best goalkeepers worldwide.
There are younger talents too. De Rossi, remarkably still only 26, is a strong force in the Italian midfield, while Lippi has hinted that he’s ready to use Juventus’ Claudio Marchisio, 24, as his playmaker off a lone striker.
There was surprise at Lippi’s omissions of forwards Giuseppe Rossi and Marco Boriello, while Luca Toni never really got a look in, which means that, as well as Di Natale, the goalscoring burden falls upon Fiorentina’s Alberto Gilardino, Vincenzo Iaquinta of Juventus, Giampaolo Pazzini of Sampdoria and the Napoli striker Fabio Quagliarella.
All know where the goal is, and all possess that ruthless streak that has marked out the best Italian strikers.
Despite winning the tournament last time, Italy’s top scorers were Toni and Marco Materazzi – who each had only two goals – but that array of attacking talent suggests that one could well be troubling the top scorers this time.
A victory in their opening match against Paraguay should pave the way for a group victory, and the Italians will be thinking about at least the quarter finals, with the really optimistic among them thinking about reproducing the form of four years ago and winning a fifth crown.
That looks unlikely, and with Lippi stepping down after the finals to be replaced by former Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli, this could represent the end of the old guard of Italian football, with the new talents emerging in this squad taking over.
Berlin might not be repeated, but they’ll be as formidable as ever for whomever they come across.
Italy squad
1 Gianluigi BUFFON (Juventus)
2 Christian MAGGIO (Napoli)
3 Domenico CRISCITO (Genoa)
4 Giorgio CHIELLINI (Juventus)
5 Fabio CANNAVARO (Juventus)
6 Daniele DE ROSSI (Roma)
7 Simone PEPE (Udinese)
8 Gennaro GATTUSO (AC Milan)
9 Vincenzo IAQUINTA (Juventus)
10 Antonio DI NATALE (Udinese)
11 Alberto GILARDINO (Fiorentina)
12 Federico MARCHETTI (Cagliari)
13 Salvatore BOCCHETTI (Genoa)
14 Morgan DE SANCTIS (Napoli)
15 Claudio MARCHISIO (Juventus)
16 Mauro CAMORANESI (Juventus)
17 Angelo PALOMBO (Sampdoria)
18 Fabio QUAGLIARELLA (Napoli)
19 Gianluca ZAMBROTTA (AC Milan)
20 Giampaolo PAZZINI (Sampdoria)
21 Andrea PIRLO (AC Milan)
22 Riccardo MONTOLIVO (Fiorentina)
23 Leonardo BONUCCI (Bari)
For previews of Italy's Group F opponents click here:
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-New-Zealand-a12466
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Paraguay-a12467
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Slovakia-a12468
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