Training Camp Squad Announced!

I would have liked to see Caracciolo and maybe Pellissier get a look. Also, nobody talks about him, but Di Vaio has played well for Monaco, better than Vieri before he was injured.

[...] The training roster is out. Let the second guessing begin. (Italy Blog) [...]

SCANDALOUS!!!!!!!!!!!
No surprises with the Pannucci snub, but Cassano??????? Lippi should have at least given Cassano a second look before snubbing him.

I am very pleased for Liverani; I think he really earned his invitation. He’s been playing with such verve and imagination. Undeniable, really.

Yet, if you think about it, a Liverani mini-camp snub would not be as surprising as the Cassano snub. We’re not even talking about the official world cup squad, just the mini-camp!!!
Lippi is one determined man, to put it mildly.

[...] I just glanced through the provisional Italian squad. It struck me that every single player plays in Italy. How often does this happen? Even the qualified African teams usually have one or two players who play in Europe somewhere. Why doesn’t Italy export their star players in the same way that other countries do? [...]

Bear in mind, the mini-camp is not an exclusive pool, i.e., the final 23 players will not necessarily be drawn from the 29 invited to camp — because Roma and Inter players are not eligible for mini camp (Coppa Italia first leg).
So in addition to the 29 players invited to mini-camp, Lippi will still consider the following players (listed in likelihood of WC inclusion):

Totti (definite)
De Rossi
Perrotta
Materazzi
Zanetti
Toldo (yeah right)

Pingback: the answer = Serie A is the toughest league to play in and arguably the best league in the world. Why go anywhere else? The other reason: if you leave Serie A, your chances of being included in the national side greatly diminish. Just ask Cassano what he’s doing this summer…. And remember the outcry when Vialli went to Chelsea?

But the same is true for the Premiership. Not many players venture out of Mother England. Beckham for a couple of years, and Owen for a couple months, but they both went to Madrid– the most storied team in the world. Same destination as Cassano…. I doubt that any of the above players would have left their homelands to join foreign mid-table clubs (or even non-G14 clubs). Imagine: “Report tips Totti to join Ossasuna in the fall….”

Cassano?! When was the last time you see him play?
Cassano IS a scandal so without him there’s no scandal at all!!

If we talk about general skills then he is one of the top 5 italian players, but this isn’t a videogame where just absolute skills matter!
I mean first coach Gentile (and all of Cassano’s teammates) decided to stop calling him to represent Italy U21 because of his attitude in & out the pitch, and then Cassano comment was ” oh well I don’t care about Italy U21 because I’m worthy of the main Italy team, so they can **** off”
Then Roma, with Capello, signed Cassano and even though he continued to do every sort of idiocy, he still was a soccer player, but when Capello leaved Roma nobody managed to restrain Cassano and his “cassanate” so he became fat and even more unbearable!! His Roma teammates, with Totti on top, defended him everytime about everything, I remember they alwayls said “he’s young so it doesn’t matter if doesn’t train sometimes or if he call the coach soon of a b***h”( ) , but this happened once then twice then many other times…. so soon even his teammates became pissed-off about him, even Totti, his greatest friend, began to say “I don’t talk about him” “I don’t care about him no more”
Meanwhile his contract was going to finish and he and his manager were pretending a huge amount of money to resign a contract so Roma finally decide to sell him to Real Madrid: the Italian press was shouting “What a tragedy!! How could we sell such a talent to a foreign team”, BUT you know what; Roma made a 11-win streak right after that while Real slowly realized who really is Cassano (who by the way was just 11KG above his normal weight)

Right now he isn’t a soccer player, and he did it all by himself!!
The true question is will he be again a soccer player?
I hope so, as italian, but I strongly doubt about it, it will depend on which team he will sign and play the next season and if he finally will understand how to do things properly.
So in my opinion, as I said in another topic, if Capello will manage to have Cassano in Juventus (or in whatever wil be the Capello’s team next year) probalby Cassano could recover his shape and his career, but if Cassano goes in team like Inter Milan or stay in Real Madrid we’ve lost him: maybe it will happen sometimes he will score a beatiful goal and the press will say things like “wooooo Cassano his back” but then will be followed with a long streak of poor performances… (like e.g.Recoba)

I want him to recover and become one of the greatest italian players but concerning THIS WC, well, no way I want him on the team!! Let’s give a chance to someone who at least devote himself in what he does

What does Lippi have against Fiore?
In the absence of Totti, Fiore is a great playmaker. He should get a call.

^agreed, don’t know why fiore’s not called. In fact, fiore’s always snubbed for the WC (he’s played two euros but no WC’s)

yeah, I would like to see Fiore in the squad too

Nuff said…

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/may2j.html

Lippi is killing me.

Also, this article gives some insight as to his starting eleven.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/may2n.html

Of course this is minus the injured guys and Roma and Inter players. It looks like the only switches are Barzagli and Zaccardo in for Nesta and Cannavaro and Del Piero for Totti. All pretty obvious. I think the one surprise is Esposito playing with the big boys. I would take him over Camo for sure. But they were playing 12 a side so who know what that means.

regarding the starting 11, one thing that is not obvious is the 3-man midfield. Which 3 among pirlo, gattuso, camo, perrotta and de rossi will start?

Pirlo and Gattuso are for sure. I think Lippi will be stubborn and stick with Camo, but I would much rather see de Rossi. He’s had a wonderful year for Roma

I completely agree – de Rossi is an impressive player. He has a great attitude, he works hard and is not a primadonna.