ROME: Italy and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon on Thursday played down the world champions’ chances of retaining their title in South Africa.
Italy claimed victory in the World Cup in Germany four years ago following a penalty shoot-out with France in the final.
But speaking from the nerazzurri’s altitude training base in Sestriere, Buffon said a repeat would be a hard ask.
"We have less chance of retaining the World Cup than we had of winning it in 2006 because after winning, it becomes more difficult to repeat that," he said.
"But I have a lot of confidence because everyone, in particular the new-boys, is ready.
"Therefore we have the foundation necessary to make an impact at the World Cup, even if to win it you need many things to happen as well as luck.
"However, if we have to be knocked-out the important thing is to do so with our heads held high having shown Italian football in a good light."
Buffon comes into the World Cup on the back of a poor season with his club Juventus where he missed chunks of the season due to injury but was also part of a team that posted a club record 15 league defeats and conceded another record 56 goals.
However, he denied that his own powers are waning.
"If I’m given the conditions to demonstrate my qualities then I still believe that I’m the best goalkeeper in the world," he said.
"From the beginning of the season until November I had my best start to a season.
"But when you finish seventh in the league people say: of course at Juve there’s no player who has performed.
"I could be the best in the world for 100 years but if we always finish 10th or 11th no-one would even know I existed."
Buffon also distanced himself from speculation linking him to a move to the Premier League with either Manchester United or Manchester City.
"I’ve given a lot to Juventus but it’s true that I’ve received everything that a footballer would want, both on and off the pitch," he said.
"The fans love me and that means a lot to me. I have a very well defined situation with Juve, both on my part and their’s: we want to continue our relationship.
"We live in an era in which if a player wants to leave, he leaves. Without any problems.
"You can see that Juve have shown a great desire to keep me, and I have done likewise to stay, otherwise that would not have happened.
"Right now the only thing I’m interested in is to have new players with the Juventus mentality.
"Those who join need to sweat blood for the shirt.
"This last season shows that (Claudio) Ranieri (who was sacked at the end of the 2008/09 season) was not the problem.
"We had come to the end of a cycle but even we players didn’t realize that."
The Italians are scheduled to arrive in South Africa on June 9 ahead of their Group F opener with Paraguay in Cape Town on June 14.
They then face New Zealand in Nelspruit on June 20 before rounding off their group campaign against Slovakia in Johannesburg on June 24.
