CAPE TOWN // A year and 10 days ago, Italy defeated New Zealand 4-3 in Pretoria. The seven-goal thriller, both sides' final Confederations Cup warm-up fixture, saw a largely second-string Azzurri come from behind three times to clinch a laboured victory. On that day, the All Whites attacked Italy relentlessly. But when the Group F sides clash in Nelspruit today, the much higher prize at stake likely will stop the Oceania underdogs from adopting such a bold approach again.
Defensive, spoiling tactics of less-fancied nations are the flavour of the month in South Africa. The scalps of Spain and Germany have already been claimed by Switzerland and Serbia respectively, teams who have looked to defend en masse and attack on the break. Italy, having come from behind to secure a draw with Paraguay in their opening Group F match, are eager to avoid a similar fate. "It was a strange result against Paraguay. They were lucky to score from a free-kick because they played only to defend," said Gennaro Gattuso, an unused substitute against the South Americans "We now need to win our two remaining games. They might be against smaller teams but there are no easy games in the World Cup."
The Italian press have cast the defending champions as too old. At 28.2 years, Italy has the fourth-oldest squad at the World Cup, behind England (28.7), Brazil (28.6) and Australia (28.4). In qualifying, Marcello Lippi, the manager who orchestrated Italy's World Cup triumph four years ago, relied heavily on his veteran campaigners. But in South Africa, Lippi is mixing old with young. "I don't know if this is a transition World Cup for us," Gattuso said. "Against Paraguay we fielded four or five players that have won the tournament along with some younger players. The Italian media want [Lippi] to play more young players, but you can't change too much too quickly."Giorgio Chiellini, 25, one of the team's most established young players, added: "For me it is normal that a group has experience and youth together. The younger players bring passion, feeling and energy, but the experienced players must stay. We have this mix and we hope at the end it proves right."
Winston Reid's injury-time header against Slovakia secured New Zealand's first World Cup point after they lost all three games in 1982. "We've got nothing to lose. Nobody is expecting anything from us," said defender Tommy Smith.
