Maldini's return tilts Trapattoni in favour of Totti

The Italians arrived in Sapporo yesterday in pouring rain and with an unseasonal chill wind sweeping down from the mountains. A brief weather check on the state of relations in the Italian squad on the eve of their opening match in Group G against Ecuador reveals temperatures to match. The Italians are already absorbed in one of the nation's favourite pastimes with at least two of the more influential members of Giovanni Trapattoni's squad reported to be upset by tactical tinkering.

If the wily old Trap sticks to his word, there will be no place in the starting line-up for either Alessandro del Piero or Vincenzo Montella in the Sapporo Dome tonight in a match which marks a record 71st appearance as captain by Paolo Maldini. Del Piero scored 21 goals for Juventus last season and Montella, in a season restricted by injury and the selectorial sanctity of Gabriel Batistuta, still managed 13 in 18 matches for Roma. Yet Trapattoni is likely to use Francesco Totti as an out-and-out striker alongside Christian Vieri rather than in his usual free role behind the two strikers.

"I thought at one point I might make the starting team," said Montella with a shrug yesterday. "But then the coach changed his team and his thinking."

For all of a laboured qualifying campaign and for all bar the friendly against England at Elland Road since, Trapattoni has preferred to play with three defenders to accommodate Totti as a playmaker and Del Piero in attack. But the return from injury of Maldini, Totti's lack of match fitness and the inconsistent recent form of Alessandro Nesta in central defence has persuaded the Italy coach to take the more cautious option.

"We will regard this match as a warm-up for our later games," said Trapattoni. "But there is no way we will underestimate Ecuador." Defeat by the Czech Republic in Prague in their final serious international in mid-May did little to further Italy's confidence, though recent history suggests that the slower an Italian start, the more dangerous the potential finish.

An embarrassment of riches in attack is balanced by a lack of genuine creativity in midfield where Luigi Di Biagio and Damiano Tommasi are engineers rather than designers. The most heartening story involves the free-scoring Atalanta midfielder Cristiano Doni, who only made his international debut as a 28-year-old late last year. "The most important thing was that I always believed something like this would be possible."