Italy Matches at World Cup 2010

Italy World Cup Profile

Turning our attention to the 2010 World Cup’s Group F in South Africa, LiveSoccerTV.com brings you detailed information on Italy – the 4-time world champions.

Italy – The country, the football

The Italian Republic, better known as Italy, is a southern European country situated in the Italian Peninsula. Bordered by the Mediterranean Sea along with its related islands Sicily and Sardinia, Italy’s neighbors are France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia.

The Italian Peninsula also contains autonomous states like San Marino and the Vatican City as enclaves, while the Campione d’Italia is an exclave of Italia in Switzerland. Italia’s total area is approximately 301,338 km2, and it is the home of roughly 60,200,060 people.

The Italy national football team is recognized as the Azzurri, and it is regarded among the world’s best sides, being the current World Cup champions. The Italians won the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany after beating 1998 champions France in the finals on penalties, and the 4-time World Cup winners now occupy the second place in the tournament’s total rankings, with only one trophy fewer than Brazil who have five in their name.

Italy obviously qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup by topping their table in the qualifiers (UEFA zone), and with precious tickets for South Africa in June 2010, the Azzurri have good reasons to set their eyes on another consecutive trophy, which could indeed be theirs next summer.

Italy – The road to the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals

Knowing that the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa only allowed 13 places for European countries, the Italians really had to be strong enough to defend their seat among 52 other teams from their continent. Fresh from a great adventure in Germany (2006), Italy were offered a position in Pot A ahead of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in Europe.

On November 27, 2007, the Italians were given Group 8, following the draw for the qualifying group stage which took place in the South African city of Durban. Group 8 also possessed the Republic of Ireland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Montenegro, and Georgia.

Thinking like champions, the Azzurri were determined to finish at the top. Their first match against Cyprus at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca on the 6th of September 2008 however could have ended in a 1-1 draw. But the Italian Di Natale saved the 3 points for his side, scoring an injury time goal to make the score line 2-1 and grab a double in his name.

There were signs of improvement in their game 4 days later at home to Georgia, as 2-0 was the final result in favor of Italy (due to a double from De Rossi); nevertheless, a month later, Bulgaria shocked them with an unconvincing 0-0 draw at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia.

The Azzurri somehow imposed themselves in their next two consecutive challenges at home and away from home against Montenegro, winning 2-1 and 2-0 respectively thanks to two goals from Aquilani in Lecce, and a goal each from Pirlo and Pazzini in the return leg at the Pod Goricom in Podgorica. Even so, the Republic of Ireland showed their strength when they prevented the Italians from earning three more points, as they settled for a 1-1 draw on April 1 last year, in Bari.

Marcello Lippi’s boys then bounced back with a double from Kaladze in a 2-0 victory over Georgia, and a further 2-0 home victory against Bulgaria in Turin; and even though Ireland once again seemed to trouble them in their return leg encounter, Italy – in one way or another – kept their unbeaten record by dramatically getting a single point through an impressive 2-2 away draw.

It was eventually a nice end for the FIFA World Cup title holders in their qualification, who they defeated Cyprus 3-2 on the 14th of October 2009 in Parma, subsequent to a hat-trick from Gilardino. Italy finally led their group with 24 points and no losses; either six points ahead of second place Ireland who also had zero defeats.

Italy – 2010 FIFA World Cup group stage

Subsequently, Italy progressed into the 2010 World Cup’s finals in South Africa, and prematurely, they had nothing to expect but another place in Pot 1; this time, ahead of the final draw for the tournament’s group stage. In fact, this was their reward, and South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Argentina, and England were all countries the Azzurri could not look out for, in their table – taking into consideration the fact that they were all their neighbors in Pot 1 as top seeds.

The group draw finally occurred at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in South Africa, on December 4, 2009. Consequently, Italy landed in Group F as the “Big Guys”, followed by Paraguay, New Zealand, and Slovakia.

Perhaps, without even trying to analyze the benefits and the challenges for the Italians in this table, one might believe that Marcello Lippi’s team has 100% of chances to enter the knockout phase. But in reality, there could be secret traps in Group F.

Match-day 1: Italy vs Paraguay

Italy will first play against South American side Paraguay at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town, on June 14, at 20:30 local time.

Paraguay is truly not a side to undervalue, as they know all about physical strength, mentality, and composition. The Paraguayans qualified even before World Cup favorites Argentina, and such an accomplishment undoubtedly reveals an idea of how dangerous they could be in South Africa.

Italy will therefore prefer to control this game first, in order to make sure that Paraguay will not cause them any upset.

Match-day 2: Italy vs New Zealand

In match-day 2, the Italians will host the Neo-Zealanders at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, on June 20, at 16:00 local time.

New Zealand qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals after defeating Bahrain in the Asia-Oceania play-off 1-0 on aggregate. This doesn’t really send strong warnings to the Azzurri who had a brilliant run in their qualification.

As a result, the Italians are expected to rule in this encounter and give the very best to a worldwide audience.

Match-day 3: Slovakia vs Italy

In the end, Italy will play as the visitors when they meet Slovakia at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, on June 24, at 16:00 local time.

Slovakia were quite good in their qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and looking at their results throughout their qualification, it is undeniable that they are not far behind the Italians in terms of performance.

One could look ahead to a balanced game on the last match-day for the Italians, even though they might end up with a positive score line.

Italy – Quick Analysis: Expectation from the country and its top stars

Italy are a side made up of big stars; thus, there is no doubts that in recent years, they have always been entering major international competitions as hot favorites. Certainly, in this team profile, we will not look at each and every member of the Azzurri squad, but we will evaluate the expectations behind some of Italy’s greatest current players.

Gianluigi Buffon:

The expert Italian goalkeeper is considered as the greatest keeper of all times in football. Surely, it was his great saves and reflexes which helped his country succeed during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

Buffon won the Onze d’Or in 2003 and 2006, the IFFHS Best Goalkeeper in 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007; and he was even included in the FIFPro World XI in 2006 and 2007.

Now, Gianluigi Buffon is very much likely to join the Italian squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, and having profited from his numerous games in the Italian Serie A, the UEFA Champions League and other club competitions, the star player is set to relive another great moment in the summer of 2010.

Fabio Cannavaro:

The 36-year old veteran Italian defender has achieved a lot in his career, both for his club and his country. Cannavaro was the captain of Italy when the Azzurri took home the 2006 World Cup trophy.

Later on, Fabio went on to win the Ballon d’Or 2006, the FIFA World Player of the Year 2006, the 2006 FIFA World Cup Silver Ball Award, as well as the Italian Footballer of the Year, among several other individual honors.

In his club career, Cannavaro played for great European sides including Inter Milan and Real Madrid. He is now a Juventus player, and having the choice of captaining the Italian national team for another time at the FIFA World Cup tournament is certainly a dream-come-true for him, as he anticipates glory in South Africa.

Andrea Pirlo:

The Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo was also in the Italian side that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, and moreover, he scored his country’s first goal in that particular tournament, when he got Italy’s opener against Ghana on match-day one of the competition.

Besides, Pirlo is one his national team’s playmaker with about 60 appearances for the Azzurri. The AC Milan key player was the Man of the Match in the 2006 World Cup final against France, and in addition, he was inserted in the FIFPro World XI that same year.

The influential deep-lying player will certainly feature for the Italians in South Africa, and his presence for his country will surely be useful enough to increase Italy’s opportunities of becoming world champions for another consecutive time.

Italy – Current 2010 FIFA World Cup squad

Goalkeepers:

Federico Marchetti; Morgan De Sanctis; Gianluigi Buffon

Defenders:

Gianluca Zambrotta; Christian Maggio; Domenico Criscito; Giorgio Chiellini; Fabio Cannavaro; Leonardo Bonucci; Salvatore Bocchetti

Midfielders:

Andrea Pirlo; Simone Pepe; Angelo Palombo; Riccardo Montolivo; Claudio Marchisio; Gennaro Gattuso; Daniele De Rossi; Mauro Camoranesi

Forwards:

Fabio Quagliarella; Giampaolo Pazzini; Vincenzo Iaquinta; Alberto Gilardino; Antonio Di Natale

Italy – Relevant Quote

Marcello Lippi: “No matter what, Italy has to win”

Italy coach Marcello Lippi believes that every group has its own difficulties, and that no matter who they were drawn with, they had to come up as winners. Below is Marcello Lippi’s quote on this matter:

“No team is easy, and in fact, we will have to study them all from a very close eye. For me, there is no such thing as an easy or difficult group, so in all cases, Italy has to win.”

“New Zealand is certainly not a lucky draw; and as I said before, there is no such thing. For us (Italy), the hardest encounter is always the first one. I heard a lot of people talking about altitude problems in South Africa, but altitude will not be a problem or an excuse for us.”

Italy – FIFA World Cup record

The Azzurri have participated in the FIFA World Cup tournament 17 times in all, and overall, the Italians have emerged as world champions four times. Below is the record of Italy in the World Cup’s history.

2010: Qualified as participants

2006, 1982, 1938, 1934: Champions

2002, 1986: Round of 16

1998: Quarter-finals

1994, 1970: Runner-up

1990: Third Place

1978: Fourth Place

1974, 1966, 1962, 1954, 1950: Round 1

Keep in touch with LiveSoccerTV.com throughout the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament from June 11 to July 11!

Italy World Cup Videos

• Jun/20/2010 Italy vs New Zealand (1 - 1)
• Jun/14/2010 Italy vs Paraguay (1 - 1)