Italy's World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro has warned fans not to expect "champagne soccer" from the Azzurri when they take on Georgia in Tbilisi Wednesday .
The Real Madrid defender was responding to criticism of the world champs' performances up to now in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign .
Italy made hard work of securing their first win under new coach Roberto Donadoni Saturday, beating Ukraine 2-0. The victory came after the Azzurri drew 1-1 with Lithuania in Naples and lost 3-1 to France in Paris last month .
"We won the World Cup, but by playing unattractively," Cannavaro confessed. "So don't say that we are now launching long balls like they did in the 1930s and not passing the ball around .
"We are not Brazil and we don't play the best soccer in the world, we exploit our characteristics. "In Germany we didn't play spectacular football, but we won the world title. We don't have to play champagne soccer". Beating Ukraine pulled Italy up to third place in Euro 2008 qualification Group B, with four points from three games .
The Azzurri trail leaders Scotland and France, which have nine and six points respectively .
"The victory over Ukraine was important. Not having won was weighing us down," added Cannavaro .
"But now we have to win in Georgia, otherwise the rebuilding we did on Saturday will have been for nothing". In Tbilisi Donadoni is likely to beef up a midfield which failed to take command of Saturday's game .
He is expected to drop the attacking trident used in Rome and opt for a more pragmatic 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 to avert the risk of being outmanned in the middle of the park .
This could mean Juventus midfielder Mauro Camoranesi pushes Udinese forward Vincenzo Iaquinta onto the bench .
Another Udinese man, striker Antonio Di Natale, is tipped by some pundits to come into the starting line-up for Alessandro Del Piero. Di Natale was pivotal in the rally that led to two late goals Saturday after he replaced Del Piero half an hour from time .
Simone Perrotta of AS Roma will stand in for suspended AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso .
Fiorentina centre-forward Luca Toni, the author of Italy's second goal last weekend, should spearhead the attack again .
Donadoni's main doubt concerns playmaker Andrea Pirlo, who has a touch of flu. The coach said Georgia will present a similar challenge to that laid down by the aggressive Ukrainians. "They will attack from the start and we will have to be good at playing our game," Donadoni said .
"We'll have to be just as aggressive as them and, as the match progresses, show our superior class." Georgia is second-from-bottom in Group B with three points, after beating the Faroe Islands 0-6 and losing to France and Ukraine .
Italy have won three of the previous four encounters between the counties. The other game was a draw .
photo: Cannavaro using his wiles in the Ukraine match
