ITALY

Italy's World Cup record: 1934 Winners, 1938 Winners, 1950 1st rd, 1954 1st rd, 1962 1st rd, 1966 1st rd, 1970 RU, 1974 1st rd, 1978 4th, 1982 Winners, 1986 1st rd, 1990 3rd rd, 1994 RU, 1998 QF, 2002 2nd rd, 2006 Winners.

How Italy qualified for World Cup 2010: European Group 8 winners.

The Coach: Marcello Lippi (Italian, 61). Appointed: June 2008 (second spell). WC experience: Player: None. Coach: 2006.

He was born in Viareggio, in northern Tuscany, Lippi was Italy’s trainer from 16 July 2004 to 12 July 2006 and led Italy to win the 2006 World Cup. He was re-appointed as Italian head coach in the summer of 2008.

The Country: Italy confirmed the opportunity to protect their world title in South Africa in impressive fashion, equalising in the last minute in Ireland to steal a 2-2 draw and top spot in Group Eight. Mauro Camoranesi cancelled out Glenn Whelan's opener for Ireland, but Sean St Ledger's goal looked to be taking the group to the final round of matches until Alberto Gilardino's crucial late goal.

Later, Italy striker Gilardino said: "The game was tight until the end. And qualifying for the World Cup, this is even more beautiful. We deserved the draw. When they scored to make it 2-1, we were not attentive. Thank goodness we equalised."

But the Azzurri have a routine of raising the pulse. Italy won their fourth World Cup, winning against France in Berlin on penalties following a 1-1 tie at the end of added time which of course included that headbutt by Zinedine Zidane on Marco Materazzi.