Then, after a gentle session, their first since arriving in the country

Wednesday morning, on to another college, now christened Casa Azzurri,

where the media have set up camp. It is just as well that all South African

schools and universities have taken a holiday for the duration of the

competition, as so many of their premises seem to have been commandeered by

the competing teams.

Marcello Lippi, the winning coach from four years ago, knows better than to

make any rash predictions at this stage. He is aware that only two teams

have ever retained football's greatest prize: Pele's Brazil of 1958 and

1962, and the Italians themselves in 1934 and 1938. Slow starters or not,

they are in a group they should win, even if Paraguay were to force a draw

in the opening game next Monday. A quarterfinal against Spain is on the

cards, although after some disappointing friendly results n Mexico recently

beat them 2-1 n some pessimists believe they would not survive a putative

second-round game against Cameroon.

The urbane Lippi therefore found himself having to defend the squad in his

first press conference of the tournament yesterday. "People always write us

off beforehand," he said. "It's a World Cup and everyone wants to have an

opinion and they're welcome to it but that doesn't impact on us at all.

We'll get it right. Last time we started well against Ghana and played well

from then onwards."

The other criticism before the squad was named was that it would be too old,

which the coach countered by bringing some newcomers to the party along

with nine survivors from 2006, while leaving out other old heroes like

Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti. One to look out for is 22-year-old

Leonardo Bonucci, who made an impressive debut only three months ago in the

center of defense and could win a place there alongside Fabio Cannavaro

(now aged 36), with Giorgio Chiellini moving to left-back.

The silver haired Lippi, himself a young 62, insists that age is no barrier

to performance at a World Cup. This is the country, after all, that won the

trophy in 1982 captained by the 40-year old goalkeeper Dino Zoff. Lippi's

argument is that there is a difference between a competition lasting a

month and one taking place over a whole season: "We've got a nice mix of

young players and good quality and I've never seen a team win the World Cup

with 23 new players," Lippi said.

"This is a team built for the World Cup. They were born there four years ago

and self-belief came from that result. No great players have been left

behind in Italy." Totti and Nesta may beg to differ.

Three players did not train Wednesday but only Andrea Pirlo, the deep-lying

midfielder, will miss the Paraguay game against opponents Lippi describes

as "very quick playing at a very high level for two years in the South

American group". Oddly, there are no players among the 23 Azzurri from the

new Italian champions Internazionale. Instead there will be a spine to the

team supplied by Juventus and backed up by Milan, with a crop of forwards

hoping for a second striker's role alongside Fiorentina's Alberto

Gilardino.

Marco Camoranesi and Daniele de Rossi will be familiar names in the midfield

with Gianluca Zambrotta expecting to move closer to the 100 caps that

goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has already accumulated.

It should all add up to a strong challenge, and the combination of Lippi's

know-how and the Italian tradition of over-achieving add weight to it. If a

penalty shoot-out in the 1994 final had not been lost, then as he pointed

out Wednesday, it would be Italy, not Brazil who had won most World Cups.

Yet few are betting on a fifth one here, even at odds of around 14-1.