The Rome Derby, and What it Means for the Azzurri

The big game of this weekend is undoubtedly the Roma derby. It’s not quite the massive derby that Inter-AC Milan or Barca-Madrid is, but for fans of the two teams, it’s huge. Roma and Lazio fans would like nothing more than for thier opponents team to cease to exist.

But the derby also has some implications for the national team. Tomorrow night, we’ll see quite a few Italian internationals playing, and this game could have big implications for the next round of call ups. Don’t be too surprised if Lippi is in the stands at the Olympico.

Let’s take a look at the two squads, starting with Roma:

Predicted starting 11: Doni; Panucci, Juan, Mexes, Cassetti; Perrotta, De Rossi, Brighi, Menez; Vucinic, Totti

• Potential Azzurri call up: Cassetti

Cassetti is back from injury, and this’ll be a baptism by fire for him. Not only is this his first game in a long time, but it’s in a derby. Of course, these are projected starting 11s and not confirmed, but given Rise’s and Cicinho’s knack for scoring own goals, I wouldn’t be too shocked to see Cassetti back there.

Impact game will have on his chances for being called up: Slimmer than Ally McBeal. We have the fullbacks on the national team already- Grosso, Dossenna and Zambro are pretty much locks. The only way Cassetti could get in is if one of those guys is injured. Cassetti’s good, but I don’t see him getting called up.

• Potential Azzurri call up: Panucci, aka Roma’s Mr. Clutch

Panuch has been one of Roma’s most consistent performers this campaign. He’s the highest goalscorer, which either speaks volumes about him or about Roma’s attack (depending on how harsh you want to be on Roma). Either way, along with ADP, he’s been defying age. Despite being 35, he hasn’t really looked that old and scored a huge goal against Chelsea this campaign.

Impact game will have on his chances for being called up: Even slimmer than Cassetti’s. Lippi and Panuch don’t seem to get along at all, and I’d be shocked if he was called up. Given his age I can see Lippi’s side of this, but Canna is just about as old and he’s been dreadful for Real recently. I’d call him up as a backup.

• Potential Azzurri call up: Perotta.

Perotta is one of those players who gets a lot of flak for what he does. I like to think of him as Roma’s Sissoko. He runs like crazy and tries to set things up for the attack. On the other hand, he’s pushing 31 and he has a horrible, horrible shot. I think chris over at the Roma offside has a minor heart attack every time this guy scores, because his conversion ratio is roughly 1:699.

Impact game will have on his chances for being called up: Pretty decent. He was part of the squad that won the world cup in 06 and Lippi seems to like him. If he plays well this game could go a long way in determining if he gets called up next time.

• Potential Azzurri call up: De Rossi

At this point, it isn’t an exaggeration to say that Roma have one of, if not the best DM in all of Europe. De Rossi is a colossal player for them and could easily walk into just about any team he wants to. Thing is, he loves Roma and I don’t see him leaving anytime soon. He’s the future captain of the club and maybe even of the Azzurri.

Impact game will have on his chances for being called up: Yeah, he’s getting called up next time. Unless he’s injured or insults Lippi’s family. He’s the only guy on the pitch who basically has a starting spot on the national team locked down.

• Potential Azzurri call up: Brighi

Brighi’s got an interesting past. A couple years ago when he was with Juve, people tipped him to be the next big thing. He hasn’t really been that great for Roma though until this year. Thanks to Roma’s medical team sucking worse than a Jenna Jameson porno, he was able to gain a starting spot and has proven to be relatively solid. He’s a very good midfielder who works well patrolling the park with DDR.

Impact game will have on his chances for being called up: Crapshoot. He’s good but out midfield is stacked as it is. If the injury list stays as is though (With Aqui and Camo being out), he may have a chance of getting called up if he plays well here.

• Potential Azzurri call up: Totti

Just kidding. Wanted to see how many people I could get angry while reading this

Now, onto Lazio:

Carrizo; Lichtsteiner, Siviglia, Rozehnal, Radu; Dabo, Ledesma, Brocchi; Pandev, Rocchi, Zarate

• Potential Azzurri call up: Brocchi

Brocchi’s a pretty solid DM, 32 years young. He was actually with Milan until this year, when he transferred to Lazio. To be honest, he could have the game of his life and I don’t think he’d get called up. For one, he has a total of 1 cap in his whole career. And two, we’re not quite that desperate for midfielders yet. So…

Impact game will have on his chances for being called up: Very, very little.

• Potential Azzurri call up: Rocchi

Readers of this blog might know Rocchi as the one overage guy we took the the Olympics. And he broke his leg there so he’s been out of action until a couple weeks ago. He came back and has scored some goals, so he’s looking pretty solid.

Impact game will have on his chances for being called up: Decent. He’s 31 but he’s still a pretty good striker. I’d prefer if we focused on younger guys like Cassano, Rossi and Quags but Lippi only really seems to like Rossi. So if he has a good game here, who knows. We could see his name on the sheet next time call ups go out.

• Potential Azzurri call up: Siviglia.

Now when I looked him up on Wikipedia, I understood why I had never heard of him before. He’s 35 and has 0 caps to his name.

Impact game will have on his chances for being called up: Could have the game of his life and the Loch Ness Monster would still be called up before him.

Overall, that’s 8 Italians that should be on the pitch tomorrow night, and a majority of them have a decent shot of getting onto the national team next time Lippi calls up his members. Should be a great game.