Italy
Italy have already won the World Cup three times, in 1934, 1938 and 1982, and Germany 2006 will be their 16th appearance in the World Cup finals.
Their defence is like a stone wall and they have huge strength in depth in attack yet they have under-achieved recently.
Italy World Cup profile continues below
Italy didn’t make the quarter finals in the 2002 World Cup and couldn’t get past the group stages at Euro 2004 in a group they were favourite to win.
Italy’s manager, Marcello Lippi took over after Euro 2004 and insisted that places will be awarded for current form not for reputation.
The forward pairing of Del Piero and Vieri soon discovered that he wasn’t lying and Luca Toni and Alberto Gilardino, who replaced them, were two of the stars of the Italian team.
Italy boasts one of the top three leagues in the world with the Serie A, but it is renowned for slow paced, low tempo football, and the national side is similar, always steady but never incredible.
Italy are ranked 12th in the world and got off to a winning start defeating Ghana 2-0, however they only drew 1-1 against the USA, where they were playing 10 against 9 at the end of a heated contest.
Marcello Lippi declared himself 'disappointed and angry' with the performance. However, they went on to beat Czech Republic 2-0 to top the group and set up a last 16 match against Australia.
It was not until injury time that Italy clinched the match when substitute, Francesco Totti scored a penalty which put 10-man Italy into the quarter-finals - Marco Materazzi having been sent off in the 49th minute.
The victory over the Ukraine in the quarter-finals proved an easier matter. Italy beat Ukraine 3-0 with a goal from Zambrotta and two from Toni.
Italy's semi-final performance was a class-act. In an exciting contest they were level with hosts Germany, until Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero scored deep in extra-time to take Italy to the 2006 World Cup final.
And on 9 July 2006, Italy triumphed. They were level with France after extra time at 1-1, but scored all their penalties to succesfully win the shoot-out 5-3 and win the World Cup for the fourth time.
Italy Squad:
Player Club Position Caps Goals
M Amelia Livorno G 1 0
G Buffon Juventus G 58 0
A Peruzzi Lazio G 31 0
A Barzagli Palermo D 7 0
F Cannavaro Juventus D 91 1
M Materazzi Inter D 26 0
A Nesta Milan D 73 0
M Oddo Lazio D 18 0
C Zaccardo Palermo D 11 1
S Barone Palermo M 12 1
M Camoranesi Juventus M 19 2
D De Rossi Roma M 15 3
R Gattuso Milan M 40 1
F Grosso Palermo M 15 1
S Perrotta Roma M 22 1
A Pirlo Milan M 22 4
G Zambrotta Juventus M 52 1
A Del Piero Juventus F 72 25
Filippo Inzaghi Milan F 48 21
A Gilardino Milan F 13 6
V Iaquinta Udinese F 11 0
L Toni Fiorentina F 16 7
F Totti Roma F 49 8
Italy World Cup profile by Ben Rosenbaum
