“There are no favourites in a World Cup quarter-final, I’m sure that it’ll be a great match.” This was captain Simone Panada’s response at the press conference when he was asked if Italy were the favourites for the World Cup quarter-final against the hosts Brazil which will take place at the Stadio Olimpico in Gioania (Kick-off at 00:00 CET). The stadium is expected to be fully sold out, but the Azzurrini captain wasn’t fazed: “Our experience at the Euros with Ireland, where we came second, it got us used to strong emotions and therefore we won’t have these sorts of problems tomorrow. Coach Carmine Nunziata echoed this sentiment: “There are no favourites and fortunately, the general public doesn’t play the match; it’s eleven versus eleven and the best team wins.” Nunziata had plenty of praise for their upcoming opponents: “Brazil have five or six technically-gifted players who we will definitely see again at a higher level in the future. They’re a team who play with a lot of intensity, but that’s become the norm at this World Cup, where the tactics have also improved on average.”

Brazil normally line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation but Vasco de Gama will have to deal with Diego’s suspension and an injury to star player Talles Magno. The host nation reached the quarter-finals after beating Chile 3-2 in the round of 16 and having comfortably progressed out of their group with wins against Canada, New Zealand and Angola.

Italy qualified for the World Cup thanks to their second place finish at the European Championships in the Republic of Ireland in May. They won against the Solomon Islands (5-0) and Mexico (2-1) and lost against Paraguay (2-1) in the group stage, before beating Ecuador 1-0 to set up the encounter with Brazil.

There is only one recorded previous meeting of these two teams in this age category. They took each other on an International Tournament in Birmingham and Francesco Rocca’s team drew 1-1.

The Azzurrini had their final training session this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s match: sprits are high and Nunziata has the whole squad available for selection.

Two of the other quarter-finals take place today as Holland play Paraguay and South Korea take on Mexico.

Quarter-finals schedule

Sunday 10 November

Holland vs Paraguay (20:30 CET); South Korea vs. Mexico (00:00 CET);

Monday 11 November

Spain vs France (20:30 CET); Italy vs Brazil (00:00 CET)