It is a different story though when he pulls on the blue shirt for Italy.

With Francesco Totti to provide the ammunition and a choice of Alessandro Del Piero or Filippo Inzaghi as partner, Vieri has everything he needs.

After the finest display of the combination of skill and power that Totti and Vieri have produced together -- in the Euro 2004 qualification win over Finland in Sicily last year -- Vieri described their performance as like "two lads playing in the park".

Born in Bologna but raised in Australia, and the son of a former Serie A striker, Vieri likes the game to be kept simple.

Off the field he tires of talk of tactics and barely conceals his contempt for the Italian media.

In action he relishes the basics being right -- an accurate cross to his head or a ball over the top to chase.

Nonetheless Vieri's seven years as an Italy international, like his five seasons with Inter, have yet to deliver a trophy despite his excellent scoring record.

In 39 appearances for his country Vieri has scored 22 goals, an impressive average at the highest level.

Since scoring on his debut in a 3-0 win over Moldova in March 1997, Vieri has been the first-choice striker for Italy although his relatively low number of appearances reflects his frequent injury problems.

He made a huge impression in the World Cup in France in 1998, scoring five goals in as many games before Italy went out on penalties to the hosts and eventual winners at the quarterfinal stage.

Injury robbed him of a chance of a repeat showing at Euro 2000 and his international career has been hampered by constant fitness, usually muscle, problems since.

At the World Cup in South Korea and Japan he scored both goals in the opening 2-0 win over Ecuador but the moment from that tournament that will stick in the memory was his close-range miss in the second-round defeat to the Koreans.

Vieri will reach his 31st birthday during the finals and so this could be his last chance to win a tournament with Italy.

Inter are Vieri's 10th club after a nomadic career which has seen him feature for Juventus, Lazio and Atletico Madrid before moving to the San Siro in the summer of 1999.

Unusually for any top sportsman in Europe, never mind an Italian soccer striker, he says his all-time sporting hero is the former Australian cricketer Allan Border.

Vieri still has strong family links to Australia. His younger brother Max, born while their father Roberto was playing and coaching in Sydney, has just fought his way into Australia's senior soccer squad.

In time, Max is expected to win an international cap for the Socceroos, completing a rare family double of two brothers representing different countries.