Azzurri Squad Announced; Limited Room for Bitching Available

By: Martha | September 3rd, 2007

Panucci in light blue. Roberto Donadoni, who has spent the last two weeks offering up sacrifices to a slew of gods in an effort to winpowers of miraculous recovery for his rickety crew of defenders, yesterday announced his squad for the upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers.

For once, it’s hard to find too much to complain about with the team. Apart from Marco Materazzi, all the regulars are there (the semi-injured duo of Cannavaro and Luca Toni, even if they’re not fully fit for the France match, will certainly be healthy for the trip to Ukraine), including Daniele De Rossi, whose absence from the Hungary friendly was unsettling to say the least.

With Toni’s fitness still questionable, Donadoni has also called Cristiano Lucarelli back into his side, a move I can confidently say is the first time a player based in Ukraine has ever won a cap for the Azzurri. (Though since last time he was called up Lucarelli’s response was “It’s about damn time,” it’s unlikely he’s celebrating too wildly at the news.) The rest of the strike force consists of the usual suspects: Alex Del Piero, Antonio Di Natale, Pippo Inzaghi, and Fabio Quagliarella. People are still bitching about the inclusion of Del Piero, but it’s hard to deny he’s been playing well, no matter how old he is. (How long, though, before Fabrizio Miccoli get a call?)

The midfield is the strength of this team, and alongside the core group from Germany (Gattuso, Pirlo, De Rossi, etc) are the suddenly indispensable Alberto Aquilani and Pasquale Foggia, who played so well for Cagliari over the weekend that Donadoni saw fit to hand him his first cap. In the back, meanwhile, things are so thin that Christian Panucci has been called up for the first time in over three years; whether he’s there as wide player or as an emergency backup centerback (a role he’s been playing for Roma lately) is anyone’s guess, but the latter option — the one that seems most likely — is not a great sign of the Donadoni’s feelings about young Italian central defenders.

Full squad is after the jump; the team will convene tonight after the Milan-Fiorentina match.

Keepers: Abbiati (Atletico Madrid), Amelia (Livorno), Buffon (Juventus)
Defenders: Barzagli (Palermo), F Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Chiellini (Juventus), Gamberini (Fiorentina), Grosso (Lyon), Oddo (Milan), Panucci (Roma), Zambrotta (Barcelona)
Midfielders: Ambrosini (Milan), Aquilani (Roma), Camoranesi (Juventus), De Rossi (Roma), Foggia (Cagliari), Gattuso (Milan), Perrotta (Roma), Pirlo (Milan)
Strikers: Del Piero (Juventus), Di Natale (Udinese), F Inzaghi (Milan), C Lucarelli (Shakhtar Donetsk), Quagliarella (Udinese), Toni (Bayern Munich)