Italy looks set to sail through the group stage, due to a relatively easy set of initial opponents, including a very weak New Zealand and an unremarkable Paraguay – though Slovakia has a puncher’s chance in the group. Still–check out the player ratings on the other top sides here at World Football Metrics–Italy lacks the high end players of the other powers. If Italy is to go deep into the tournament, they must do so with superior team play, to make up for a lack of elite parts. A repeat championship looks particularly unlikely.
| Slovakia – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Peter Pekarik | Full | Wolfsburg | Germany | +0.40 | +0.56 | +0.96 |
| Marek Cech* | Full | West Bromwich | England | -0.10 | +0.58 | +0.48 |
| Radoslav Zabavnik* | Full | Mainz | Germany | -0.09 | +0.47 | +0.38 |
| Martin Skrtel | Full | Liverpool | England | +0.19 | +0.14 | +0.33 |
| Marek Hamsik | Mid | Napoli | Italy | +0.04 | +0.18 | +0.22 |
| Vladimír Weiss* | Mid | Bolton | England | +0.05 | -0.17 | -0.12 |
| Stanislav Sestak | Mid | Bochum | Germany | -0.13 | -0.12 | -0.26 |
| Jan Durica* | Full | Hannover | Germany | -0.72 | -0.58 | -1.30 |
| Paraguay – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Lucas Barrios | FW | Dortmund | Germany | +0.12 | +0.08 | +0.21 |
| Nelson Valdez | FW | Dortmund | Germany | +0.10 | +0.00 | +0.10 |
| Paulo da Silva | DF | Sunderland | England | +0.06 | -0.26 | -0.20 |
| Roque Santa Cruz | FW | Man. City | England | +0.07 | -0.30 | -0.23 |
| Justo Villar | GK | Real Valladolid | Spain | +0.11 | -0.27 | -0.27 |
| Édgar Barreto | MF | Atalanta | Italy | -0.30 | +0.00 | -0.30 |
| Jonathan Santana* | MF | Wolfsburg | Germany | +0.17 | -0.64 | -0.47 |
| New Zealand – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Chris Wood* | Fwd | West Bromwich | England | -1.23 | +1.21 | -0.02 |
| Ryan Nelsen | Full | Blackburn | England | -0.09 | -0.15 | -0.24 |
| Italy – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Giorgio Chiellini | Full | Juventus | Italy | +0.28 | +0.12 | +0.40 |
| Gianluca Zambrotta | Full | Milan | Italy | +0.18 | +0.20 | +0.37 |
| Andrea Pirlo | Mid | Milan | Italy | +0.25 | +0.12 | +0.37 |
| Simone Pepe | Mid | Udinese | Italy | +0.26 | +0.03 | +0.29 |
| Fabio Quagliarella | Fwd | Napoli | Italy | +0.10 | +0.17 | +0.27 |
| Gennaro Gattuso | Mid | AC Milan | Italy | +0.02 | +0.23 | +0.25 |
| Morgan De Sanctis | Goal | Napoli | Italy | +0.25 | +0.25 | |
| Angelo Palombo | Mid | Sampdoria | Italy | +0.04 | +0.20 | +0.24 |
| Mauro Camoranesi | Mid | Juventus | Italy | +0.28 | -0.04 | +0.24 |
| Vincenzo Iaquinta | Fwd | Juventus | Italy | +0.28 | -0.05 | +0.23 |
| Daniele De Rossi | Mid | Roma | Italy | +0.19 | -0.03 | +0.16 |
| Christian Maggio | Full | Napoli | Italy | +0.14 | +0.00 | +0.13 |
| Giampaolo Pazzini | Fwd | Sampdoria | Italy | +0.00 | +0.12 | +0.13 |
| Antonio Di Natale | Fwd | Udinese | Italy | +0.22 | -0.13 | +0.09 |
| Leonardo Bonucci | Full | Bari | Italy | +0.03 | +0.03 | +0.05 |
| Fabio Cannavaro | Full | Juventus | Italy | +0.16 | -0.12 | +0.04 |
| Federico Marchetti | Goal | Cagliari | Italy | +0.04 | +0.04 | |
| Alberto Gilardino | Fwd | Fiorentino | Italy | -0.01 | -0.01 | -0.02 |
| Gianluigi Buffon | Goal | Juventus | Italy | -0.03 | -0.03 | |
| Riccardo Montolivo | Mid | Fiorentina | Italy | -0.10 | +0.05 | -0.05 |
| Domenico Criscito | Full | Genoa | Italy | +0.01 | -0.06 | -0.05 |
| Claudio Marchisio | Mid | Juventus | Italy | +0.04 | -0.11 | -0.08 |
| Salvatore Bocchetti | Full | Genoa | Italy | +0.01 | -0.17 | -0.16 |
*Lacking minutes for reliable Total Rating