Daunting test awaits Azzurri

Sunday’s Euro 2012 Group C opener in Gdansk is a clash between the last two World Cup winners as crisis-hit Italy take on Spain.

The Azzurri can’t afford to lose despite playing against the championship favourites as their following two matches will be against Croatia (June 14) and Giovanni Trapattoni’s Ireland (June 18).

After a disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign in South Africa, Italy bounced back after Cesare Prandelli took over from Marcello Lippi.

The former Parma and Fiorentina coach made sweeping changes as he sought to rejuvenate an ageing squad by introducing fresh blood.

Italy qualified for the finals without much difficulty as they won eight of their 10 matches, remaining undefeated and conceding only two goals in the process.

However, it would be a mistake for Prandelli to rely on those statistics to assess his team’s chances in Poland and Ukraine.

Estonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Northern Ireland and Faroe Islands were too modest opponents to halt Italy’s march.

Only Serbia could have posed a serious threat but the Azzurri were lucky enough to be awarded a 3-0 win in the direct clash in the wake of the crowd trouble that erupted in the visitors’ end in Genoa.

In the return match, Italy gained a point in a 1-1 draw but by that stage the Serbians were already out of contention.

Taking a brief look at the history of the championship, Italy have traditionally under-achieved in this competition. Some pundits reckon that winning the European title can be harder than winning the World Cup.

Italy’s only triumph on the continent dates back to 1968. Then, Italy had hosted the competition and needed a replay to overcome Yugoslavia in the final.

The Azzurri had to wait 32 long years to reach the final again. In 2000, Dino Zoff’s Italy were moments away from glory only to be punished by France’s final flourish and David Trezeguet’s golden goal in a tournament co-hosted by Belgium and Holland.

Many things have changed since Italy ended their successful 2012 qualifying campaign on October 11 with a resounding win over Northern Ireland in Pescara.

To start with, the Azzurri have lost three warm-up matches – against Uruguay (0-1 in Rome in November), vs the United States (0-1 in Genoa in February) and Russia (0-3 last Friday in Zurich).

The build-up has been very com-plicated as another match-fixing scandal has rocked the nation with Prandelli admitting last week that he would have no problem withdrawing the team from Euro 2012 if it was for the good of the game.

He made the shocking declaration in the wake of a wide-ranging police investigation into match-rigging that also involved some national team players.

As a consequence, defender Domenico Criscito has been dropped from the squad.

It is difficult to predict the effect this ugly episode will have on Italy’s performances at Euro 2012.

For sure, Italy must focus solely on footballing matters if they are to advance in the tournament.

Spain are everyone’s favourites and Croatia could give Italy a hard time in the group.

Italy’s record in five meetings with Croatia since the collapse of the former Yugoslavia reads: played five, drew two and lost three.

Old fox Trapattoni knows Italian football inside out, so Ireland will be a tough nut to crack as well.