The friendlies that Italy played leading up to the Cup were anything but friendly. An uninitiated stranger to football who happened to witness Italy's shock 2-1 loss to Mexico, followed by a 1-1 draw against Switzerland would be forgiven if he did not know that he had just seen the defending champions in action.
Be that as it may, Italy should have it easy, in group F. Take a look at the other teams. Paraguay are merely journeymen, New Zealand have no expectations, and Slovakia were simply lucky to qualify.
Italy have met and beaten each of the others, at some time or other. The team that could come closest to delivering an upset are Paraguay. In the preliminary stage of Olympics 2004, they did beat Italy, 1-0.
The Kiwis put up a good showing in a friendly against the World Champions, last year, when they scored 3 goals to Italy's 4.
Qualifying for this tournament has been Slovakia's greatest achievement since the break-up of the erstwhile Czechoslovakia. On their solitary meeting with Italy on a football field, they were handed a 3-0 thrashing. Neither New Zealand nor Paraguay have played Slovakia, before.
Paraguay's recent claim to fame was their 1-0 win against Argentina, in the qualifiers. Also, they got the better of the Kiwis, in their last meeting. But that was 15 years ago.
So is there an upset on the cards? I think not. Sit back and watch the Azzuris avenge their 2004 defeat to Paraguay, in style!
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