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World Cup 2010 Teams – Italy (review 2)

Italy are one of two teams, along with Brazil, to have won the World Cup tournament twice in succession and have won the tournament just once less than Brazil with 4 victories to their name. This role of honour includes victory at the last tournament in 2006 and under the returning management of Marcello Lippi they will be vying to go the distance and lift the cup again this year in South Africa. While their qualifying campaign was not exactly alight with flare and style it was relatively easy as they topped the group following their first match and remained their all the way. However, they did only gain qualification in their penultimate match.

Coach Marcello Lippi is considered a master of substitutions. While guiding Italy to World Cup victory in 2006 he made substitutions that accounted for 5 of the team's 12 total goals. With a squad that is so filled with world class players that ply their trade in virtually every continent it is little surprise that they are expected to perform once again this year. While the 4th ranked team in the world may look a little weaker on paper this time round, there would be few that would bet against the Azzurri lifting the crown to equal Brazil's winning record.

Qualifying Campaign

Qualifying for South Africa 2010 was a reasonable easy if uninspired feat for Italy. They did remain unbeaten throughout qualifying totalling seven wins and three draws, scoring 18 and conceding seven. However, they only managed to assure themselves of qualification in their penultimate game against Ireland when Alberto Gilardino scored a late goal to guarantee progression. Italy remained a compact and strict unit throughout the qualifying campaign giving little away in the process.

World Cup History

Italy are the 2nd most successful nation in World Cup football having won four tournaments to Brazil's five. They are contesting their 16th finals (of a possible total of 18) and lifted the trophy in 2006. Previous wins came in 1934 and 1938 as well as 1982. They missed out on qualification in 1958 and opted not to play in the first World Cup in 1930. They have also been runners up on 2 occasions in 1970 and 1994 and managed third place at home during Italy 1990. They are one of only two teams, Brazil unsurprisingly being the other team, to have lifted the trophy twice in succession.

The Coach

Marcello Lippi is one of the most experienced and decorated managers in football and even decided to retire from the post of national coach following their 2006 success because he had won everything. Following the country's failure at Euro 2008 he was easily persuaded to return to the fold. Substitutions are certainly one of his strongest points with 5 of the team's 12 goals in their successful 2006 campaign coming from substitutions he made during the match. He is also not afraid of using every player at his disposal with 36 players gaining caps during qualifying.

The Players

Italy are considered to have one of the best defence's in world football and this is largely due to 31 year old goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and veteran 36 year old defender and captain Fabio Cannavaro. Alberto Gilardino was the leading scorer in qualification but he only totalled 4 goals; one of which was the goal that sealed qualification against the Irish and the remaining three were in the final encounter against Cyprus. Andrea Pirlo, who plays his club football for Milan, will almost certainly be the orchestrator of their forward play from the middle of the park but with so many players likely to play a part it can prove difficult to pick stand out players.

Group F

Paraguay, with a world ranking of 30, look to pose the most threat to Italy and the game between the two is likely to prove a war attritions with both teams playing on the counter and Italy the most likely to succeed at a style of play that they have mastered and perfected over the years. Slovakia, ranked 34th in the world, are marking their first World Cup appearance and are likely to find the standard too hot. The final team in the group is New Zealand in only their 2nd tournament and they are one of the lowest ranked teams in the final with a ranking of just 77.

Group Matches And Analysis

The Azzurri face their first test against Paraguay on 14th June and go on to play New Zealand on the 20th and Slovakia on the 24th. On paper, and in reality, Italy look like they should be guaranteed to progress with a relatively simple group. While the rest of the Group F teams may be relatively unknown there has been little to suggest that any of them will be able to match the Italians for quality, style, or tactical knowledge of the game.

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