World Cup Debate: Same old qualifying blues or are Italy heading for World Cup embarrassment?

By Stefano Federici

When Italy left the field following their 2-0 victory over Georgia on Saturday night, Marcello Lippi’s side confirmed their place at the top of Group 8 before they prepare for two crunch games with Bulgaria and the Republic of Ireland.

Despite their latest victory, La Nazionale are clearly struggling and with South Africa 2010 just nine months away the current signs look alarming. After being outmuscled for 45 minutes by a far inferior Georgia side on Saturday evening, Lippi claimed his men were “taken aback by the opposition’s liveliness and opted to focus mostly on defensive duties”.

With the standard of opposition set to be far beyond that of the Georgian’s come the World Cup, it looks like the Paul Newman lookalike will have to come up with some better excuses. Taking into account the lack of style in the Azzurri’s game, Italy could well be on course for a repeat of their recent Confederations Cup embarrassment should Lippi refuse to mix up the pack a little bit in time for South Africa.

Just Qualifying Blues Or A Much Deeper Problem?

When Italy returned to the peninsula on Sunday, Lippi pointed out that La Nazionale have “never been outstanding in qualifying, but are far stronger as a tournament side.”

Given the lack of creativity in the current team, however, it is hard to see how La Nazionale will suddenly emerge as a compact unit again when they look to defend their crown next summer.

Considering the relatively minor challenge of steering the Azzurri through Group 8, many have argued that the former Juventus coach should have used the opportunity better to draft in a new generation of players that could have taken the reigns from the current crop of champions in  a controlled and steady manner.

With players such as Davide Santon being introduced into the national setup, many are asking why Gianluca Zambrotta is still regularly playing 70 minutes despite looking a shadow of his former self. As Zambrotta’s running game slowly starts to dwindle, surely Santon should be earning the minutes in qualifying to give him optimum preparation for a first team place come South Africa 2010?

Despite Lippi’s stubbornness to take a gamble with his promising youngsters there is no excuse as to why the Azzurri have lost all sparkle in their game in the last two months. After gambling on new blood to great effect in the 3-0 friendly demolition of Northern Ireland back in June, Italy seem to have ditched their game plan and are now relying on hand outs from the opposition to keep the points ticking over.

What is certain from now until June 2010 is that Marcello Lippi will not revolutionize the current squad, despite the calls for Antonio Cassano or a return to duty from Francesco Totti. However, if the Azzurri tactician doesn’t go back to the drawing board he could be setting up the World Champions for their second embarrassment on African soil within the space of a year.

With the current system clearly not working the coach only has nine months to try out alternatives and build a compact unit once more.  As a nation begins to doubt the Azzurri, Italy are beginning to find themselves in familiar territory and this could prove useful as they look to build an ‘victim complex’ in preparation for next summer.

Given the manner in which Lippi steered an unfancied, underrated group of players to the top prize in 2006, maybe the current situation is just what he wants as he looks to set the scene for a second World Cup adventure.

What are your views on this topic? Are Italy just suffering from qualifying blues or do their problems lie much deeper this time? Should Lippi change his formation or is it time to revolutionise the squad in time for South Africa 2010? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think…