Italy World Cup Betting

Odds: 12/1

Positives

Italy are the reigning world champions having lifted the World Cup trophy in Germany in 2006. That victory took their tally to four World Cups, just one less than Brazil and more than any other nation in the world. The win came in the aftermath of the much publicised match-fixing scandal which had recently hit Italian domestic football and the siege mentality within the squad was accredited as one of the mitigating factors in their success. The squad remains constructed primarily of players playing their club football in Italy – Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal) and Alberto Aquilani (Liverpool) are the only players in contention who play outwith Italy – and the sense of national pride in a country obsessed with football is still extremely prominent within the Azzurri.

They have also been drawn in one of the less difficult World Cup groups and can be expected to qualify from it with relative comfort.

Negatives

A number of key players in that 2006 World Cup winning squad have now either retired from international football or are otherwise no longer involved with the national team. As a result they struggled in the subsequent Euro 2008 championships where they only won one game and scored three goals throughout the whole tournament eventually being knocked out at the quarter-final stage. They also stuttered through their World Cup qualifying group, twice being held to a draw by Republic of Ireland and only narrowly beating Georgia both home and away. Significant improvement will be needed if they are to make the latter stages of this World Cup.

Key Player(s)

Defender Fabio Cannavaro is now 36 years of age with more than 100 caps of experience under his belt and is the stalwart around whom the Italian squad is built. Whether he makes the starting line-up or not is becoming more of a contentious issue these days but the value of his presence within the squad is unquestionable.

Another 100+ capper is goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon who has been their man between the sticks or well over a decade now. During the 2006 World Cup he kept five clean sheets and went a stunning 453 minutes throughout the tournament without conceding a goal; when lifting the trophy the only goal that had been scored against him in open play – discounting penalties– was an own goal by team mate Cristian Zaccardo in their group game against USA. He is widely considered amongst fans, pundits and fellow professionals to be one of the best goalkeepers of all time.

Best Bet

Providing Italy win their group, which they can be fully expected to do, then they are unlikely to face any stiff opposition until the quarter-final stages where they will meet Spain – providing their World Cup also goes to plan. The Italians’ experience and defensive strength should see them surpass the weaker nations but they will come a cropper when up against tough opposition of the likes of Spain.

Back Italy to be eliminated at the Quarter-Final stage @ 5/2