Italy

Nickname: Azzuri (Blue)
FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking: 5

The defending world champions are looking to repeat when they make their 17th World Cup appearance. Italy has played more World Cup soccer than any other team, and they have won the tournament four times, trailing only Brazil (who has five wins). The Italians enter this World Cup as one of the favorites to win the tournament.

The Azzuri are heavy favorites to come out on top of Group, which includes Paraguay (ranked 31st), Slovakia (ranked 34th) and New Zealand (ranked 78th).

The very experienced and arguably aging Italian team qualified in typical efficient fashion, continuing to do just enough to remain on top. During their qualification run they won seven out ten games and tied the other three. Some have complained that Italy is not playing up to expectations, but after not losing a match in qualifying, those complaints cannot be spoken too loudly. Italy typically seems to step up when more is on the line, and that is exactly what most think will happen in South Africa. The biggest question is the age of their stars — can they last long enough to make a serious run?

Coach

Italy is coached by homegrown Marcelo Lippi. Lippi has an incredible resume, including the World Cup victory in 2006, and is consider one of the best coaches in the world. Known for being very strategic and tactically smart, Lippi has led Italy to 31 straight matches without a defeat. Italians can only hope he can continue to conjure up the right ingredients to win back to back World Cups for the second time in their history. If Italy is to do this, Lippi will have to find a more reliable attack to go with his solid defense and hope his older, experienced players can last throughout the whole tournament.

Key Players

This squad’s strength is in their ability to keep teams from scoring, and that all starts in the goal with Gianluigi Buffon. Buffon is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of all time and, at age 31, is still continuing to impress.

In front of Buffon is an incredible defense led by longtime captain Fabio Cannavaro. Cannavaro has played more than 130 times for Italy and is very, very rarely caught in the wrong position on defense. Alongside Cannavaro is Gianluca Zambrotta, who was a key player in Italy’s run in 2006. Joining them in defense is Giorgio Chiellini, a tough physical defender who is good at all aspects of the game and, unlike most of the defense, is only 25.

Another key to Italy’s defensive strength is defensive midfielder Gennaro Gattuso. Gattuso exemplifies desire as he never gives up and, arguably, always plays harder than anyone else on the field. Joining him in the midfield are stars Andrea Pirlo and Daniele De Rossi. Pirlo does an excellent job controlling the flow of the game and is great at delivering long passes to forwards. De Rossi is another natural defensive midfielder, but, due to the fact that Gattuso is beside him, he gets to attack a lot more. De Rossi has developed a very dangerous long distance shot, and his ability to use that will be crucial for Italy.