Kiwis warning for Italy: ‘let’s get physical’

The Italians proclaim defeat is unthinkable but the New Zealand All Whites are planning to give the defending champions a run for their money at the World Cup on Sunday.

On face value, Italy, among the aristocrats of world football with four World Cups, are unbackable favourites to put the Oceania minnows in their place in Nelspruit and step up their title defence.

Both teams kicked off Group F with 1-1 draws — the Azzurri struggled and needed a Daniele De Rossi second-half equaliser against Paraguay in Cape Town.

Meanwhile, New Zealand celebrated their first-ever World Cup point with a stoppage-time leveller with Slovakia in Rustenburg.

Italy, number five in the world, up against the 78th-ranked Kiwis looks a mismatch, but Italy have a history of inglorious defeats, losing 1-0 to North Korea in 1966 and 2-1 to South Korea in 2002.

“There are teams that we should beat, we’re better. We need to play our game and of course be careful,” De Rossi said.

“They have big players so we won’t be playing the ball in the air. But we’re Italy and we should win.

“Not getting out of the group would be an absolute failure, it would also be a failure to not get past the second round.”

New Zealand, for their part, are talking up their muscular approach, aiming to unhinge the lavishly-paid professionals of Serie A and etching their name into World Cup folklore.

“We’re a big solid team and that’s what we’ve designed ourselves around,” defender Ben Sigmund said.

“With us Kiwis, we’ve always been that. The English style comes in with all the imports that have come out to New Zealand, so we’ve built that style. It’s a great thing to have and I think a lot of other teams are scared.”

There will be little subtlety in the All Whites’ approach as they aim to play to their aerial strength.

Sigmund said New Zealand won’t hesitate to whack the ball long to central striker Rory Fallon and feed off his height.

“Rory Fallon is about seven foot tall when he jumps and he’s got a couple of good elbows on him as well, which I wouldn’t want to get in the way of,” Sigmund said.

De Rossi said he doesn’t want Sunday’s game to become a purely physical battle.

“I like the manly game but I also like playing the ball around. But I don’t like it when the game gets too physical, not because I’m afraid but because I like the beautiful game,” he said.

“But I haven’t seen any really physical battles in the World Cup, they’ve all been good games and I think this one will be similar to the Paraguay game.”

The Italians will remember their only encounter with New Zealand in a friendly ahead of the Confederations Cup last year in South Africa when they won 4-3.

The All Whites led the match on three occasions through goals from Shane Smeltz and Chris Killen before Italy clawed back to win.

Italy will be without their talisman goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who suffered a recurrence of a herniated disc against Paraguay and is unlikely to play again at the World Cup, giving way to Cagliari’s Federico Marchetti.

New Zealand are dreaming of stunning the football world and reaching the round of 16 after the euphoria of their last-gasp equaliser by defender Winston Reid against Slovakia.

“It’s still a long way to go. The immediate focus is the next game — Italy,” coach Ricki Herbert said.

“But it is possible, we just got to keep working hard and believing in ourselves and see what happens.

“We will keep on dreaming — the reality is we have a chance like anybody else. It will be tough but we are competitors and right up there.”

KEY TO MATCH

Alberto Gilardino/Vincenzo Iaquinta versus Ryan Nelsen

Italy will be looking for goals from Gilardino and Iaquinta that were missing against Paraguay. They could get their chance against an All Whites defence anchored by Blackburn Rovers’ stopper Nelsen. This appears the ideal match for Italy to get fully on the World Cup trail.