The fall from grace of the 2006 world player of the year, who inspired
the Azzurri to glory four years ago with his superb defending,
underlines how inferior Italy look at this World Cup.A third error
from the 36-year-old at Johannesburg's Ellis Park in their last Group F
match on Thursday could let the Slovaks in and prompt a humiliating
early exit for the holders.Cannavaro failed to jump to stop
Paraguay's goal in a 1-1 draw while he made a hash of dealing with a
free kick when Shane Smeltz put New Zealand ahead in Sunday's shock 1-1
scoreline."We are a team, it's not right and we don't want to look
for who was at fault," Cannavaro bluntly told reporters.A lack of
height, pace and confidence is hampering Cannavaro, who looks a
completely different player to four years ago when almost nothing got
past his own personal brick wall.The wisdom of coach Marcello Lippi
taking a man at the very back end of his career to South Africa was
tacitly questioned in Italy but his hero status meant open criticism was
rare.Now Gazzetta dello Sport has run a poll asking if Cannavaro
should be dropped and 69.2 percent of 23,000 voters said yes.The
Juventus defender, who will quit international soccer and enjoy a
semi-retirement at Dubai's Al Ahli from July, will, though, stay in the
team because reserve center backs Leonardo Bonucci and Salvatore
Bocchetti are very inexperienced.It is not just Italy's defense that
has labored with the midfield failing to show any invention and the
attack blunted.Lippi hopes top creative midfielder Andrea Pirlo can
return to the starting lineup after missing the first two games with a
calf injury but his participation is not certain.Goalkeeper
Gianluigi Buffon is poised to miss out again with a back problem while
Lippi could bring in Antonio Di Natale or Giampaolo Pazzini up front
with Alberto Gilardino out of form."Not everything has gone well but
we don't need to see the glass half empty," Lippi said. "Our World Cup
could start here."A draw is enough for sheepish Italy to sneak
through with three points if group leaders Paraguay beat New Zealand.Famous
slow starters Italy went through with three draws at the group stage in
1982 before they picked up the pace and went on to claim the trophy by
beating Germany in the final.Slovakia have a point and can only
progress if they win, although that might not suffice if New Zealand
defeat Paraguay but the South Americans keep a better goal difference.Coach
Vladimir Weiss has been uncomfortable with the media recently, with his
playing son saying the team are fed up with unrealistic expectations
from fans in their first World Cup."There is a lot of criticism from
back home, we're doing everything we can. We've not won a game yet but
we've still got a chance so we're positive," Vladimir Weiss Jr told
reporters.They only had one shot on target in Sunday's 2-0 defeat by
Paraguay so the nippy Miroslav Stoch could come in after injury.
