The former European player of the year is looking forward to spearheading his side in South Africa and while many have predicted a downfall for the reigning world champions, Cannavaro is not too bothered about it. In fact, he believes it will work in favour of the team. "Right, it's right like this. It's best not to start the tournament as favourites," Cannavaro said in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Us Italians are the masters of starting negatively in general, but this is not right because we qualified for the tournament early, but we are always criticised. The Juventus defender is also seeking inspiration from the 2006 World Cup, which the Italians won despite not being labeled as the ‘favourites'. He added: "It's just like in 2006. We played friendlies against Germany and Holland which we won, but no one had us as favourites. "Football is nice because of this. No one believed in it in 2006, but then everyone jumped on the bangwagon when we won." Italy kick off their defence of the World Cup against Paraguay on 14 June. 