Donadoni “preliminary roster” supposedly found

For the past few days, many newspapers have been making predictions about what Roberto Donadoni’s final roster for Euro 2008 will look like. These rosters are purely speculation and shouldn’t be trusted at all. Although yesterday, the newspaper Informazione reported that television channel Antenna 3, a television station based in Lombardia, “discovered” Donadoni’s real preliminary roster of 29 players. So without further adieu, here is Antenna 3’s “discovery”:

Portieri: Abbiati, Amelia, Buffon

Difensori: Barzagli, Bonera, Cannavaro, Cassetti, Chiellini, Gamberini, Grosso, Materazzi, Oddo, Panucci, Tonetto, Zambrotta

Centrocampisti: Ambrosini, Aquilani, Camoranesi, De Rossi, Gattuso, Montolivo, Perrotta, Pirlo

Attaccanti: Del Piero, Di Natale, Borriello, Quagliarella, Toni, Rocchi

The list has Abbiati as the third goalkeeper, not Toldo, as other newspapers have reported. It also has Marco Cassetti and Max Tonetto as reserves to the fullbacks, and Daniele Bonera and Alessandro Gamberini as reserves to the center backs. The only new face in midfield is Riccardo Montolivo, who is really in great form in this last part of the season and making Nazionale fans salivate thinking about the midfield Italy will have after Euro 2008. Up front Del Piero is there, but no Pippo Inzaghi or Antonio Cassano. Instead, they made Lazio’s Tommaso Rocchi the reserve.

Before criticizing, we must remember that this list is pure media speculation, as no official list has been made public by Roberto Donadoni.

The first question is Abbiati as the third keeper. While the third keeper shouldn’t be a big fuss, Abbiati did say in an interview a few months ago that he would not accept being a third keeper, because he felt he was better than Marco Amelia. Second, I think we all can agree that the defense is all but set. Barring injuries, Gamberini, Bonera, Cassetti, and Tonetto will not go to Austria/Switzerland.

In midfield the battle is between Alberto Aquilani and Riccardo Montolivo. Aquilani has been in the squad consistently when not injured and is just came back from another setback recently. We all know Aquilani is talented, the kid has a cannon of a shot, excellent passing ability, great technique, the list goes on and on. But the problem is that he isn’t in form. Montolivo made his debut vs. South Africa in the fall and despite having a disappointing season at the start, has really been excellent for La Viola in this late part of the season and has shown that he has all the qualities to be one of the best midfielders in the world, he can defend, he can attack, he can tackle, he can pass, he can score. He’s a jack of all trades. He could become Italy’s Steven Gerrard. If Donadoni picks on form, he’ll take Montolivo. If Donadoni picks on history, he’ll take Aquilani. However both players will probably be playing alongside one another in Beijing this summer.

And then we have the great striker mystery. Del Piero looks like he will go 100%. Toni, Di Natale, and Quagliarella are all locks. Borriello is the favorite for the back-up Toni role especially after Iaquinta got injured, but he could face a last-minute push from Inzaghi. Then there’s Cassano. We all know his story so I won’t explain. The mystery on the list is Tommaso Rocchi. I’m not doubting that Rocchi is a great player, because he’s a great striker. But he hasn’t played for Italy since the match vs. the Faroe Islands last June, and he hasn’t even been the best striker this season with a mediocre Lazio side (that honor goes to Goran Pandev).

So basically, we’re still speculating, and we’ll have to wait for The Don to unveil his official roster of 23 players + 3 or 4 alternates.
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Some other Nazionale news:

Pierluigi Casiraghi will unveil his list of Olympic team call-ups on Friday for the upcoming Toulon Tournament. He will call 23 players for the tournament that starts on May 20th. The Toulon Tournament will feature other U-23 sides and it is good preparation for the Olympics. Italy will play the Ivory Coast on the 21st, followed by Turkey on the 23rd. They will finish the group with a game vs the USA on the 25th. After that if they finish first or second in the group they will play a semifinal on the 27th, and if they win there they will play in the final on the 29th.

The Italian Beach Soccer National Team is trying to qualify for the 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, which is being held in Marseille, France in late July. They have won their first two qualifiers vs. Azerbaijan (there are beaches in Azerbaijan?!?) and Greece and have qualified for the round of 16. If they can get to the semi-final they will qualify for the World Cup as the top 4 teams of the Euro qualifying tournament qualify for the World Cup.

The Italy U-19’s will undergo the final stage of qualifying for the European Championships this summer in the Czech Republic. They are in a group with Sweden, France, and Switzerland. If they can qualify out of the group and get to the European Championship this summer, they will have a chance of qualifying for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup. In order to participate in next summers’ U-20 World Cup, they will have to qualify for the European Championship and finish in the Top 6 this summer. Qualifying will take place from May 26-31. Francesco Rocca has called up 25 players, and there are some familiar names like Fernando Forestieri, Francesco Bolzoni, Alberto Paloschi, and Stefano Okaka along with some very promising players like Vicenzo Fiorillo, Michele Albertazzi, Cosimo Palumbo, Andrea Poli, and Umberto Eusepi.

Portieri: Fiorillo (Sampdoria), Pinsoglio (Juventus), Viotti (Brescia);

Difensori: Albertazzi (Milan), Bruscagin (Milan), Darmian (Milan), Formiconi (Udinese), Gentili (Atalanta), Marchetti (Real Montecchio), Tagliani (Fiorentina);

Centrocampisti: Bianco (Sampdoria), Bolzoni (Inter), Forestieri (Siena), Mazzarani (Cisco Roma), Palumbo (Napoli), Poli (Sampdoria), Raggio (Genoa), Romizi (Fiorentina), Viola (Reggina);

Attaccanti: Carbonaro (Palermo), Eusepi (Genoa), Giovio (Varese), Okaka (Modena), Paloschi (Milan), Zamblera (Newcastle United).

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Category: Azzurri, Rumors & News, Serie A