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Italian national team is, if it could be expressed, the most tournament-oriented team in the world. There is an opinion that they can win any tournament they participate in. Italians always play weakly in the first round, looking for internal reserves for each tournament. Therefore, if they find them, they become practically unbeatable. However, for some reason, it has been a while since they brought any trophies home, to the Apennines. The last Italian victory was 22 years ago - in 1982 when they won the World Cup, and they had brought champions' titles from the continental tournament even earlier - in 1968.
History
Football first came to Italy at the end of the 19th century. In 1898, the country's football federation was founded. Just 12 years later, the Italian national team began its history.
Almost immediately, football in Italy became something bigger than just a sport. The game became as significant as a national religion, and after the victories of "azzurri", residents would celebrate, get married, and have children named after footballers in their honor. After losses, they would jump from bridges and buildings, putting their heads in the noose. Initially, there were more successes than disappointments in the early international tournaments we could talk about Italian hegemony.
...Goalkeepers
There are many people in the Italian national team who can stand in goal and not mess up if the team is playing well. However, there is not a single goalkeeper who can seriously affect the outcome of the game when the team is not playing well.
Perhaps, since the days when "Squadra azzurra" included such goalkeepers as Dino Zoff and Walter Zenga, they did not have such caliber players for this position. That is why Italians often lose in penalty shootouts.
Perhaps, following the 2000 European Championship, it seemed that this problem was solved. Immediately after, Italy had two world-class goalkeepers. If you remember, Gianluigi Buffon, who prepared for the European Championship, kept the goal in 7 out of 11 games without conceding a goal, he had to miss the Euros due to an injury. Francesco Toldo played instead of Buffon in Belgium and the Netherlands. The former Fiorentina goalkeeper looked impeccable then. His moment of glory came in the semifinals against the Netherlands, where he saved three (!) penalty kicks: one during the game and two in the penalty shootout. After these games, it seemed that Italy was provided with goalkeepers for at least the next two to three years. Buffon recovered from his injury and after missing a season at Parma, he moved to Turin, where he was welcomed with open arms by Juventus. Fiorentina, on the other hand, faced financial difficulties and was forced to sell Toldo to Inter Milan.
As a squad, they conceded 5 goals in four matches in South Korea/Japan and returned home after the round of 16.
Although Buffon was recognized as the best European goalkeeper of the 02/03 season, the 03/04 season has been terrible for him and his teammate at Inter. Both Juventus and Inter are conceding goals without significant efforts from the opponents. Only AC Milan - the champion of the Champions League - achieves everything with the effort of Brazilian goalkeeper Dida.
Hope
...Midfielders
It is difficult to define the roles of players like Gennaro Gattuso, Cristiano Zanetti, Gianluca Zambrotta, Damiano Tommassi, or Alessio Tacchinardi in the field briefly. Trapattoni has a substantial reserve in this position. He can still use Andrea Pirlo from Milan, who has finally established himself in his club's main team and is considered one of the best midfielders in Italy. Or his club teammate Massimo Ambrosini, who although often comes off the bench, does not ruin the image on the field.
...Forwards
Initially, the ideal scheme. However, there is one "but."
The fact is that when you hit your head against the wall, little depends on the head in this process. What is much more important is which wall you have to deal with. If we talk about the South Korean national team, which resembles a wall with its defensive actions, then it will be tough. And if, after you hit that wall, there is a fifty percent chance that the referee will come and the hit won't count, and everything needs to be done from the beginning, then it is impossible to beat such a wall.
This is what happened at the 2002 World Cup. The hope of the Italian national team lies in the fact that it will be different in Portugal.
