Marcelo Lippi finalized his Azzurri squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and the big news is that Inter’s teenage sensation Davide Santon. The youngster played mostly left back for Inter but is seen as a player who can play on both sides.
Three red-hot attacking players with breakout seasons in the 08-09 Serie A campaign were left off the list in favor of more veteran Azzurri players. Sampdoria forward Giampaolo Pazzini, Udinese midfielder Gaetano D’Agostino, and Bologna’s Marco Di Vaio were left off in favor of Milan’s Andrea Pirlo, Udinese’s Fabio Quagliarella, and Bayern’s Luca Toni.
No surprise that all but 5 players called by Lippi make their dough playing in the Serie A, the World Champs open the FIFA Confederations Cup against the United States on June 15, then the Azzurri take on Egypt three days later and finish group play against Brazil on June 21.
Here is the complete Italian squad:
Goalkeepers:
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Marco Amelia (Palermo), Morgan De Sanctis (Galatasaray).
Defenders:
Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Gianluca Zambrotta (AC Milan), Andrea Dossena (Liverpool), Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina), Fabio Grosso (Lyon), Nicola Legrottaglie (Juventus), Davide Santon (Inter Milan).
Midfielders:
Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma), Simone Pepe (Udinese), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria)
Forwards:
Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Fabio Quagliarella (Udinese), Luca Toni (Bayern Monaco), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal).
For me, Italy is semifinal material. The battle for first place in Group B will determine who will go to the final to face Spain.
Again, Italy has an aged look for me and that could be the difference in their Confederations Cup outing.
Then again, I am pleased to read that all the teams involved will send their best squad to South Africa for the Confed Cup which will make very good viewing for spectators. I have written about the team’s prospects which might make good reading for some: Confederations Cup 2009 Preview
where is macheda
and i hope for semi-final