Italy / Dave Farrar / 17 May 2010 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

The World Champions will have their backers but this is a side with plenty of question marks over it, including why their backline is made up almost entirely of Juventus players. They could even struggle to get out of their group...

"Their professionalism may carry them through, but with New Zealand likely to lose to all three of their rivals, the clutch games against Slovakia and Paraguay could leave Italy vulnerable, and I’m afraid that I just cannot have a defence which contains four Juventus players."

Those of you who regularly read betting.betfair will know that Italian football is my great love and largest area of expertise, and I promise you that I could write five times as many words as I will do here about the rights and wrongs of their World Cup challenge.

Italy are the defending champions and deserve respect for that, but I think that Marcello Lippi is in danger of falling into the trap which caught out French football in 2002. Public pressure and rose tinted glasses have not allowed him to change the team as much as he should have in the intervening four years, and I think that Italy are in serious danger of going out in the Group Stage, given that there are two live contenders for Group F glory, in the shape of Slovakia and Paraguay.

Their professionalism may carry them through, but with New Zealand likely to lose to all three of their rivals, the clutch games against Slovakia and Paraguay could leave Italy vulnerable, and I'm afraid that I just cannot have a defence which contains four Juventus players.

Lippi has made noises about looking for a new breed, and has handed out plenty of international call ups, but that will end up being window dressing, and the eleven which lines up in South Africa will look pretty familiar.

There's a dearth of quality centre halves in Serie A, and with the still excellent Alessandro Nesta not available, Cannavaro and Chiellini look weak, and the back up looks nonexistent. How can a Juventus defence which crumbled against Bayern Munich and Fulham possibly be fancied to guide Italy to a World Cup win?

A few eyebrows were raised at the exclusions of Roma duo Francesco Totti and Luca Toni from the squad; only time will tell as to whether leaving them out was the right choice.

Lippi has already won a World Cup, and I'm not sure about his hunger to do it all over again.

COACH:

Marcello Lippi

I wonder if Lippi will regret leaving his yacht and coming back to coach the national team. Despite announcing on his return that he would look to a younger generation he has stuck with the tried and tested, and Italy will come unstuck as a result. Such is his over reliance on his Juve favourites that I'm almost surprised that he didn't call up Alex Del Piero for one final final time, but it's bad enough that the likes of Camoranesi and Cannavaro are still considered key men. His failure to even try and get the best out of Antonio Cassano and Fabrizio Miccoli, the two best Italian players in Serie A, might look strong on the surface, but I think show him to be weak. Italy will go early, and Lippi will be back on his boat before you can say "Enzo Bearzot".

Key Players

Daniele De Rossi

De Rossi will be the next captain of Roma, and has been the driving force behind their extraordinary Serie A revival this season. He'll be one of Lippi's first choices for the Azzurri, and has World Cup ghosts to lay to rest after stupidly getting himself sent off in 2006. He needs to keep his temper in check, but he can certainly lay claim to being the only Italian player apart from Gigi Buffon who would get into most of the other teams at the tournament.

Antonio Di Natale

Di Natale's scoring feats for Udinese over the last few seasons have been consistently excellent, and his achievement in finishing top scorer this campaign have kept his team up. Di Natale is Neapolitan, and it's a great shame that his wife's love of Udine has kept him from moving to his home town club. It would have been great for both him and for Napoli. He's such a good finisher that the little man should be first choice up front. If he doesn't start, we're likely to see plenty of him as a substitute.

Gigi Buffon

Buffon has had an injury hit season, and has been supplanted as the best goalkeeper in the world by Julio Cesar of Inter Milan, but he's still excellent, and depressingly I think that he'll need to be for Italy to get through. The backline looks leaky, but on the bright side he'll be kept busy, and at least the world will get a chance to see just how good the unprotected Buffon is.

Recommended Bet:

Lay Italy to win the Group @ [1.51], Lay Italy to Qualify @ [1.11]

Tags: Daniele De Rossi, Francesco Totti, italian players, Italy team guide, Italy world cup team, World Cup tips