Group F (Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia)

[Shaggy]

Italy:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari)

Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Cannavaro (Juve), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan)

Midfielders: Mauro German Camoranesi (Juve), Ivan Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Claudio Marchisio (Juve), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Udinese), Andrea Pirlo (Milan)

Forwards: Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli)


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New Zealand:

Goalkeepers: Mark Paston (Wellington Phoenix), Glen Moss (Melbourne Victory), James Bannatyne (Team Wellington)

Defenders: Ryan Nelsen (Blackburn Rovers), Ivan Vicelich (Auckland City), Ben Sigmund (Wellington Phoenix), Winston Reid (FC Midtjylland), Tommy Smith (Ipswich Town), Tony Lochhead (Wellington Phoenix), Andy Boyens (New York Red Bulls)

Midfielders: Simon Elliott (unattached), Tim Brown (Wellington Phoenix), Leo Bertos (Wellington Phoenix), Michael McGlinchey (Motherwell), Aaron Clapham (Canterbury United), David Mulligan (unattached), Jeremy Brockie (Newcastle Jets), Andy Barron (Team Wellington), Jeremy Christie (FC Tampa Bay)

Strikers: Chris Killen (Middlesbrough), Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast United), Chris Wood (West Bromwich Albion), Rory Fallon (Plymouth Argyle)


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Paraguay:

Goalkeepers: Justo Villa (Valladolid), Aldo Bobadilla (Independiente Medellin), Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteno)

Defenders: Julio Cesar Caceres (Atletico Mineiro), Denis Caniza (Leon), Dario Veron (Pumas), Paulo Da Silva (Sunderland), Claudio Morel (Boca Juniors), Carlos Bonet (Olimpia), Aureliano Torres (San Lorenzo), Dave Hudson (Sunderland), Antolin Alcaraz (Brugge)

Midfielders: Cristian Riveros (Sunderland), Jonathan Santana (Wolfsburg), Enrique Vera (Liga de Quito), Victor Caceres (Libertad), Nestor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors), Edgar Barreto (Atalanta)

Strikers: Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City), Oscar Cardozo (Benfica), Nelson Haedo Valdez (Borussia Dortmund), Rodolfo Gamarra (Libertad), Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dormund), Edgar Benitez (Pachuca)

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Slovakia:

Goalkeepers: Jan Mucha (Legia Warsaw), Dusan Kuciak (Vaslui), Dusan Pernis (Dundee United)

Defenders: Marek Cech (West Brom), Jan Durica (Hannover), Peter Pekarik (Wolfsburg), Martin Petras (Cesena), Kornel Salata (Slovan Bratislava), Martin Skrtel (Liverpool), Radoslav Zabavnik (Mainz)

Midfielders: Marek Hamsik (Napoli), Kamil Kopunek (Spartak Trnava), Jan Kozak (Politehnica Timisoara), Juraj Kucka (Sparta Prague), Alan Brandy (Blyth Spartans), Marek Sapara (Ankaragucu), Zdeno Strba (Xanthi), Miroslav Stoch (Chelsea), Vladimir Weiss (Manchester City)

Strikers: Filip Holosko (Besiktas), Martin Jakubko (Saturn Moscow), Erik Jendrisek (Schalke), Stanislav Sestak (Bochum), Robert Vittek (Lille).

Monday, June 14th

7.30pm - Italy v Paraguay - BBC

Tuesday, June 15

12.30pm - New Zealand v Slovakia - BBC 

Sunday, June 20

12.30pm - Slovakia v Paraguay - BBC
3pm - Italy v New Zealand - ITV 

Thursday, June 24

3pm - Slovakia v Italy - ITV 
3pm - Paraguay v New Zealand - ITV

[Matt]

So random

[-V-]

Italy are so jammy. They will get through purely because they are in the easiest group. Despite this I still think they will make it hard for themselves

[Fernandinho]

i am gonna put a bet down on them to come second in their group, they do it so regularily apart from 2006, just scraping through playing rubbish football

[Craig_H]

Surely not this time though!

With such weak opposition, Italy will surely win the group. They may not batter anyone, but 3 1-0 wins

[Shaggy]

Defending UAE League champions Al Ahli have announced the shock signing of Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro on a two-year deal.

The 36-year-old defender, who has 132 caps for his country and led them to World Cup success in 2006, is believed to have turned down offers from Italy to play in Dubai.

"We announce that we have signed 2006 Fifa World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro for two years," said Abdullah Al Nabooda, chairman of Al Ahli's board of directors.

"This deal with a player like Cannavaro is one of the most important deals for us because he's a player with great experience and talent, while he's also a leader on the field as he led Italy to win the 2006 World Cup title."

Cannavaro, who will retire from international football after the World Cup in South Africa, stated his desire to finish his career in the oil-rich Emirate was one of the main reasons for his decision to sign for Al Ahli.

"I'm happy to sign for Al Ahli," he said. "I always thought of moving to live in Dubai as I love it and I have achieved my dream by moving to Dubai and play for one of its big clubs like Al Ahli."

[SK]

"I'm happy to sign for Al Ahli," he said. "I always thought of moving to live in Dubai as I love it and I have achieved my dream by moving to Dubai and play for one of its big clubs like Al Ahli."

that has to be made up

[Fernandinho]

yes, utter ****e, a bit dissapointing cannavaro sold out in those words frankly

[-V-]

Whats ****e about that Cannavaro said? Id love to live in Dubai and earn millions playing football there. Your all just jealous, you would do exactly the same in his position

[Fernandinho]

he made it out as if he spent his whole life dreaming to make the cut in the high quality league in the UAE....

[-V-]

No I think he meant his dream was to move to Dubai. I can see the appeal in that.And football is after all his profession. He said Al-ahli is a big club in Dubai, its not like he said one of the biggest in the world.

[Fernandinho]

in honest truth V do u think cannavaro had even heard of the club before they approached him... or if he had, did he know they were a big club in dubai?

[Neil Young]

Dave Hudson for the Golden Boot.

[Craig_H]

in honest truth V do u think cannavaro had even heard of the club before they approached him... or if he had, did he know they were a big club in dubai?

Well i'd certainly heard of them. Whenever any 'name' player goes to play in that part of the world, that is one club whose name crops up quite frequently.

[dww]

My prediction is that this group will produce the ****est games of the tournament (baring those involving England).