Problems at home unlikely to derail Italy's quest

MILAN, May 25 (Reuters) Italy qualified for the World Cup finals with relative ease and go to Germany as candidates to challenge Brazil for the title.

It is doubtful whether the ongoing investigations into match-fixing will have a detrimental impact on their campaign -- unless coach Marcello Lippi is forced to stand down, which appears unlikely.

Lippi has been summoned by magistrates as a witness in an investigation into allegations surrounding his former club Juventus.

He has denied any wrongdoing.

Once in Germany, the problems surrounding the game at home will be quickly forgotten as Italy concentrate on trying to win the World Cup for the fourth time in their history.

March's impressive 4-1 friendly win over Germany has raised hopes in Italy that Lippi's side can live up to expectations and capitalise on the abundance of attacking talent they have available.

The Azzurri are wary of aiming too high, however, after their early exit from Euro 2004 when they failed to get past the group stage and their disappointment at the World Cup in 2002 when they were eliminated by the South Koreans in the second round.

Giovanni Trapattoni, who was in charge for both those tournaments, was replaced by Lippi after the failure in Portugal and the former Juventus coach has brought a greater solidity to the side.

Lippi's approach has been to focus heavily on building a solid core to his team and trying to simulate the spirit of a club side.

''All national teams face the problem that there is no time to work on their weaknesses and to perfect themselves, if you can even talk about 'perfection','' Lippi said after securing qualification.

''So it has become vital to have the right morale and to focus on that.'' SOLID CORE The core of Trapattoni's side remains -- goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, central defenders Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta and creative force Francesco Totti -- although Totti's preparation for the World Cup has been hampered by injury.

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