Midfielder Daniele De Rossi fears Italy are heading for an early World Cup exit if they do not improve immediately.

The defending champions were held to their second draw of the tournament in South Africa by New Zealand on Sunday. Another draw with Slovenia would be enough to qualify for the last 16 if Group F rivals Paraguay beat New Zealand but De Rossi feels nothing can be left to chance.

The Roma playmaker said: "We'll have to improve quickly, because otherwise we won't be going far. We weren't at our best and we can do a lot better than that."