Italy coach Marcello Lippi will wait as long as possible before naming his side for their World Cup opener against Ghana on Monday in the hope that Alessandro Nesta will have recovered from injury.
The AC Milan centre-back has been unable to train regularly since Tuesday as he is struggling with a muscular injury.
'I will decide on the eve of the game who will play,' said Lippi. 'For the time being I am only thinking about getting my players in top condition for our opening game against a rival which has little-by-little recovered the form of their best players.'
Italy are already without injured duo Gianluca Zambrotta and Gennaro Gattuso for the Group E clash in Hannover, and Lippi is desperate for Nesta to recover.
Lippi added: 'As always, I hope to have all my players available.
'In the past few days, Zambrotta, Gattuso and Nesta have struggled with injuries, but we cannot be negative. We still hope to have Nesta back.
'In any case I have made sure that all my players feel important and that above all, our main strength is the group and not individual players.'
