The Azzurri finished fourth in the tournament last season after winning two of their five games, but they flopped at the World Cup with a group stage exit.
Elsewhere in the Asian Cup, Iran comfortably topped the group with a maximum nine points -- the only nation to achieve that target -- after cruising to a 3-0 victory over United Arab Emirates despite fielding a weakened side.
The victory not only advances Uruguay to four points and to top of the table ahead of their final group game with Mexico, but gives them their first World Cup finals victory since a group stage win over South Korea at Italia 90.
Reigning World Cup champions Italy stayed top of Group 8 with a 2-0 win in Georgia.
European champions Spain joined a select group of teams to record a perfect World Cup qualifying record, making it 10 wins out of 10 in Group Five with a crushing victory 5-2 over Bosnia in Zenica.
Meanwhile, Spain advanced to the Hopman Cup final with a 3-0 win over Australia in their Group A tie in Perth.
The victory boosted Benin's hopes of qualifying for the African Nations Cup, but Mali later moved into second in the group with a 1-0 win over 10-man Sudan.
The players failed to find their club form as England were held to a 1-1 draw by the United States in their World Cup group opener on 11 June ahead of a dour scoreless stalemate with Algeria on 18 June.
Given that only group winners are guaranteed a spot in the World Cup, with runners-up having to go through a two-legged playoff against one of the second-placed nations in one of the other European groups, things could get tricky for the world champions.
His time with Switzerland drew worldwide notice as the team qualified for the 1994 World Cup from a group including Italy and Portugal, and rose to third in the FIFA world rankings.
The Rangers assistant manager was a television pundit as Algeria drew 0-0 with England in World Cup Group C.
BBC: Ally McCoist hails Madjid Bougherra's World Cup display
No sporting event has greater popularity or higher stakes than soccer's World Cup, and they manage to sort that whole clambake out in about a month with a round-robin group stage that shifts to a single-elimination knockout round.
Midfielder Gareth Barry drew parallels with the 1990 World Cup, when England also drew their first two group games before scraping through to the last 16 with a 1-0 win over Egypt and going on to reach the semi-finals.
Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi is preparing Nigeria for this month's 2013 African Cup of Nations in South Africa, where the two-time tournament winners have been drawn in a group with 2012 champions Zambia, Burkina Faso and Mali.
England will be eliminated from the World Cup if they are beaten but they could still qualify for the knockout stages with a high-scoring draw in their final Group C game.
The 20 remaining teams are to be divided into a final stage of five groups of four, with the resultant group winners going onto the World Cup in South Africa and the top three in each group qualifying for the 2010 Nations Cup finals in Angola.
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