Azzurri Call-ups: No Room for Del Piero

By: Martha | October 7th, 2007

Woohoo, I’m a full international! Alex Del Piero will surely be thrilled to see Roberto Donadoni’s list of call-ups for the upcoming Azzurri match* (a qualifier against Georgia ~~and a friendly against South Africa~~), because the Juve captain successfully talked himself out of a spot in the team. Great work, Ale! Also missing are Pippo Inzaghi, who is yet to score for Milan, and a whole bunch of injured squad regulars, including Gianluca Zambrotta, Marco Materazzi, Mauro Camoranesi and Alberto Aquilani.

In good news, Riccardo Montolivo’s solid early work for Fiorentina has earned him a very deserved first-ever senior call-up. Additionally, Daniele Bonera has rather mysteriously been recalled (Am I missing all his good work for Milan? Everything I’ve seen him do this season has been decidedly uninspired.), along with Lazio’s Stefano Mauri, who has made only four Azzurri appearances since he was first called into the side by Marcello Lippi back in 2004.

Apart from that trio, there aren’t really any surprises, as Donadoni has more or less stayed true to his core of players, including the foreign-based trio of Fabio Grosso, Luca Toni and Cristiano Lucarelli. The full team list is after the jump; training starts Tuesday and the Georgia match wil take place next Saturday.

*Thanks to Francesco and Marco for finding the information in the Italian media that the squad for South Africa will be picked later — maybe that’s when we’ll see the flood of kiddies Donadoni’s been talking about?

KEEPERS: Amelia (Livorno), Buffon (Juventus), Curci (Roma)
DEFENDERS: Barzagli (Palermo), Bonera (Milan), Chiellini (Juventus), Gamberini (Fiorentina), Grosso (Olympique Lyon), Oddo (Milan), Panucci (Roma)
MIDFIELDERS: Ambrosini (Milan), De Rossi (Roma), Gattuso (Milan), Mauri (Lazio), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Pirlo (Milan)
STRIKERS: Di Natale (Udinese), Foggia (Cagliari), Iaquinta (Juventus), Lucarelli (Shakhtar), Quagliarella (Udinese), Toni (Bayern Monaco)

Some Related Serie A Posts:

Category: AC Milan, Azzurri, Fiorentina, Rumors & News, Serie A

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kevin

Barzagli has been a beast for Palermo so far this year...hope he carries it over
Martha

I believe you Shehan, I guess I'm just watching the wrong games (which is very possible, I think I've only seen Milan three times this season).

Nice, Romanista -- very alarming, but hilarious (I'd forgotten about Puyol). Perhaps Donadoni shouldn't take any defenders at all? Can't afford to lose any more of them at this point.
Romanista SA

As a South African, but a follower of Italian football, all I can say is that I sincerely hope Don doesn't play any injury prone players against us.

We have been known to break the odd leg here or there in friendly matches.

Just ask Jamie Redknap(Sp?) (Old Buthelezi was on the field for 15 seconds before going right through Jamie and breaking his leg, which for me was the turning point in his career. He never recovered)

Or more recently, Carles Puyol (Sundowns vs Barcelona).

SA plays very diry soccer in friendlies, and I'm glad Alberto isn't making the trip.

Although it has gotten better with Carlos Alberto.
shehan

bonera is just a consistent performer. he does his job with elegance, but not too much flair.

maybe if he grew his hair out we would be discussing his style instead...
calcio

Agree with Louise. The match against Georgia will be a test for the next generation of center backs. Who will be the partner for Barzagli ? Chiellini is naturally an attacking-minded left full back. Gamberini lacks of international experience. Bonera recent performance does not seem to be as good as he used to be, although he might be the best option available.
Marco

Confirming Francesco: Gazzetta article
Francesco

it's from the FIGC official site:

Quattro giorni dopo, mercoledì 17, gli Azzurri giocheranno un'amichevole contro il Sudafrica a Siena, che ospiterà la Nazionale per la prima volta; i convocati per questo incontro saranno resi noti successivamente.

(4 days later, Wednesday 17, the Azzurri play a friendly against South Africa in Siena, who hosts the National team for the first time. The call-ups for this encounter will be named later)
Louise

Oh, I know, Martha. Still just looks strange to me.
Martha

Are you sure Francesco? Channel 4 and Sporting Life have been known to be wrong (many times) before, but they say this list is for both -- hit me with a link and I'll change the post. (I'll also double-check in the AM for new sources and change it if I can find confirmation.)
Martha

Canna's suspended, Louise, so Donadoni didn't want to waste a spot on him.
k

bonera has done decently whenever called upon... does his work unspectaculary, but relatively effectively..
Francesco

These call-ups are only for the Georgia match. Donadoni will call-up more new faces for the South Africa friendly on Wednesday the 17th, which will be an 'experimental' friendly.
Louise

Any Azzurri teamsheet without Canna looks strange to me, but he could use the rest.

Very worried about that defense. I can only think Bonera was called because of the teams abject lack of centerbacks right now. Barzagli is really going to have to step up--this is his chance to show that he is prepared to lead the next generation of this backline.
Fetyani

Bayern Munich**