Three-time winners Italy get their World Cup campaign underway against first-time qualifiers Ghana in Hanover on Monday.

The Azzurri are usually tipped as potential challengers going into every major tournament, but this time round their chances of victory have hardly been mentioned.

Instead all the talk surrounding the squad has been about the match-fixing scandal that has plunged Italian football into crisis.

A quick look at the players available to coach Marcello Lippi suggests Italy should be regarded as one of the most dangerous teams in the tournament.

Lippi's squad is packed with established international stars, such as Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti, and also contains exciting youngsters like AC Milan striker Alberto Gilardino and Roma midfielder Daniel De Rossi.

However, he does have a mini-injury crisis ahead of the match, with full-back Gianluca Zambrotta and midfield powerhouse Gennaro Gattuso sidelined by thigh injuries and Totti and Nesta both struggling for fitness.

Lazio's Massimo Oddo is likely to step in for Zambrotta, while Roma's Simone Perotta could be given Gattuso's vital midfield role.

Totti's admission that he is still only 70 per cent fit as he battles back from a broken ankle may see super-sub Del Piero handed a starting role behind frontrunners Gilardino and Luca Toni.

Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic has no major injury worries ahead of the Black Stars' first ever senior international game against Italy.

It would be a major shock to most observers if Ghana were to beat Italy, but with Chelsea's Michael Essien, Fenerbahce's Stephen Appiah, Udinese's Sulley Muntari and Roma's Samuel Kuffour in the team, Dujkovic is convinced they will do just that before going on to achieve great things in Germany.

"We are confident we will go past the group stages and we are strong enough to go the semi-final," said the Serbian.

"I have 23 players free from injury and ready to deliver. For us the game against Italy will be like any other game.

"We are not worried about their pedigree neither are we bothered about the strength of the opponents in our group because we came here to compete but not to participate."