Marcello Lippi

Ever since that July evening in Rotterdam six years ago when Italy, on the brink of a remarkable triumph over France in the final of the European Championship, were first frustrated by Sylvain Wiltord’s 90th-minute equaliser and then poleaxed by David Trezeguet’s golden goal, the Azzurri have been singing the blues.

If football awarded prizes for moaning, they would certainly not be described as under-achievers and I am sure the Italians’ fortunes in this year’s World Cup will rest on the ability of their excellent coach, Marcello Lippi, to dispel the losers’ mentality that hung like a cloud over their 2002 campaign in South Korea.

There, though, the distinguished Giovanni Trappatoni behaved with more dignity than some of his players ? Francesco Totti was not only sent off for twice diving against Korea but, with others, trashed the dressing-room afterwards ? they seemed beaten before they started.

And accusations of favouritism towards the hosts conveniently ignored the fact that earlier, having lost to Croatia, they had bitterly criticised a Danish linesman and the English referee, Graham Poll, whom Paolo Maldini was reported to have said should be burnt at the stake. So everyone, by and large, was conspiring against them.

Two years later, Italy failed even to get past the group stage of the European Championship. All good things come to an end, of course, and the great Maldini, a mere substitute for Milan during their 0-1 home defeat by Barcelona in last Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg, knows that as well as anyone.

Even as the decades have passed and football ceased to be quite such a theatre of cultural extremes, the Italians have continued to stand for certain things, including their own national anthem, as Paddy Agnew explains in a superb new book about Italy and its relationship with football.

Already Lippi is addressing the problem of fatalism. “I think the only thing that tires a player,” he said recently, “is reading every day how tired he will be when he gets to the World Cup finals. Come on! We’re talking about the greatest moment in a player’s career. After 10-15 days of the right training, they should all be ready. They should be walking on air.”

Among his assets are Gianluigi Buffon in goal, Fabio Cannavaro alongside Nesta in central defence, that splendid full-back Gianluca Zambrotta, the elegant Andrea Pirlo and combative Rino Gattuso in midfield and a potentially startling front partnership of the giant Luca Toni and darting predator Pippo Inzaghi, who is hunting goals as keenly as ever.

With Lippi’s midfield options limited, the form of Pirlo and Gattuso will be crucial and much may need to be done to build the morale of the Milan contingent if, as seems likely, the quest to atone for last season’s extraordinary defeat by Liverpool in the Champions League final is to end in failure. As ever, it appears, the key to how the Italians fare will be in their heads.

If anyone can keep them fresh and focused, it is Lippi, who let Zinedine Zidane and other stars leave Juventus when he sensed their appetites for success at the club were waning. He will choose his squad with care, overlooking possible troublemakers and, he told Agnew recently, strive to create a club spirit. “Even if I know,” he added, “that the tensions you have to handle playing for the national team is unlike anything you encounter anywhere else.”