Cesare Maldini will be looking for another big performance from Christian Vieri when Italy seek to make certain of a place in the knockout phase of the World Cup with a win over Austria in the Stade de France this afternoon.
At a time when doubts born of a 2-2 draw with Chile were beginning to invade the Italian camp, Vieri stepped into the breach to lift morale by scoring twice in the 3-0 dismissal of Cameroon at Montpellier last Wednesday.
It's true that both goals came at a stage when the Africans were beginning to run out of steam but the manner in which the Atletico Madrid player took his chances was still greeted with some jubilation by the manager.
Speaking at a press conference at the weekend, Maldini likened Vieri to a thoroughbred who can blow hot and cold. "When he's good, he's very good and his confidence is now good again," he said.
Ever since arriving in France, Maldini has been under pressure to start Alessandro Del Piero. The topic continues to dominate every Italian press briefing but if the manager has any intention of yielding to it, it hasn't been discernible.
Instead, the likelihood is that he will again go with Roberto Baggio, whose vast experience outweighs the fact that he no longer has the legs to dominate games in the old manner.
Austria's drawn games against Cameroon and Chile were distinguished less by the quality of their football than by the competitive spirit which enabled them to salvage last-gasp equalisers in each instance.
Those goals by Toni Polster and Ivica Vastic were redolent of some celebrated reprieves for Germany and the certainty is that the Italians will not wish to put themselves in a situation in which they, too, are caught spare in the closing minutes.
Italy's facility for developing momentum as championship finals progress is a byword in football and the expectation is that, after two mixed performances, they will be much closer to the their full potential here.
Probable Teams ITALY: Pagliuca; Costacurta, Maldini, Cannavaro, Nesta; Baggio, Di Biagio, Albertini, Moriero; Vieri, Baggio or Del Piero. AUSTRIA: Konsel; Feiersinger; Schoettel, Pfeffer; Cerny, Herzog, Maehlich, Pfeifenberger, Wetl; Vasic, Polster.
