Socceroos massive underdogs

Should the unthinkable happen, and the Socceroos beat Italy in a World Cup football match, Italians will feel much like the English did in 1882 when colonial upstarts won a cricket match which gave rise to the Ashes.

The Italians did not invent football, but they do feel they own it, and their unfolding domestic match-fixing scandal indicates they can lay claim to the best league money can buy.

How the Socceroos would love to write them a mock obituary, but they start as 'massive underdogs', in the words of defender Craig Moore.

The Italians have won the World Cup three times, a record bettered only by Brazil.

If they want to make it four in 2006, however, they must conquer a lion-hearted Australian team which few experts gave any chance just weeks ago.

The superlative Socceroos have risen to every new height demanded of them, and are fired up for their return to Kaiserslautern, scene of their historic first World Cup win over Japan, on Monday (Tuesday morning AEST).

At stake is a place in the quarter finals, no less.

The reputation of the Italians means precisely nothing to them.

Their coach Guus Hiddink does not pick his players on reputation, and consequently they have no fear of big names themselves.

What they do have is faith.

They believe in themselves, individually and as a group.

They believe in their physical fitness, rating it as good or better than any team in Germany.

They believe in their resilience, as proven by the astonishing fact that they have made the final 16 despite holding the lead for only three of their 270 minutes of game time so far.

And they believe in their coach, despite the brain explosion that made him bench regular goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer for Zeljko Kalac in the previous match against Croatia.

Fortunately, teams can get away with the odd mistake in the initial group phase.

But errors can be fatal from now on when every match is a cup final.

Adding even more fuel to the cup tie atmosphere - as if it needed any - is the gasoline of Italy's strong links with Australia.

The mix is certain to ignite passions in tens of thousands of Italian households down under, and force many to wonder whether they should wear blue or green and gold, and shout 'Forza Azzurri' or 'Go the Socceroos'.

The Australian squad contains three players of Italian descent - midfielders Marco Bresciano and Vince Grella, who both turn out for Parma in Italy's revered Serie A, and striker John Aloisi, who plays his club football in Spain.

One concern for Australia is the absence of Tony Popovic through injury and Brett Emerton through suspension, which will limit Hiddink's options at the back.

The defence led by Lucas Neill will do well to contain Italy's creative maestro Francesco Totti and goal poacher Filippo Inzaghi.

Up front, Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell might do even better to break down a miserly back line marshalled by Fabio Cannavaro, whose key co-defender Alessandro Nesta, mercifully for the Aussies, has been ruled out due to a groin injury.

The Socceroos will not want to go a goal down yet again in this tournament, for the Italians are the past masters of the 1-0 win.

But if the match should go to extra-time then penalties, history may come back to haunt the Italians, who have a horrible record in sudden-death situations.

They were eliminated by a Korea Republic golden goal at this stage in 2002, curiously when Hiddink was again the enemy general, and went down in penalty shoot-outs in the three World Cups before that, including in the 1994 final against Brazil.

One huge incentive for Australia comes in the form of what lies ahead.

If the Socceroos can upset Italy in Kaiserslautern they will earn a quarter-final berth against either Switzerland or debutant Ukraine - on paper a much easier match - and all of a sudden a credible path to the semi-finals would open up for them.

It is almost too dizzying a thought to contemplate.

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