Daniele De Rossi is an important part of the Italian football team that is coming to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and Roma’s midfielder had a leading role four years ago when Italy when all the way to win another World Cup trophy. Despite the various roster changes that Marcello Lippi is enforcing this summer, Italy has still kept the main players of the previous World Cup, and the mentality of a winner is always a given for the Italian team.
“The most important factor for Italy is all the quality players available. The heart of the team is compromised by the same people that succeeded four years ago, and as well as the Euro 2008 where we were eliminated by Spain in the penalties. It is true that many young players came aboard during the preparation period, but the psychology and mind of the team remains the same. We keep playing with the same courage and strength as before, something that has taken Italy all the way to the top.”
Daniele De Rossi talks about Italy’s group stage matches and believes it will be a tough tournament: “The group looks easy for Italy on a first glance, but very few times in a World Cup this actually proves to be true. Paraguay finished above Argentina during the qualifying season. We played a game against New Zealand before the Confederations Cup and had a really hard time to beat them by 4-3. Slovakia also is a very organised and ambitious team, so anything could happen in South Africa.”
Rossi also comments on Italy’s World Cup 2010 team roster that has been criticised by many as being old: “Yes we have quite a few players that are over 30 years old, but don’t forget that the World Cup is a rather small tournament without a lot of games. Many of these players will definitely retire right after the 2010 World Cup, again the most important thing though is to keep our head straight and focus. It will be really hard to repeat the triumph, the rest of the teams have become much stronger than four years ago.”
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