Italy face an uphill task

Italy is the only seeded team at the World Cup that will play two higher-ranked opponents in the first round.

Italy is the only seeded team at the World Cup that will play two higher-ranked opponents in the first round. It seems a strange happenstance, but when the FIFA rankings are involved, things sometimes get confusing.

Italy, which is ranked 13th by soccer’s world governing body but was rated as one of the top eight teams for the tournament in Germany, will play the second-ranked Czech Republic and no 5.

United States in group E. The Italians, who won two of the first three world cups and then added another title in 1982, first play 48th-ranked Ghana, which is also in the group.

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“At the moment I am only thinking about the match against Ghana, because the first game is always the most important,” Italy coach Marcello Lippi said.

“The outcome of that match, whether we win, lose or draw, will decide how we will approach the second game. And the second game decides the approach for the third, and so on.”

Italy’s roster will include playmaker Francesco Totti, who recently returned from an 81-day injury layoff, Luca Toni, and Fabio Cannavaro. Gianluigi Buffon, who has been engulfed in gambling allegations, is expected to be the team’s starting goalkeeper. “He’s a great person,” Totti said of Buffon. “I don’t believe he did anything, but even if he did make an error, I would stand by him.”

The bigger burden may be finishing in a position where it will avoid five-time champion Brazil in the second round.

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The Czech Republic will face Italy in its final group match, and the loser could be the team that plays the defending champions, assuming Brazil wins group F ahead of Croatia, Australia and Japan.

The Czechs, who reached the world cup final twice as Czechoslovakia, will be led by Jan Koller, the recently injured forward who is the team’s all-time leading scorer with 40 goals from 66 games. Pavel Nedved, who came out of international retirement to help the team qualify in the playoffs, will also play a key role in the team’s chances.

The Americans reached the quarterfinals four years ago, and 11 players from that squad are still with the team, including Landon Donovan, Damarcus Beasley, Kasey Keller, Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride and Eddie Pope.

If the Americans hope to advance again, they are likely going to need Ghana to spring an upset on the Italians or the Czechs.

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The four-time African cup of nations champions are one of four teams from the continent making their debut at the World Cup. “There is a lot of determination from the boys and the technical team to see this dream realised,” Ghana team spokesman Randy Abbey said.