Italy Coach Marcello Lippi has declared that the World Cup qualifying game against Bulgaria will be the most significant game for the national team since his return as tactician.

The Azzurri will be hoping to gain all three points in order to strengthen their hold on first place in Group 8, with the Republic of Ireland being the only realistic threat to direct qualification to the World Cup in South Africa.

A victory for la Nazionale eliminates the Bulgarians as a threat to Italy’s qualification, while also implying that the result with Ireland will not hamper the chances of the Azzurri topping the group.

The media has been quite critical of the national team following the disastrous showing in the Confederations Cup, and the unconvincing performances in the last two games owing to the dearth of goals has done nothing to help the cause.

A convincing win for Lippi’s charges on Wednesday will silence many of the critics, rebuild confidence within the Azzurri camp, and address most of the concerns posed by fans and experts alike. Even goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has hinted that the team is probably lacking in self-belief.

Beating Dimitar Berbatov and his teammates in Turin will allow the Paul Newman lookalike ample time to experiment in the near future without having to worry about the game against Ireland and their wily Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni.

‘Il Trap’ is obviously no stranger to the Italian game, having managed the Italian national team and being the only tactician to have won all of the European club competitions, a feat which he achieved in two stints with Juventus.

The first meeting between the two former Bianconeri coaches ended in a tie in Italy, so the cigar-chomping Lippi must be looking forward to the return match against the Boys in Green, though he would prefer to enter the heated matchup with a win against Bulgaria.

For now, all eyes in the peninsula will be glued to the game against the Lions, with the hope that the Azzurri will overcome Berbatov & co. to deliver a potential blow to the Irish aspirations prior to the clash between the top two teams in the group.

Rami Soufi, Football Italiano