Villarreal striker Giuseppe Rossi is to get his first start for Italy in Wednesday night's friendly against Greece in Athens.
Coach Marcello Lippi pointed out that the US-born striker, 21, had played in Italy, England and Spain and was ''much more mature than his peers''.
''He's ready,'' Lippi said after training on Tuesday.
Rossi got his first cap when he came on for 20 minutes in last month's goalless draw against Bulgaria.
He showed a few moves that stood out amid a lacklustre Azzurri forward display.
Rossi, who has blossomed as a finisher at Villarreal, is tipped to claim the left-hand berth in attack usually occupied by Udinese's injured Antonio Di Natale.
Lippi, who has called Rossi ''a born footballer,'' is believed to regard the Italian-American youngster as the first really promising addition to his World Cup winners.
Rossi, who was born and grew up in New Jersey, has played for Italy at all levels after rejecting overtures from the United States national team.
He scored four goals at the Beijing Olympics and has found the net 16 times for Villarreal in 34 games since August 2007, helping the Spanish side to second place in La Liga last year, a spot they have kept so far this term.
Before joining Villarreal, Rossi had stints at Manchester United, Newcastle United and Parma.
Man Utd still have an option on him.
Rossi said he was ''delighted'' with his first start and commented on Inter boss Jose' Mourinho's warning that Italian soccer was less attractive to world viewers than the English or Spanish game.
''It's not true that England and Spain have better championships, they're just different,'' he said.
''They're simply three different games and I've played in them all: Italy's is more tactical, Spain's more technical and England's more physical''.
Lippi, who is looking to equal world soccer's best unbeaten run of 31 games in Athens, is expected to play Rossi 'in the hole' behind Bayern Munich centre-forward Luca Toni, with Juventus winger Mauro Camoranesi on the right.
With a World Cup qualifying win against Montenegro last month Lippi equalled the legendary Vittorio Pozzo's record of 30 matches without loss for an Italy coach.
A positive result in the Greek capital could set the stage for Lippi to set the new world mark against Brazil on February 10 at Wembley.
World champions Italy have made a sometimes wobbly but successful start to Lippi's second stint in charge, winning three and drawing one of their first four World Cup qualifiers to top Group Eight.
Greece are top of Group Two after three wins and a loss.
Italy's South Africa 2010 qualifying campaign is in a winter break until February 11 (Ireland-Georgia) and March 28 (Cyprus-Georgia, Ireland-Bulgaria and Montenegro-Italy).
