The World Cup holds distinctly mixed memories for Andrea Pirlo. In 2006 he played an integral role in the Azzurri side that sealed a fourth title, winning three Man of the Match awards – including in the final – and was the tournament’s leading assist maker.
Yet four years later, Pirlo’s World Cup from a personal sense was as dismal as Italy’s performance in South Africa. Injured for Italy’s first two group games against Paraguay and New Zealand, opponents that would not normally trouble the defending world champions, however in Africa Italy failed to play like holders.
By the time Pirlo returned to the side for their final group game against Slovakia, Italy had accumulated just two points and needed victory to progress to the last 16.
With Italy inexplicably trailling, the playmaker emerged as a 56th-minute substitute in Johannesburg and helped spark the Azzurri’s revival; the precision of his passing and creative edge being sorely missed by Marcello Lippi’s side.
However, Slovakia ran out 3-2 winners and for the third time in history (after Brazil in 1966 and France in 2002) the World Cup holders crashed out at the first hurdle.
Pirlo’s participation came too little, too late with failure labelled the “the darkest and most terrible day in the history of Italian football,” by Gazzetta dello Sport.
“It was frustrating not to be out there trying to help Italy get a good result – but also it is frustrating from a personal point of view,” Pirlo tells Sport360°. “The World Cup is only every four years so it is not like you can get to play in five or six of them. To miss most of a World Cup as a player is devastating.”
Understandably, there is a strong desire to correct what went wrong in South Africa. Italy have a different manager in Cesare Prandelli and only six of the players from 2010 have made it to Brazil.
It is that freshness – aided by reaching the final of Euro 2012 – that has helped heal the wounds of 2010, however Pirlo admits the team still owe a debt to the tifosi.
Italy also performed encouragingly at the Confederations Cup last summer in Brazil, taking Spain to a penalty shootout in the semi-final, while in qualifying for the World Cup they were undefeated.
“I don’t know where it went wrong in South Africa – but the important thing is that we moved on – and we go into the World Cup as an Italy side that are playing with confidence again,” Pirlo said.
“We all feel ready. Of course 2010 was a big disappointment – but the Confederations Cup and qualifying quite easily has been a big confidence boost.
“Of course, though we want to give the fans something to cheer about after 2010. Italy has a very proud tradition in the World Cup – and we want to continue that tradition in Brazil.”
The 2010 World Cup also proved the start of a difficult time for Pirlo in his career. Injuries dogged his subsequent season with AC Milan, and with his contract expiring in the summer of 2011, the Rossoneri board elected to let what they considered an ageing, expensive luxury player go.
It wasn’t the first time Pirlo had been written off. In 2001 Internazionale allowed him to join city rivals Milan, a decision former Inter chairman Massimo Moratti later branded the biggest mistake of his career.
Juventus though were the benefiacies of this latest piece of oversight within the city of Milan and Pirlo has prospered in Turin.
If anything, he has become a better and more important player than in his mid-2000 heyday when he was a World Cup and Champions League winner.
Juve head coach Antonio Conte must receive a fair share of the credit for ‘Mozart’s’ renaissance but Prandelli, despite a mission to rejuvinate an ageing team, has made the now 35-year-old the centrepiece of his Azzurri side.
“He has always been complimentary of me and a great believer in me. I have told him when he became coach that I wanted to represent Italy in 2014 and he told me from the start he wanted me there,” Pirlo said.
“He is a great motivator – he is very positive about his players – and as a player it is so important to know that your coach has confidence in your ability.”
Italy are entering the World Cup not without their flaws, but then when has it ever been any different?
Their participation in 2006 came amid the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal, while at Euro 2012, when they reached the final in Poland and Ukraine only to lose against Spain, there were question marks regarding the overall quality of the squad and, once again, if Pirlo had the legs for a major tournament.
In 2014 the same concerns exist, although worries regarding age are centred on the defensive unit of Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini rather than Pirlo.
But the midfielder has no doubt Italy have the requisite quality to go a long way.
He said: “Our strength is that we are still a team full of very good players. If you look on the other side maybe we are not as settled a team as say Germany or Spain are – but that will come and we hope that comes in Brazil.”
Group D alongside Uruguay, England and Costa Rica is among the toughest in the competition, with the notion that Italy are “notoriously slow starters” holding some truth.
In their last 11 tournament openers since Italia 90 Italy have won five, drawn four and lost two. With England up first next Saturday, Pirlo sees merit in all four sides in the group.
“It is a really tough group. Uruguay has some of the best attacking talent in the world and they could be the surprise of the World Cup for me,” he added. “I think this is the first World Cup England have gone into in a long time without expectation – and they still have very good players so that could help them. Costa Rica is going to be more used to the climate than any other team in the group – and that could be a big advantage for them.”
But what of the eventual winners? It’s where Italy want to be in what will be Pirlo’s last ever World Cup. No team from Europe has of course won any of the seven World Cups staged in the Americas, but with a glint in his eye, Pirlo believes that statistic could soon be consigned to history.
He said: “South American teams have always been strong – it makes sense that when they are hosting a tournament then they will do well. That is why I would make Brazil tournament favourites – they have a great team and have a big advantage of playing at home.
“There are some excellent European teams at the moment though, maybe this summer a European team can win – it is very possible.”
