Italy's Road To The 2010 World Cup - The Timeline

Marcello Lippi returned to the Italy bench in the summer of 2008 to reverse the fortunes of the reigning world champions after a dismal European championship campaign under Roberto Donadoni.

Fifteen months have gone by and the Nazionale booked their spot in next year’s tournament in South Africa with a game to spare, just like in 1982 and 2006, but the omens are not looking good this time around…

06/09/2008 – Cyprus 1-2 Italy

Goals were expected to rain down when the Azzurri paid visit to the European minnows, but Cyprus proved to be no pushovers. Gianluigi Buffon was repeatedly called into action and Antonio Di Natale spared Lippi’s blushes deep into stoppage time.



10/09/2008 – Italy 2-0 Georgia

Another disappointing performance from the men in blue at Udine’s Stadio Friuli, but Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi’s brace proved enough to preserve their 100 per cent start in Group 8.


11/10/2008 – Bulgaria 0-0 Italy

A dull affair ended in a goalless draw in Sofia with the Azzurri rarely threatening the goal of Dimitar Ivankov.

15/10/2008 – Italy 2-1 Montenegro

Former Roma star Alberto Aquilani stole the show at the Stadio Via Del Mare in Lecce with a rare brace to extend Lippi’s unbeaten record in charge of the Azzurri to 13 games.

28/03/2009 – Montenegro 0-2 Italy

A routine albeit unimpressive away win which owed a lot to an early penalty tucked in by Andrea Pirlo. And Fiorentina ace Giampaolo Pazzini put the result beyond doubt by marking his senior debut with a goal from Simone Pepe’s centre.

 

01/04/2009 – Italy 1-1 Ireland

Italy found themselves down to 10 men inside three minutes after Pazzini controversially saw red after being adjudged to have voluntarily elbowed John O’Shea. But Vincenzo Iaquinta gave the Azzurri the lead after some fine work by Andrea Pirlo and Fabio Grosso only to let in a late Robbie Keane equalizer following a defensive blunder.
 
05/09/2009 – Georgia 0-2 Italy

One of the worst performances of the qualifying campaign but Milan defender Kakhaber Kaladze spared Lippi’s blushes with two incredible own-goals to extend the Azzurri strikeforce’s goal drought to an astonishing 350 minutes.
 
09/09/2009 – Italy 2-0 Bulgaria

Grosso and Iaquinta moved Italy four points clear at the top of the table, but once again the midfield looked devoid of ideas against the mediocre Bulgarians who nonetheless provided a stern test for Lippi’s shaky back-line.

 

10/10/2009 – Ireland 2-2 Italy

Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni was cruelly denied a famous victory over his former team as Italy twice came from behind and Alberto Gilardino netted a last-minute equalizer on the counter to crush the Croke Park crowd’s dreams and qualify Italy for South Africa.


14/10/2009 – Italy 3-2 Cyprus

With Italy already qualified, Marcello Lippi rested a number of first team players for the final qualifier against Cyprus in Parma. The Azzurri finished their campaign on a high with a 3-2 win, clinched by an incredible Gilardino hat-trick in the last 13 minutes after Cyprus had led 2-0.

Vince Masiello, Goal.com