Monday, June 3 in Sapporo (7:30 am ET) Group G: ITALY (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. ECUADOR (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, ESPN2, Univision 7:30 am ET; Tape, Telefutura, 3 pm ET/PT) Italy is the big favorite in Group G. It has one of the best defenses in the tournament with Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini, holdovers from France '98, and Christian Panucci. Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni has decided to go with Francesco Totti up front instead of Alessandro Del Piero. A key will be the service of midfielder Christiano Doni, who only recently won a starting spot, for Totti and Christian Vieri. Ecuadoran Alex Aguinaga, who has spent 13 years in Mexico, finally gets to show off his skills on the world stage. PROBABLE LINEUPS: Italy — 1 Buffon, 2 Panucci, 5 Cannavaro, 13 Nesta, 3 Maldini, 19 Zambrotta, 17 Tommasi, 14 Di Biagio, 11 Doni , 10 Totti, 21 Vieri. Ecuador — 1 Cevallos, 4 De la Cruz, 3 Hurtado, 2 Porozo, 6 Guerron, 19 Mendez, 5 Obregon, 20 E.Tonorio, 16 Chala, 10 Aguinaga, 11 Delgado. REFEREE: Brian Hall (USA). SUSPENSIONS: None. NUMBER: 6 The Italy-Ecuador match marks the sixth straight World Cup that an American has refereed in the World Cup. Brian Hall follows David Socha (1982 and 1986), Vincent Mauro (1990), Arturo Angeles (1994) and Esse Baharmast (1998).