ITALIAN GRAVEYARDS

1950...Sao Paolo
a 3-2 group defeat to Sweden.

1954...Basel
a 4-1 play-off loss to hosts Switzerland.

1962...Santiago
Host nation hoodoo strikes again, 2-0 to Chile.

1966...Middlesborough
One of the great World Cup shocks, North Korea 1 Italy 0.

1970...Mexico City
Beaten by the best. 4-1 to Brazil in the Final.

1974...Stuttgart
Poland 2 Italy 1, out in the group stages again.

1978...Buenos Aires
2-1 defeat to the Dutch in the final group game of the second stage, with a place in the Final awaiting the winners.

1986...Mexico City
2-0 to France in the second round.

1990...Naples
So close to the Final, but beaten to it by the golden boy of Naples - Maradona - and Argentina, who marched on to Rome via a penalty shootout.

1994...Los Angeles
Penalties again, this time in the Final, with hero turned villian Roberto Baggio missing the decisive kick.

1998...Paris
Three in a row: penalty exit again to hosts France in the quarter-finals.

2002...Daejeon
Merging of two hoodoos: hosts and the Korean peninsula! Out in the second round, South Korea 2 Italy 1, evoking memories of 1966.