Italy were held to a draw by Switzerland in their final warm-up match before heading to South Africa.
Udinese’s Gokhan Inler put Switzerland ahead in the 10th minute, but Fabio Quagliarella – a late addition to Marcello Lippi’s squad – levelled only four minutes later and that proved to be the last of the scoring.
However, Switzerland will be buoyed as they managed to outplay the defending champions for most of the match, putting to rest the shock of their defeat to Costa Rica last time out.
Italy will take heart from a quirky historical statistic as they drew 1-1 with Switzerland prior to both the 1982 and 2006 World Cups – both of which they won.
Inler grabbed the opening goal with a long-range effort, beating Federico Marchetti from 25 yards.
But Italy quickly responded as Riccardo Montolivo crossed for Quagliarella to head home.