Livorno goalkeeper Marco Amelia is regarded by many in Italy as the natural successor to Gianluigi Buffon in the Azzurri's number one shirt, but he was not expected to make the squad for Germany 2006. It was thought Italy coach Marcello Lippi would opt for Udinese's Morgan De Sanctis as his third goalkeeper, but he eventually decided to select a 24-year-old with less than 20 minutes of senior international experience. Amelia gained that experience as a substitute in the 1-1 friendly draw against Ivory Coast in November 2005. However, the ex-Roma trainee is used to the demands of tournament football having been a member of the Italy squads that won the 2004 European Under-21 Championship and collected bronze at the Athens Olympics later that year.