WORLD CUP QUARTER-FINAL

DUISBURG: Italy are looking finally to live up to their full potential against Ukraine in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Hamburg today.

The Italians begin today’s match as big favourites — and with lingering criticism over their failure to dominate any of their four opponents so far.

“I think we’re ready to offer some good football,” coach Marcello Lippi said yesterday.

Ukraine, on the other hand, are delighted to be in the last eight of Germany 2006 and anything else from now on is a bonus.

Coach Oleh Blokhin, a fixture of the Soviet Union’s teams of the 1970s, said Ukraine has reached the point where “we already achieved our main goal and all other games are a plus.”

And striker Andriy Shevchenko, a well-known face to Italian defenders after seven seasons with AC Milan, says Ukraine will be relying on passion. “We will need to play with enough heart to make up for any technical shortcomings,” Shevchenko said. Lippi says playmaker Francesco Totti is rediscovering his dangerous form.

“The team has steadily improved, especially Totti. His penalty kick the other night was really, really important— also psychologically. It’s really energised him,” Lippi said.

Totti is still recovering his form after leg surgery. He struggled in Italy’s opening three matches and was relegated to the bench at the start of the 1-0 win over Australia on Monday.

He came on late in the second half and scored a last-minute penalty, showing an ice-cool temperament to crush Australia’s dreams.

Lippi didn’t start Totti against Australia because he felt the forward was tired after playing a full 90 minutes against the Czech Republic in Italy’s previous match.

“He’s fully recuperated now,” Lippi said, indicating that Totti will almost certainly return to the starting line-up against Ukraine.

While Totti’s form is returning, forward Luca Toni is still looking to break out.

Toni’s 31 goals for Fiorentina this season led Europe’s four big leagues but he’s failed to find the net in Italy’s first four matches, hitting the crossbar in the opening 2-0 win over Ghana and missing a header by only a few centimetres (inches) in the opening minutes against Australia.

“Another player who I see a lot of improvement from is Toni,” Lippi said.

Toni has yet to play a full 90 minutes in Germany.

“I’m trying to keep the squad balanced in terms of fitness.

“It’s essential when you play matches every three or four days,” Lippi said. “We have only four players that have played every minute of all four matches.”

Shevchenko has played all but six minutes of Ukraine’s four matches, including all 120 minutes of a penalty shootout win over Switzerland in the second round.

Andriy Voronin is out with a thigh injury and Shakhtar Donetsk forward Andriy Vorobei is expected to step in as Shevchenko’s strike partner. Serhiy Rebrov, who use to make a fearsome pair with Shevchenko when they played at Dynamo Kiev together in the late 1990s, is another possibility.

Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo said he has already exchanged good luck wishes with his former Milan teammate.

“There’s no need to explain anything to my teammates in defence, they’ve already faced Shevchenko many times in the league,” Pirlo said.

Lippi’s concerns go beyond Shevchenko.

“We can’t go in with the mind-set that if we stop Shevchenko we’ve resolved everything,” he said.

Ukraine held Italy to a 0-0 draw on June 2 in a World Cup warm-up that Shevchenko missed with a knee injury.

A draw this time would result in a penalty shootout, which Ukraine midfielder Serhiy Rebrov thinks is a distinct possibility.

“Italy is tough. We played them in a friendly and maybe we need to think about penalties again,” said Rebrov, one of three penalty scorers against the Swiss.

The Azzurri are not at full strength.

Midfielder Daniele De Rossi will serve the third game in a four-match ban for an elbow to the face of US forward Brian McBride.

Defender Alessandro Nesta is out with a right thigh injury, and Nesta’s replacement Marco Materazzi is suspended.

That leaves inexperienced Andrea Barzagli to join captain Fabio Cannavaro in central defence with the job of containing Shevchenko.

“They run a lot and they’re very fast on the counterattack.

We’re going to have to be every attentive,” Lippi said. “It depends on us though, not them.” (AP)