who had just resigned as the Juventus manager where he had managed Zambrotta, moved him to right-back. He became a core player in the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, featuring in eight of the ten matches to help Italy qualify as group winners. On 15 May 2006, he was chosen as one of the 23 players to participate in the finals in Germany. During final preparations, Zambrotta injured his left thigh during a training match at the national team's training base at Coverciano on 28 May 2006. He picked up the injury in a training match against amateur team San Giminiano. This brought certain fears for the Italian squad and Lippi decided to keep Daniele Bonera on stand-by in case Zambrotta could not recover in time. Medical ultrasonography scans on Zambrotta's thigh in the final days before Italy's first group match revealed that he would only miss the opening game against Ghana. Zambrotta made his tournament debut in the second group match against the United States as a left-back, the match endeding in a 1–1 draw. In their last group match, against the Czech Republic on 22 June, Italy needed only a draw to qualify from the group. Zambrotta was moved to the right-back position as his team won the match 2–0 and advanced as group winners. During Italy's closely fought 1–0 over Australia in the round of 16, Zambrotta received a booking in the 91st minute. In the quarter-final on 30 June, Italy defeated Ukraine 3–0, with Zambrotta scoring the opening goal after six minutes with a left-footed long-range shot after a one-two with Francesco Totti. This was his second goal for his country. Zambrotta's outstanding performance continued as he saved his team by a goal-line clearance in the 58th minute. After Lippi made some substitutions, Zambrotta was pushed up to a left midfield position. He immediately showed the effect of this position switch. In the 69th minute, he dribbled down the left flank into the edge of the penalty area and passed the ball across to Luca Toni to score his second goal of the match. Zambrotta also participated in Italy's semi-final victory over the host nation, Germany, hitting the cross-bar in extra time, and he also played in Italy's victorious final victory over France. Throughout the tournament, Zambrotta completed 213 passes. His ability to play in multiple positions on either flank contributed to the tactical flexibility of