We are accustomed to seeing Italy prosper from set pieces, although they were undone by a free-kick against Paraguay and it required a goalkeeping error for them to level matters in the opening Group F match.

However, we should expect them to keep a clean sheet against New Zealand, with the All Whites having lots of possession but offering little going forward against Slovakia until a late corner found the head of Winston Reid to gain an unlikely point.

Marcello Lippi will be urging his team to produce a professional performance and a victory would mean that a draw in their final match against Slovakia would help them reach the last sixteen. We can expect Mauro Camoranesi to come into the midfield and perhaps Antonio Di Natale will start in place of the ineffective Alberto Gilardino.

With eighteen goals scored in ten qualifying games, this is an Italian team who typically don’t find the net a lot, while it might surprise a few to read that New Zealand had 52% of possession in their first game and it might be better taking a couple of correct score bets.

PREDICTION: 1-0 to Italy (6.0 with Ladbrokes) or 2-0 to Italy (5.0 with Expekt)