2010 World Cup Soccer

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Italy will endeavour to resuscitate its FIFA World Cup existence when it confronts Slovakia at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg tonight.

The Azzurri have stuttered in South Africa thus far posting comparable 1-1 draws against seemingly lesser opposition in the form of Paraguay and New Zealand.

The four-time world champions have also displayed considerable weaknesses in its line-up so far in the tournament as the absence of Gianluigi Buffon to injury, the unexceptional form of captain, Fabio Cannavaro, and the obvious shortage of predatory goal-scoring forwards are all beginning to tell.

Slovakia is the only newcomer to the world stage and it has shown its lack of experience as a result of the Europeans initially struggling to a 1-1 draw with New Zealand, before capitulating against Paraguay amid a disappointing 2-0 defeat in Bloemfontein.

Robert Vittek, Vladimir Weiss and goalkeeper, Jan Mucha have all performed admirably for the Slovaks up until now, but they will truly need a team effort to overpower an Italian side packed with loads of world-class talent to give themselves any chance of avoiding defeat.

For either team, the equation is simple.

If Slovakia doesn’t win, they will be doomed to spend the rest of the tournament in World Cup oblivion as it will fail to progress to the knockout phase.

For Italy, a draw may allow it to advance to the Round of 16, but it would have to rely on New Zealand losing or drawing by way of scoring fewer goals than the Italians.

In less complicated terms, a victory is essential for the Italians to continue the dream of winning back-to-back World Cups for the second time in its history.

Match-time commences at 00:00 (AEST) on Friday 25 June.

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