Woeful Italy face World Cup humiliation

Just 12 months before you prepare to step-out and defend your world crown, in the knowledge that all others will want to block your path and that the pressure will be greater than ever before, the final minor alterations should be being made and the confidence growing, alongside a nervous anticipation.

But Italy’s preparations have been, thus far, disastrous. In fact, not since that epic night in Berlin three summers ago have the Azzurri performed like world champions.

Roberto Donadoni was Marcello Lippi’s replacement following victory over France but flopped at the European Championships last year, meekly emerging from the group stages with another victory over an even poorer France side before playing for penalties in the quarter-finals against Spain – and promptly losing the shoot-out.

In Austria/Switzlerland, they were being thrashed by a fluent Dutch side and drawing versus minnows Romania. In South Africa, for the Confederations Cup, they fell to minnows Egypt in the most pathetic manner and were then outrageously outplayed by a brilliant Brazil side. Dunga’s team will be the ones lifting the World Cup next year if they can continue their irresistible pass-and-move game amidst an array of sizzling superstar players. While Italy registered just three goals (fewer than both the USA and Egypt), Brazil notched ten. It’s a telling difference between the increasingly different sides.

The torch was passed over in eight first-half minutes: Brazil were consummate as they scored three times past Italy’s chief weapon of decades past, their defence. The mixture of youth and experience at the back proved a cocktail laced with incompetence and debacle.

Fabio Cannavaro is too old for the international scene; his Juventus team-mate Giorgio Chiellini is at the opposite end of the age scale, but seems too inexperienced and too prone to the foul rather than the ball. And finally to Dossena, who may also be destined for Juventus. Culpable for the third goal – first by playing Robinho onside, and then by directing his cross into his own goal – and a liability throughout, he epitomised Italy’s struggles.

Experience over age? Old versus the new generation? These questions linger after the embarrassing Confederations Cup exit, Lippi so far providing only an ill-advised mix between the extreme opposites.

The defence in pieces, Italy could not rely on an utterly toothless attack either. The long-legged Luca Toni demonstrated that he will probably never make it for Italy, his replacement Alberto Gilardino confirming these sentiments with another ineffectual display and while Giuseppe Rossi starred against the USA, he cut a frustrated and angry figure against Brazil despite being in the knowledge that just one goal would have taken Italy into the semi-finals.

Yet if Italy had progressed, it would have been about as just as Australia’s recent acceptance into the Asian football federation.

Any of the Italian starting eleven would have merited half-time substitution. Had Lippi been permitted to make eleven changes, he surely would have. While the defence and attack are more obviously blameworthy, the midfield was perhaps the most depressing aspect.

Mauro Camoranesi is nearing 33 and has looked past his best for some time. Riccardo Montolivo, a talent touted for the future, didn’t perform adequately and serious questions must be asked over his ability to lead out a new Italian generation, starting from next year’s World Cup.

Andrea Pirlo was man-of-the-match when Italy picked up the Jules Rimet trophy, but his dead-ball delivery was consistently poor and influence negligible in this tournament. Daniele De Rossi, frequently the squad’s heart and soul, was also marginalised by the ineffectiveness of the other uninspired players.

Thus, with the these same Italians set to play in the same country one year from now, the World Cup trophy is silently, and without a struggle, being removed from Cannavaro’s ageing arms, ready to return to its natural home in South America.

Hope sits with the likes of Santon and Quagliarella but with others such as Gattuso and Legrottaglie lingering, it may be a case of one step forward, two back for Italy.

The other leading nations – Argentina, Spain, Germany and even England – cannot be dismissed but Brazil will once again be the side with the greatest pool of talent and the highest expectations. The 2006 side were abysmal as European footballing nations ruled in their home continent, but in the neutral location of Africa, the anticipation lies with Brazil to perform as they are billed – football’s masters.

Meanwhile, Italy could be heading towards another disaster. Lippi’s legacy is forever secure, but the amount of work he must carry out within such a short period is frightening. If he is unable to pave over the numerous, ever-expanding cracks by June next year, Italy might be staring at an early exit – but perhaps more crucially, arrive without the presence and prestige of being the world’s top team and without the performances to back-up their 2006 success.

The biggest let-down for supporters is when the supposed best fail to transpire, but Italy’s woes suggest that the South African supporters will be experiencing a sense of déjà vu come next summer.