With twelve days to go until Italy take on Argentina, the Azzurre are working hard in preparation for the start of the tournament. Before they take on the Albiceleste, the Azzurri will have one final test when they take on hosts New Zealand in a friendly on Friday 14 July at 19:00 local time at Keith Hay Park in Auckland.

Milena Bertolini will call upon her final 23-player World Cup squad for the game, which will be played behind closed doors. Maria Luisa Filangeri and Beatrice Merlo, who travelled with the squad, will also be available. The FIGC, like the other associations, has submitted its final squad list for the World Cup to FIFA, though the Sassuolo defender and Inter forward will be available to the Italy Head Coach until the game against Argentina. Should nobody in the 23-player squad pull out prior to Italy’s debut match at Eden Park, the two players will return to Italy following the game.

After the Argentina match, Italy will take on Sweden (Saturday 29 July) and South Africa (Wednesday 2 August) at the Regional Stadium in Wellington. New Zealand take on Norway in the opening game at the tournament at Eden Park on Thursday 20 July.

World Cup squad lists – Yesterday, 11 July, with nine days to go until the opening match, all 32 teams at the World Cup confirmed their squad lists. In total, 736 players will take part in the ninth FIFA Women’s World Cup (click here to see the squad lists of every team).

Milena Bertolini has selected 13 players who were in the squad for last year’s European Championship. The new players are: Rachele Baldi, Benedetta Orsi, Cecilia Salvai, Giada Greggi, Sofia Cantore, Benedetta Glionna and Annamaria Serturini, as well as youngsters Emma Severini (2003), Chiara Beccari (2004) and Giulia Dragoni (2006). AS Roma have the most players in the squad (8), followed by Juventus (7), Fiorentina, Milan, Sassuolo (2), Inter and Barcelona (1). The most-capped player in the squad is Cristiana Girelli (103) and the Juventus forward has also played more matches during Bertolini’s tenure (60) than any other player. She is also the highest goalscorer in the squad with 53.