Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro talked about the Azzurri's current situation in defence.

Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro, who just led the Azzurri to two successive World Cup qualifying victories, talked about the apparent shortage of promising young defenders in Italian football at the moment.

"Time passes for everyone and it's been two years since we lifted the World Cup," he said. "We are waiting for new faces to come in, but it's not like we have an emergency in defence."

Recently the likes of Giorgio Chiellini, Alessandro Gamberini, and Fabio Grosso were all forced onto the sidelines due to injuries (the last two with the national team), and the lack of suitable replacements highlighted a relative lack of new defensive talents in Serie A.

Coach Marcello Lippi also felt that nowadays defenders don't know about the art of man-marking, a tactic which has falled out of favor in modern football.

Despite less than convincing performances, Italy lead WCQ Group 8 with six points out of six following wins against Cyprus (2-1) and Georgia (2-0).

"It's never easy for us to play in September, so taking away six points from these two games is a feat that should not to be underestimated," Cannavaro concluded.