Sports Illustrated seems to think so.

Before you scoff at an American magazine’s World Cup picks, bear in mind: People snickered when SI tabbed host France to win its first World Cup four years ago. This time around the French may be cofavorites (with Argentina) to repeat as champions by taking the final in Yokohama, Japan, but we’ll cast our lot instead with Italy, a veteran group fully capable of cashing in on the kindest draw imaginable.

This sure makes my friend Raffaele smile with pride (he’s from Italy :-).

The part that I’m happy about is that they also predict that the U.S. will make the second round.