Eleven years on the National team. He debuted on the team with Zoff in 1999, has participated in three European Championships and this is his third World Cup: veteran Gianluca Zambrotta knows a lot about football and what surrounds it. “Ever since I can remember – said the Milan defender – Italy has never started off as the favorite team in any competition. It was like this in 2006, everyone talked about a team that at maximum could pass the elimination round and instead we won the title. We are used to the criticism, it is nothing new especially to players with experience like me. We react very well to criticism, something that is in our Italian DNA and everything people are now saying about us unites us even more, gives us morale. We are still the reigning world champions and we want to hang on to this trophy. Our objective is to go all the way, play the final, and everything that happens around us will not be a problem”. non è una novità soprattutto per i giocatori con più esperienza come me.
Lippi is the first to charge us up: “In these types of competitions the coach is always like this – continued Zambrotta. He wants to give us the right degree of tension, the one he has inside and the one he wants from us, we know him well and we know how he works. He has always asked us to be compact, not only on defense, but as a team. He wants us compact, tight-knit, close up, this is what he wants and this is what we are trying to improve”.
The team debuts in four days, Paraguay is waiting for the world champions in a match that could already be the key match in this group. “The first match is especially important; just like in any World Cup match, before going on the field you start to shake a little, in the sense that there is the right amount of tension to prepare as best as possible. Mosto f us are used to these types of matches and I do not think we have the problem of charging up too much for the match against Paraguay. We want to finish first in our group standings and a good start would bei deal. Paraguay i san excellent team, with lots of talented players. We will be studying them in these days, we still have not, but we know that it is a difficult team to play against.”
One year ago, the unpleasant experience in the Confederations Cup. “With respect to then, we stayed more than 10 days in Sestriere to get used to the altitude. South Africa is a great country, we know this place very well, we have been training in a fantastic center and we are in a fantastic hotel, we have all we need to work as best as possible”. Riccardo Montolivo, who is just starting his experience on the National team, shares the same opinion: “In 2006, I cheered for Italy – said the player – now I am here, ready to live a wonderful experience. My hands are sweating, and I cannot wait to start playing”.
Criticism is not a problem for him either: “We are motivated even more by the skepticism that surrounds us, and it means we have another reason to surprise everyone”.
Tra l'altro proprio oggi, dopo le polemiche dei giorni scorsi innescate da una frase del ministro Calderoli, è stato ufficializzato che  parte dei premi di Sudafrica 2010 saranno destinati per festeggiare i 150 anni dell'Unita' d'Italia. "La fondazione per le celebrazioni dell'Unita' ha problemi di budget - hanno dichiarato Buffon e Cannavaro - e allora noi che siamo un simbolo che unisce il paese intero abbiamo deciso: se andiamo a premio, ciascuno di noi contribuira' con una parte della somma, piccola o grande che sia, per dare risalto al valore dell'Italia unita''.