Coach Marcello Lippi has kept faith with the bulk of the team that
triumphed in Berlin four years ago but local media and Italian fans have
not stopped complaining despite an unbeaten qualifying campaign.A
draw with Switzerland and defeat by Mexico in warm-up games added fuel
to the fire and with Lippi seemingly still unsure about his first-choice
lineup there is a real fear his team could be caught out.With
subsequent games against New Zealand and Slovakia it remains unthinkable
the four-times champions could fail to advance but the Azzurri seem to
be putting their faith in past pedigree rather than current talent."We
have our traditions, our characteristics. If we put our army on the
field we can compete with everyone," said captain Fabio Cannavaro,
outstanding in the 2006 campaign but at 36 now looking past his sell-by
date."The coach is trying lots of things and he will decide the best
team for us but it's right for a coach to try things. Right now we
don't know what he'll do."All that experimentation means few
observers in Italy have a clue about Lippi's likely side for Monday.Midfielder
Andrea Pirlo is out with a calf injury for the first two games while
Daniele del Rossi missed Friday's 6-0 thrashing of the Gauteng All Stars
with a similar problem.Antonio Di Natale, with 29 goals for Udinese
as Serie A's top scorer this season, and Alberto Gilardino should carry
the strike threat and the vastly experienced Lippi, unsurprisingly, is
not concerned by the critics."No team comes to the World Cup knowing
exactly what they can do, you grow through the tournament," he said.That
is something Paraguay rarely have the luxury of experiencing having
never got past the second round in their seven finals appearances,
falling at the first hurdle four times.This time, though, confidence
is high after ain impressive qualifying campaign in which they finished
second and beat Brazil and Argentina along the way.Despite losing
their main striker in qualifying, Salvador Cabanas, after he was shot in
the head in Mexico City, they have maintained that form in warm-ups,
drawing with Ivory Coast, losing narrowly to Ireland and beating North
Korea and Greece.Roque Santa Cruz remains their key striker, despite
barely getting a game in the Premier League with Manchester City, but
there is serious concern over fellow forward Oscar Cardozo.The
Benfica striker, who was joint top scorer in the Portuguese league this
season as his club won the title, has an ankle injury and is almost
certain to miss Monday's game.Coach Gerardo Martino has a ready-made
replacement in tall Argentina-born Borussia Dortmund striker Lucas
Barrios, who has a Paraguayan mother and has scored three goals in three
games since becoming eligible to play for the country.Despite
Paraguay's previous failures there is a real optimism about this
campaign and a draw against Italy would be seen as the ideal start ahead
of two winnable matches."I'm happy to start against Italy, I like
the fact we're not defining anything against them," Martino told World
Soccer magazine. "Whether the group turns out to be easy or difficult is
up to us."
