Fear of failure weighs on Italians

“Absolute failure would be not getting through,failure would be to go out in the second round,” De Rossi,told a news conference.

“We’ve got to aim at reaching the semi-final,it may sound limiting but it’s an important goal as then it’s anyone’s game.”

New Zealand’s soccer team,ranked 78 in the world,are the polar opposite of the country’s great rugby side and De Rossi knows the humiliation the world champions would face should the result go against them in Nelspruit.

“Losing to New Zealand would probably mean we would risk going out like France,” he said. “You can imagine what that would mean,it would be like New Zealand going out in the first round of the rugby World Cup.”

The fact Italy are even talking about the remote possibility of losing will not instil their fans with huge confidence but at least with De Rossi on the field they know they have the world’s top defensive midfielders.

He scored the leveller against Paraguay and has matured since the 2006 World Cup,when he was sent off for an elbow in the second game against the United States but returned to score a penalty in the shootout in the final.