Stuart Dye: Battle of the haves and the have nots

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The Italy goalkeeper gets paid more in a year than the entire All Whites team - and he won't even play in Monday's game.

Talismanic shot-stopper Gianluigi Buffon is the Azzurri's best-paid player, on a contract worth more than $10 million a year from Serie A giants Juventus.

It's a figure that dwarfs the wages of the All Whites and reveals the chasm between the New Zealand side and the reigning world champions.

The All Whites, riding a wave of optimism after the result against Slovakia, are publicly making the right noises about confidence and team spirit as they head into their second match in Group F.

But privately they can be under no illusion about the task ahead in Nelspruit on Monday.

It must rate as one of the biggest mis-matches in World Cup history.

The greatest fear is that 90 minutes exposes a huge gulf in class.

Already, though, there is an irreconcilable gap between the teams, which starts at the top.

Ricki Herbert is paid $50,000 a year to coach the national team - a role he juggles with his other job coaching the Wellington Phoenix.

New Zealand's only professional club plays in the Australian league.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi has just the one job full-time with a salary understood to be about $5.3 million.

The Italian Serie A league is the second richest in the world behind the English Premier League, with revenue of about $700 million a year.

Several of the Italians are in the top 50 highest paid players in the world. As well as Buffon's paltry pay packet, Andreas Pirlo scrapes by on $9 million.

New Zealand's highest paid player, captain Ryan Nelsen, is understood to earn about $4 million a year at Blackburn Rovers.

And while that is huge money, it is as captain of one of the less glamorous English Premier League clubs.

The Italians play for teams such as Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan.

The All Whites come from the Wellington Phoenix, Plymouth Argyle and West Bromwich Albion.

Among the All Whites are three amateur players and a fourth - Ivan Vicelich - who is amateur now, though did have a professional career.

One of those, goalkeeper James Bannatyne, couldn't afford to take time off during last year's Confederations Cup so between training sessions he was emailing clients and making phone calls for his job as a sales representative.

The other two are Aaron Clapham and Andy Barron, who works for Westpac Bank.

There are also two players "between clubs".

Simon Elliot and David Mulligan are both hoping to get offered a contract after the World Cup.

For Elliot, at 36, it is his last chance to land a deal before he has to look outside the game for a career.

When the Italian players are between clubs, it usually means they are weighing up multimillion-dollar offers from Real Madrid and Manchester United.

And when they reach the end of their playing careers, not one of them will need to worry about working again.

History is also against the 78th ranked All Whites, who are playing at their second World Cup.

Italy are the second most successful World Cup team, having won four titles - one less than Brazil.

The Azzurri have lost only one of their last 21 meetings against non-European sides in World Cup finals (2-1 to South Korea in 2002).

New Zealand have conceded an average of 3.25 goals a game in World Cup finals, and scored only three.

No matter the gulf between the teams, the All Whites have 90 minutes against 11 men to bridge the gulf and show they deserve their place at soccer's top table.