Italy coach Marcello Lippi has been criticised for snubbing young talents for his World Cup squad, but Italy weren’t the oldest team in South Africa.

They are one of the oldest in terms of average squad age – fourth to be exact – but if you look at the teams Lippi has been fielding, it’s kinda unfair to say that Lippi has stuck with his old guns.

Only Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta and Vincenzo Iaquinta are above 30 apart from Gianluigi Buffon, who only made one appearance before succumbing to injury and being replaced by 27-year-old Federico Marchetti.

Lippi has actually shown a lot of faith in less established names (at least to those who don’t know the Serie A), many of them in their mid-20s.

At the back, Giorgio Chiellini is 25 and Domenico Criscito is 23.

In midfield, wide players Claudio Marchisio and Simone Pepe from Juventus are 24 and 26 respectively, while central midfielders Daniele de Rossi and Riccardo Montolivo are 26 and 25.

Playing up-front alongside Iaquinta was Alberto Gilardino, still just 27 even though it feels like he’s been around forever.

If you compare Italy’s midfield to England’s, you have Steven Gerrard, 30; Frank Lampard, 32; Gareth Barry, 29; and just one “youngster” in James Milner, 24.

You have John Terry at the back who’s 29 and Emile Heskey up front who’s 32. Goalkeeper Robert Green is 30, while his deputy David James roamed with the dinosaurs.

Anyway, here’s the full list of all the World Cup squads’ average ages. Surprise, surprise, England are the oldest (thanks to David James), followed by Brazil, Australia and finally, Italy.

Average age of World Cup 2010 squads

Ghana – 24.1

North Korea – 24.8

Germany – 25.0

Cameroon – 25.2

Spain – 25.9

Chile – 25.9

Serbia – 26.0

Slovakia – 26.1

Switzerland – 26.7

Ivory Coast – 26.7

Uruguay – 26.7

Slovenia – 26.7

South Africa – 26.9

USA – 26.9

Mexico – 27.1

Argentina – 27.1

South Korea – 27.1

Algeria – 27.2

New Zealand – 27.3

France – 27.4

Greece – 27.7

Nigeria – 27.7

Denmark – 27.7

Netherlands – 27.7

Portugal – 27.7

Japan – 27.8

Honduras – 28.1

Paraguay – 28.1

Italy – 28.2

Australia – 28.4

Brazil – 28.6

England – 28.7