Rome - Italian soccer coach Giovanni Trapattoni is confident that his team are almost ready for the World Cup finals - 13 months ahead of the tournament in Japan and South Korea.
And that confidence spells danger for Bafana Bafana when they face Italy in an international friendly in Perugia on Wednesday night.
In one of world football's hottest seats since last July, Trapattoni is more than pleased with the balance between attack and defence in his team, and particularly the forward play.
"If Italy is a worthy team, it is mainly due to the attack," he said.
"Filippo Inzaghi, Alessandro del Piero, Francesco Totti, Marco Delvechio, Vincenzo Montella, Christian Vieri, Enrico Chiesa, all these players are in good shape.
"I am sure that Italian soccer has never had such an abundance of forwards at this level.
"It is really a problem when I have to choose, but I am pleased to have this problem. The midfield was, at first, possibly the weakest (department), but now I can say I have alternatives there as well."
And the defence, naturally, has remained as solid as ever.
"Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro and Paolo Maldini are now certainties, but this is a problem at the same time - which players could substitute them if needed?
"Valerio Bertotto, Daniele Adani and Alessandro Pierini are possible alternatives, but I don't want to stop there, my colleagues and I will continue to search for new players."
Trapattoni is the most successful coach in Italian soccer, with seven Serie A titles to his credit, as well as one German Bundesliga crown.
Now he has continued the fine work done by Dino Zoff who resigned rather controversially after taking the three-time world champions to a runners-up spot against France at Euro 2000.
His wonderful comments about his players stem from the fact that they have virtually qualified for the 2002 World Cup finals after winning four and drawing one in the games played so far. It is a group that also comprises Romania, Lithuania, Georgia and Hungary.
But the irony, and Trapattoni sits on the sweet end of this, is that the national side's performances since their poor showing at France '98 has run in the opposite direction to Italian clubs' fortunes in Europe.
Totti from log-leading Roma is considered the best player in Trapattoni's side as he both creates and scores goals from playing just behind the two central strikers.
And Totti spells trouble for Bafana on Wednesday.
AC Milan stalwart Maldini is the only real veteran left in the Azzurri and will probably mark Shaun Bartlett, providing a good side show for the fans.
The South Africans are expected to have one training session this afternoon or evening and then two more tomorrow.
Bafana's last match was an emphatic win over Mauritius in an African Nations Cup qualifier in Port Elizabeth last month, but they can expect sterner opposition from the quality Italians.
ITALY SQUAD:
Goalkeepers: Gianlugi Buffon (Parma), Francesco Toldo (Fiorentina).
Defenders: Daniele Adani (Fiorentina), Valerio Bertotto (Udinese), Fabio Cannavaro (Parma), Paolo Maldini (AC Milan), Alessandro Nesta (Lazio), Giuseppe Pancaro (Lazio), Fabio Materazzi (Perugia)
Midfielders: Francesco Coco (AC Milan), Angelo Di Livio (Fiorentina), Stefano Fiore (Juventus), Fabio Liverani (Perugia), Alessio Tacchinardi (Juventus), Damiano Tommasi (Roma), Gianluca Zambrota (Juventus).
Forwards: Alessandro del Piero (Juventus), Enrico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Filippo Inzaghi (Juventus), Vincenzo Montella (Roma) and Francesco Totti (Roma).
l TV: Wednesday's match live on SABC1 at 8.45pm