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Group E Team Profiles: Italy | Ghana | USA | Czech Republic

Italy

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Italy team kit

Marcello Lippi has a two-fold challenge over the next six months: cement his first-choice forward combination and find a dependable backup to Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro in defence.

Lippi now seems set on playing 4-3-3 with two main strikers and a deep lying number 10 in support. But with such an abundance of striking talent, the rub is who misses out. Talismanic Roman Francesco Totti is assured of his place as the side's playmaker-in-chief with Alessandro Del Piero more often used from the bench in the last 12 months. And the forward line also fit to burst with quality. For Lippi, it's perm two from AC Milan duo Alberto Gilardino and Christian Vieri, plus Fiorentina's Luca Toni (who struck a hat-trick vs. Belarus in September) and Udinese's rising star Vincenzo Iaquinta. Oh, and then there's Antonio Cassano.

Further back, Lippi knows Nesta and Cannavaro are as good as any central defensive partnership at the finals but the question is who he has in reserve. Marco Matterazzi is a regular and capable deputy but injury to either Nesta or Canna could severely knock the Azzuri's chances.

Italy Matches

Match # Date & Time Group Teams Result Venue
9 Mon 12th Jun 21:00 E  ITA  GHA 2 - 0 Hanover
25 Sat 17th Jun 21:00 E  ITA  USA 1 - 1 Kaiserslautern
41 Thu 22nd Jun 16:00 E  CZE  ITA 0 - 2 Hamburg
53 Mon 26th Jun 17:00 R2  ITA  AUS 1 - 0 Kaiserslautern
58 Fri 30th Jun 21:00 QF  ITA  UKR 3 - 0 Hamburg
61 Tue 4th Jul 21:00 SF  GER  ITA 0 - 2 aet Dortmund
64 Sun 9th Jul 20:00 FIN  ITA  FRA 1 - 1 aet
5 - 3 pen		 Berlin

Match times shown are local times for Germany (CEST/GMT+0200). Click on match date/time to view match statistics.

Past World Cup performance

Key Players

World Cup 2006 Qualification

Squad

Total World Cup 2006
# Posn Name DOB Club Caps Goals Pld Goals OG YC RC
1 GK Buffon Gianluigi 28-01-1978 Juventus ITA 68 0 7 0 0 0 0
2 DF Zaccardo Cristian 21-12-1981 Palermo ITA 16 1 3 0 1 0 0
3 DF Grosso Fabio 28-11-1977 Palermo ITA 24 2 6 1 0 1 0
4 MF De Rossi Daniele 24-07-1983 AS Rome ITA 21 3 3 0 0 1 1
5 DF Cannavaro Fabio 13-09-1973 Juventus ITA 101 1 7 0 0 0 0
6 DF Barzagli Andrea 08-05-1981 Palermo ITA 10 0 2 0 0 0 0
7 FW Del Piero Alessandro 09-11-1974 Juventus ITA 80 27 5 1 0 0 0
8 MF Gattuso Gennaro 09-01-1978 AC Milan ITA 47 1 6 0 0 2 0
9 FW Toni Luca 26-05-1977 Fiorentina ITA 25 9 6 2 0 0 0
10 MF Totti Francesco 27-09-1976 AS Rome ITA 59 9 7 1 0 1 0
11 FW Gilardino Alberto 05-07-1982 AC Milan ITA 21 8 5 1 0 0 0
12 GK Peruzzi Angelo 16-02-1970 Lazio ITA 31 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 DF Nesta Alessandro 19-03-1976 AC Milan ITA 78 0 3 0 0 0 0
14 GK Amelia Marco 02-04-1982 Livorno ITA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
15 FW Iaquinta Vincenzo 21-11-1979 Udinese ITA 18 2 5 1 0 1 0
16 MF Camoranesi Mauro 04-10-1976 Juventus ITA 27 1 5 0 0 2 0
17 MF Barone Simone 30-04-1978 Palermo ITA 15 1 2 0 0 0 0
18 FW Inzaghi Filippo 09-08-1973 AC Milan ITA 50 22 1 1 0 0 0
19 DF Zambrotta Gianluca 19-02-1977 Juventus ITA 58 2 6 1 0 3 0
20 MF Perrotta Simone 17-09-1977 AS Rome ITA 32 1 7 0 0 0 0
21 MF Pirlo Andrea 19-05-1979 AC Milan ITA 32 6 7 1 0 0 0
22 DF Oddo Massimo 14-06-1976 Lazio ITA 21 0 1 0 0 0 0
23 DF Materazzi Marco 19-08-1973 Inter ITA 32 2 4 2 0 0 1