One of the most anticipated tie since the World Cup drawing was made is set to occur this weekend when England face up against Italy at Arena Amazonia, Manaus (Brazil). Both teams are targeting to start their World Cup campaign with all three points and despite reports of difficult condition, Three Lions' boss, Roy Hodgson, is confident that his team can overcome every obstacles and set focus only in their opponent.

Despite working hard in getting himself back into full fitness, it seems that Uruguay star striker, Luis Suarez, is not going to make it for his team's World Cup opener against Costa Rica.

England's opening World Cup fixture against Italy couldn't get much tougher as latest reports suggested that Roy Hodgson's men could be playing without Danny Welbeck, who has been important in Hodgson's current setup.

Being placed in a tough group with the likes of England, Italy and Uruguay, Costa Rica acknowledge that things will be difficult for them at World Cup 2014, but head coach Jorge Luis Pinto believes his team can trouble those teams.

Not being considered as favorites for the upcoming 2014 World Cup in Brazil, notably because the amount of inexperience players in their squad doesn't seem to bother England's attacker, Adam Lallana.

Italy finally got themselves a win during their World Cup warm up as Cesare Prandelli's men defeated local Brazilian club, Fluminense on Sunday. Already arriving in Brazil, Gli Azzurri took the time to do another friendly match instead of just embarking on regular training session.

Italy's disappointing results in their World Cup preparation continue as this past midweek they were surprisingly held by minnows, Luxembourg. Playing in front of their home crowd, Azzurri made a bright start on that encounter as they already got themselves in front after only nine minutes through Claudio Marchisio.

The exclusion of Giuseppe Rossi from Italy's 23-men squad for World Cup  caused a bit of controversy as many Azzurri fans were questioning that decision since the Fiorentina striker did put in a positive performance last season, despite suffering a quite long injury period.

An interesting statement was revealed by Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, as he publicly backed Italy as his strong candidate in winning the upcoming World Cup 2014, or at least reaching the final.

The World Cup 2014 is just days away with all teams gearing up their final preparation before starting their intense footballing journey in Brazil. One of those international sides that always attract many attention are England and this year, things can get really tough from early on.

Following the absence of Riccardo Montolivo because of his recent injury, another famous name has been left out of Italy's squad as Cesare Prandelli announced his final 23-men pick which didn't include Fiorentina man, Giuseppe Rossi.

Italy's World Cup 2014 preparation suddenly turned rather bleak after their weekend friendly match against Ireland, not because the Azzurri's failure to win but because of the injury to Riccardo Montolivo.