Soccer World Cup 2010 / Italy

This article covers the Italian national football team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa .

qualification

The Italians started successfully in the World Cup qualifying with a late win in Cyprus. The winning goal by Antonio Di Natale only fell in stoppage time. The second game in their qualifying Group 8 won the Italians, the 2: 0 home win over Georgia could Daniele De Rossi be distinguished as two goals. In the following six games, the Italians never conceded more than one goal. The Italians' seventh game away in Tbilisi was curious, when AC Milan defender Kacha Kaladze scored two own goals for the victory of the Italian guests.

The penultimate game of qualifying in Ireland ended in a deserved 2-2 draw. After the Irish took the lead after a few minutes through Glenn Whelan , Juventus player Mauro Camoranesi equalized before the break. Shortly before the end of the regular season, defender Sean St. Ledger managed the renewed opening goal for Ireland, but Alberto Gilardino compensated shortly afterwards so that the Italians could no longer qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

In the final home game against Cyprus , the guests seemed to break the Italians' unbeaten streak after leading through Konstantinos Makridis and Chrysostomos Michail with two goals up to the 78th minute. Alberto Gilardino made a hat trick for the Italians' late but deserved home win. With 24 points, the Italian national team took first place in their qualifying group. The defending champion started the 2010 World Cup in a group with Paraguay , New Zealand and Slovakia .

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Italy	18: 7	24
2	Ireland	12: 8	18th
3	Bulgaria	17:13	14th
4th	Cyprus	14:16	9
5	Montenegro	9:14	9
6th	Georgia	7:19	3

	Cyprus - Italy		1: 2 (1: 1)
	Goal scorers: Efstathios Aloneftis ; Antonio Di Natale (2)
	Italy - Georgia		2: 0 (1: 0)
	Goal scorers: Daniele De Rossi (2)
	Bulgaria - Italy		0: 0 (0: 0)
	Goal scorers: Nothing
	Italy - Montenegro		2: 1 (2: 1)
	Goal scorers: Alberto Aquilani (2); Mirko Vucinic
	Montenegro - Italy		0: 2 (0: 1)
	Goal scorers: Andrea Pirlo , Giampaolo Pazzini
	Italy - Ireland		1: 1 (1: 0)
	Goal scorers: Vincenzo Iaquinta ; Robbie Keane
	Georgia - Italy		0: 2 (0: 0)
	Goal scorers: Kacha Kaladse (2 own goals)
	Italy - Bulgaria		2: 0 (2: 0)
	Goal scorers: Fabio Grosso , Vincenzo Iaquinta
	Ireland - Italy		2: 2 (1: 1)
	Goal scorers: Glenn Whelan , Sean St. Ledger ; Mauro Camoranesi , Alberto Gilardino
	Italy - Cyprus		3: 2 (0: 1)
	Goal scorers: Alberto Gilardino (3); Konstantinos Makridis , Chrysostomos Michail

Italian contingent

The Italian national coach Marcello Lippi announced on June 1, 2010 the line-up of 23 players.

Lippi prematurely eliminated the two Juventus players Fabio Grosso and Antonio Candreva from the original 30-man squad . When the final line-up was announced, he also renounced the services of Salvatore Sirigu , Mattia Cassani , Andrea Cossu , Marco Borriello and Giuseppe Rossi .

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus Turin	01/28/1978	1	0	0	0	0
12	Federico Marchetti	Cagliari Calcio	02/07/1983	3	0	0	0	0
14th	Morgan De Sanctis	SSC Naples	03/26/1977	0	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Christian Maggio	SSC Naples	02/11/1982	1	0	0	0	0
3	Domenico Criscito	CFC genoa	12/30/1986	3	0	0	0	0
4th	Giorgio Chiellini	Juventus Turin	08/14/1984	3	0	1	0	0
5	Fabio Cannavaro	Juventus Turin	13.09.1973	3	0	1	0	0
13	Salvatore Bocchetti	CFC genoa	11/30/1986	0	0	0	0	0
19th	Gianluca Zambrotta	AC Milan	02/19/1977	3	0	0	0	0
23	Leonardo Bonucci	AS Bari	05/01/1987	0	0	0	0	0
midfield player
6th	Daniele De Rossi	AS Roma	07/24/1983	3	1	0	0	0
8th	Gennaro Gattuso	AC Milan	01/09/1978	1	0	0	0	0
15th	Claudio Marchisio	Juventus Turin	01/19/1986	2	0	0	0	0
16	Mauro Camoranesi	Juventus Turin	04/10/1976	2	0	1	0	0
17th	Angelo Palombo	Sampdoria Genoa	09/25/1981	0	0	0	0	0
21st	Andrea Pirlo	AC Milan	05/19/1979	1	0	0	0	0
22nd	Riccardo Montolivo	AC Florence	January 18, 1985	3	0	0	0	0
striker
7th	Simone Pepe	Udinese Calcio	08/30/1983	3	0	1	0	0
9	Vincenzo Iaquinta	Juventus Turin	11/21/1979	3	1	0	0	0
10	Antonio Di Natale	Udinese Calcio	10/13/1977	3	1	0	0	0
11	Alberto Gilardino	AC Florence	07/05/1982	2	0	0	0	0
18th	Fabio Quagliarella	SSC Naples	01/31/1983	1	1	1	0	0
20th	Giampaolo Pazzini	Sampdoria Genoa	08/02/1984	1	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Marcello Lippi		04/12/1948

Games

Preliminary round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Paraguay	3: 1	5
2	Slovakia	4: 5	4th
3	New Zealand	2: 2	3
4th	Italy	4: 5	2

The Squadra Azzurra could not meet the expectations of the association. Already in the first group game, the team fell behind against Paraguay. In addition, Gianluigi Buffon, the regular goalkeeper, fell out for the entire preliminary round and was then replaced by Federico Marchetti. After an increase, the selection secured at least one point in the opening game.

The second game was not very successful either, the substitute goalkeeper Marchetti was defeated by Shane Smeltz after just a few minutes. The team, which was never convincing, only secured the draw with a penalty goal. In the last group game against Slovakia, the Italian selection fell behind again. The team, which tried both offensively and defensively, subsequently acted without any penetration. After the second goal for the Slovaks, a dramatic game developed. The next goal for Italy followed, the equalizer was denied because of alleged offside. Thereupon Slovakia scored a third goal and the next goal to make it 3-2 in stoppage time came too late. A draw would have been enough for Italy to advance in their group with the lowest possible number of points.

Coach Marcello Lippi resigned as Italian national coach after leaving , and Cesare Prandelli took over the Squadra Azzurra as the new Commissario Tecnico . Gennaro Gattuso and Fabio Cannavaro also resigned from the national team.

• Monday, June 14, 2010, 8.30 p.m. in Cape Town Italy - Paraguay 1: 1 (0: 1)
  
• Sunday, June 20, 2010, 4 p.m. in Nelspruit Italy - New Zealand 1: 1 (1: 1)
  
• Thursday, June 24, 2010, 4 p.m. in Johannesburg Slovakia - Italy 3: 2 (1: 0)
  

Web links

• Results of the Italian national team during qualification
• All matches of the preliminary round at a glance
• Squad Italy

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cyprus - Italy (match report)
2. ↑ Georgia - Italy (match report)
3. ↑ Ireland - Italy (match report)
4. ↑ Italy - Cyprus (match report)
5. ↑ Pronta la squadra azzurra: ecco la lista dei 23 per il Mondiale ( Memento of the original from June 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.