ROME (AP) - As Luca Toni goes, so goes Italy.
That was one of the prevailing thoughts as the World Cup champions held their first full day of training for the European Championship.
Incidentally, Monday also marked Toni's 31st birthday.
"As a present I'd like to win the Euros," Toni said. "If you had told me five years ago that I would have celebrated as a world champion, training for the Euros, I would have said you were crazy. But here we are with a chance to make history, because combining our World Cup title with this European Championship would really be historic."
The only team to win the World Cup and European Championship back-to-back was France in 1998 and 2000 - with a golden-goal victory over Italy at the Euros.
With Francesco Totti retired from international play, and Alberto Gilardino - Toni's strike partner at the World Cup - in a slump and out of the team, Toni is more than ever the focus of the Azzurri attack.
Vincenzo Iaquinta also did not make the team, due to a a muscle injury.
Toni will likely have Antonio Di Natale and Mauro Camoranesi flanking him in Donadoni's preferred 4-3-3 lineup, with Alessandro Del Piero, Antonio Cassano and Fabio Quagliarella other options.
Toni's backup is the inexperienced Marco Borriello, who scored 19 goals for Genoa this season, but has only appeared twice for Italy, with no goals.
Toni scored 39 goals in all competitions this season with Bayern Munich, his first in Germany, and has 15 goals in 33 appearances for Italy. The 1.93-meter (6-foot-4) striker was a late bloomer, bursting onto the scene by scoring 50 goals over two seasons with Palermo between 2003-05.
Toni then transferred to Fiorentina and led all leagues in Europe with 31 goals in 2005-06 - the season before the World Cup. He scored twice at the tournament in Germany - Toni's first big international competition - tying Marco Materazzi for the team lead. Eight other players scored once each.
Italy's strength at the World Cup was its teamwork, with no player significantly outshining any other. If Toni is on form, that could change this time. "I'm really charged. Compared to the World Cup, I feel more sure of myself, and stronger," Toni said at Italy's training center in Florence. "I guarantee I'll give 110 percent. This could be my last European Championship and I want to win it."
Italy opens against the Netherlands on June 9, faces Romania four days later and ends group play against France on June 17 in a rematch of the World Cup final.
Toni is teammates at Bayern with France midfielder Franck Ribery, and played with Romania star Adrian Mutu at Fiorentina.
"We're in an extremely difficult group. There are no weak teams," Toni said. "Holland is among the strongest teams in circulation, Romania is there because it deserves to be, and I already told my friend Ribery that I hope to get to the last game against France without needing points.
"Franck is crazy, but he's a great player, one who can make the difference. He's like Mutu. I still talk often with Adrian, and I wished him a good Euros," Toni said.
Besides winning the Bundesliga, Toni's goals also were crucial for Bayern in the UEFA Cup and German Cup.
Toni scored twice in the last five minutes of extra time against Getafe to put Bayern through to the UEFA Cup semifinals in April, then added two more - including another in extra time - to lead his team to a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup final a week later.
"I'm going to stay (with Bayern) next year also. We're going to aim for the Champions League," Toni said. "I told management I'd like to have some Italian teammates, and I know they tried with (Gennaro) Gattuso. Now (Andrea) Barzagli would be welcome."
Gattuso recently announced he will stay with AC Milan, while Italy defender Barzagli is looking to transfer from Palermo.
For now, Toni is Italy's top export.
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