The Azzurri began their campaign on the wrong foot, with a 1-1 home draw to Lithuania before a 3-1 defeat at France, as Les Bleus avenged their World Cup final loss with a deserved victory on September 6, 2006.

There were calls for the inexperienced Donadoni, who had taken over the reins of the national team shortly after Italy's World Cup success, to move aside after a shaky start to qualifying.

The Italian Football Federation handed Donadoni a vote of confidence despite a slow start to his tenure.

"We chose him and we will defend him until the end," declared federation executive Demetrio Albertini, a former AC Milan team-mate of Donadoni.

"He has complete faith from all of us and he needs to be left to work in peace."

Donadoni's coaching ability fully emerged as Italy would go on to remain undefeated in their next 10 qualifying games, collecting nine wins.

The first came on October 7, 2006, with a spot-kick from Massimo Oddo and Luca Toni's third international goal in six months giving the Azzurri three points in Ukraine.

The world champions were then made to work by Georgia four days later before Daniele de Rossi's long-range strike put them on their way to a 3-1 away triumph.

Donadoni still came under pressure with Italy struggling to show the form they had displayed in Germany. Six months passed before the Azzurri returned to the pitch. In-form striker Toni came to the rescue against Scotland as he scored twice to hand the Italians a 2-0 home triumph in Bari.

Italy then recorded their fourth straight win in Torshavn against the Faroe Islands.

Two goals by Filippo Inzaghi had given Italy a 2-0 lead until Rogvi Jacobsen scored in the 77th minute for only the Faroes' second goal in qualifying to set up a tense finish.

The Azzurri prevailed and the victory placed them in second position in Group B, two points behind France and one clear of Ukraine and Scotland.

The Italians then travelled to Kaunas to meet Lithuania in a game that saw Sampdoria striker Fabio Quagliarella steal the limelight.

Quagliarella - now with Udinese - struck two beautiful goals, his first with the national team, to hand Italy three valuable points.

Three months later, Italy faced a huge challenge as they hosted France at the San Siro.

The passionate and tough encounter finished with a goalless result, as the Azzurri's failure to beat France without the help of penalties since the 1978 World Cup continued.

Despite the pressure, with the Italians third in their group with four games remaining, Donadoni kept his cool.

"I hear all the time that each game is a 'must-win' match," he said.

"We're always in the same situation.

"We will now go to Ukraine and look for a win there."

Having to do without injured strikers Toni and Inzaghi, Donadoni relied on Udinese striker Antonio di Natale to come up with the goods against Ukraine.

It was a brave move by the Italian tactician as Di Natale rose to the occasion, scoring both goals to re-energise the Azzurri's push for qualification as they moved into second place above France.

On October 13 2007, Italy were made to work in order to beat Georgia 2-0 in Genoa, with goals from Andrea Pirlo and Fabio Grosso.

The result left the Italians a point behind Scotland with France a further point adrift with three games left for each side.

It was not until a month later when Italy assured themselves of a place in the Euro 2008 finals.

The Azzurri welcomed back Toni from injury as they travelled to Glasgow in a do-or-die game for both teams.

Toni fired the visitors into the lead in the second minute, before Barry Ferguson threw Scotland a lifeline. But Christian Panucci inflicted a fatal blow for Scotland in the 90th minute to guarantee Italy and France would be heading to Austria and Switzerland.

Donadoni breathed a big sigh of relief.

"We knew that it was going to a very physical game and the atmosphere made it even more so," he said after the game.

"This is a victory that belongs to these players who fought with character and desire - all the credit goes to them.

"This is one of the best reasons for our joy because when you have a chance to win one game in this stadium, with these people, it's very, very good.

"Sometimes you lose the game in the last minute and sometimes you win the game. This is football, this is the sport."

Having taken a big weight off their shoulders, the Italians ended in style claiming their ninth win in qualifying with an easy home 3-1 success against the Faroe Islands to finish three points clear of France.