Italy OVERVIEW 
The Italians have a long and marvellous footballing tradition. Almost every player would love to play there and the national team continually produces a high class of players. World Champions on 3 occassions and present at 16 FIFA World Cup Finals, the nation is always amongs the favourites to become champions at every tournament. Though they have without a doubt had their fair share of heartache and most of which has arguably been more recent. At the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan the Azzuri battled their way into the quarter-final where they came up against hosts South Korea. The Europeans led for most of the game but shortly before the final whistle the South Koreans equalised and went on to win by Golden Goal in extra time for a jubilant victory not before Christian Vieri missed a glorious chance to bring the game back level.
Italy suffered a similarly crushing defeat to a last gasp Golden Goal two years previously at Euro 2000 in the Netherlands and Belgium. In the final against France, they saw their opponents draw level in the dying minutes before David Trézéguet delivered the killer blow.
However with former Juventus manager Marcello Lippi at the helm, Italy have every chance of being there or thereabouts in the latter stages of the 2006 tournament.
Scroll down the page for world cup statistics of Italy and
background information on the country.
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Italy World Cup Statistics
Confederation: EuropePrevious World Cup Appearances: 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 Best Finish: Winners (1934, 1938, 1982) Italy General Information
Capital City: RomeCurrency: Euro Population: 58.01 million Official Languages: Italian Country History and Background
Italy, republic in southern Europe, bounded on the north by Switzerland and Austria; on the east by Slovenia and the Adriatic Sea; on the south by the Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea; on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Ligurian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea; and on the northwest by France. It comprises, in addition to the Italian mainland, the Mediterranean islands of Elba, Sardinia, and Sicily, and many lesser islands. Enclaves within mainland Italy are the independent countries of San Marino and Vatican City; the latter is a papal state mostly enclosed by Rome, the capital and largest city of Italy. Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Player to Watch
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