Could Group F be any easier for Italy?

Love them or hate them (and Shimer and I most definitely fall into the latter category), Italy always shows up in the World Cup.

They are the defending champions and even though they play a style of soccer that we hate: defensive, diving, boring, it gets results.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi seems to be ushering in a new era of sorts as veterans like Francesco Totti, Luca Toni and Alessandro Del Piero were left off the 30-man preliminary roster for the World Cup.

There is no place for Totti, despite his form for Scudetto challengers Roma and widespread speculation he would be given the chance to revive his international career after being absent since the World Cup triumph in 2006.

Villarreal striker Giuseppe Rossi was included as a seventh striker at the expense of Juventus defender Nicola Legrottaglie and is the only foreign-based player in the squad, but there is no place for Roma forward Luca Toni or Juventus veteran Alessandro Del Piero.

Toni had hoped that his loan move from Bayern Munich to Roma would help him secure a place in Lippi's squad. Del Piero, meanwhile, had an indifferent season in Serie A and will not travel to the finals, bringing an end to his run of appearances at major finals for his country.

Striker Marco Borriello, AC Milan's leading scorer with 14 goals, did make the squad but with Lippi needing to reduce the team to 23 players by June 1, the 27-year-old knows there are no guarantees he will be on the plane to South Africa next month.

"Only 23 players will go to the World Cup," he said. "I know that during the training camp in Sestriere, I will have to work extremely hard and show my worth to Lippi. I really hope I can get to go to South Africa."
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo)

Defenders: Gianluca Zambrotta (AC Milan), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Grosso (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Mattia Cassani (Palermo), Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa)

Midfielders: Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Antonio Candreva (Juventus), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Simone Pepe (Udinese)

Forwards: Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Marco Borriello (Milan), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria).

The other three teams in Group F: Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia are pretenders and I'd be shocked if Italy doesn't get through to the round of 16. They are as close to a sure thing as there is.

Also, as an American, the most interesting subplot for me is watching how Rossi (a New Jersey native, who shunned a chance with the U.S. team to play for Italy) does. He's young but as we've seen in qualifying and with Villareal, the kid can play.