Italy should be happy: Totti, on of the best midfielders in the World and a most charismatic player, is starting the game against Switzerland in the first line-up.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi will give Francesco Totti his first start in more than three months against Switzerland in a pre-FIFA World Cup™ friendly.

The Roma striker has played just once - a brief appearance in the second leg of the Italian Cup final - since fracturing a bone in his ankle on 19 February.

The Azzurri, who are in Group E with the USA, Ghana and Czech Republic, remain among the pre-tournament favourites, although a match-fixing scandal involving a number of top Serie A clubs, including Juventus, has overshadowed their preparations.

Lippi, however, insisted that they would not use the scandal at home as an excuse should they fail to live up to expectations in Germany.

“The team won’t be influenced by anything,” he said. “If we don’t do well, we certainly won’t say it was because of what is happening around us.”

Source: WCoffsite