AS Roma’s Italy international Daniele De Rossi (pictured) will face a tough challenge this coming weekend when he joins Italy in their World Cup 2010 qualifier in Ireland.

De Rossi, who is the top midfielder in the Italian Serie A on the FTBL ranking at the moment, as well as the top Italian in that category with an overall rating of 124.38 points, will face a daunting plank of 19 rating points to beat against the always fiercely competitive Irish.

For De Rossi to remain at the top in the ranking, a victory for Italy will not be enough: he will have to score. If he comes out of this situation unscathed, he will have an excellent chance of breaking into the top 8 of the world ranking: his plank to beat in the next World Cup qualifier will amount to just 6 rating points.