Will the Azzurri Have a Buon Natale?

December 23rd, 2011 | by: elaine | Comments Off

With Christmas upon us, I immediately think of the player whose very name means “of Christmas.” 34 year-old Antonio Di Natale has been capo cannoniere two years running in Serie A and already has 10 goals this season for Udinese.

Yet he only has 36 caps for the Azzurri with a respectable 10 goals and hasn’t been called up since the disaster that was World Cup 2010. Recently, Prandelli has said that he is closely monitoring him. And a few weeks back, the man himself had this to say:

“I don’t think that you need to be a certain age to be part of the [Italy] squad. I think scoring more than 60 goals in two seasons is enough to put yourself in the spotlight for selection.”

“It’s just up to the coach to decide whether to pick me or not. In the meantime I am at his disposal. For now I am just concentrating on Udinese, but I would be very happy to represent Italy again.”

What do you think? Should he be a part of Prandelli’s plans? Is his age alone enough to warrant his omission, or should he be considered on his merits and his current form? Do we even need another striker? And if he takes a spot, who does Prandelli leave off?

Please take the poll below and comment before you have too many eggnogs.

No, don’t worry, Elaine is not back permanently, this is just a “gift post” for Gadsby & Sam for Christmas. Buon Natale a Tutti!