Lippi makes call-ups and he’s still perplexing Italians everywhere.

By: Francesco | February 7th, 2009

Usually we get the call-ups on Sunday afternoons, but with the Italy game being Tuesday we get Marcello Lippi’s call-ups a day early. Lippi has gotten criticism from the press for his call-ups since he took over, most notably for the exclusions of Alessandro Del Piero and Antonio Cassano. Lippi said that this game would be no place to experiment and new faces should not be expected, and he was right on point. However even though I understand Lippi is trying to build a united team with familiar faces, some of the players he called up simply do not deserve to be there right now. Call-ups after the jump.

Goalkeepers: Buffon (Juventus), Amelia (Palermo), De Sanctis (Galatasaray).

Defenders: Bonera (Milan), Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Dossena (Liverpool), Gamberini (Fiorentina), Grosso (Olympique Lyon), Legrottaglie (Juventus), Zambrotta (Milan).

Midfielders: Aquilani (Roma), Camoranesi (Juventus), De Rossi (Roma), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Pepe (Udinese), Perrotta (Roma), Pirlo (Milan).

Forwards: Di Natale (Udinese), Gilardino (Fiorentina), Iaquinta (Juventus), Quagliarella (Udinese), Rossi (Villarreal), Toni (Bayern Munich).

Nothing wrong with the goalkeeper selection, as those are the best 3 Italian goalkeepers we have, although he could’ve called up Cagliari’s Federico Marchetti as the third goalkeeper.

In defense, plain and simple Bonera and Dossena should not be there. Daniele Bonera has been injured and hasn’t even featured for Milan this month. Andrea Dossena doesn’t even play half the time at Liverpool, only making 10 appearances this season. He spends his days in the EPL warming the bench, why will he be a contender to start at left-back for the national team?

In midfield, everything makes sense until you see the names of Mauro Camoranesi and Simone Pepe. Mauro Camoranesi? Really? Yes, we all know he’s a Lippi favorite but he’s another one that has been injured and hasn’t played at all for Juve. He didn’t even get minutes in the Coppa Italia midweek. Simone Pepe will never be national team material, no matter how good a patch of form he’s going through. He’s a decent player, that’s it. He’s been inconsistent for Udinese as well, sometimes even losing his starting spot to Antonio Floro Flores or Alexis Sanchez.

Up front, the only puzzling name is that of Vincenzo Iaquinta. Another Lippi favorite, but what has he done this season to merit this call-up? Coming on as a sub and scoring a penalty against Udinese merits a national team call-up? I could do that. He hardly plays at Juve, he can’t beat out Del Piero and Amauri for a starting spot in Juve, why is he on the national team?

The second era of Lippi is confusing me more and more as it goes on. Lippi says the national team is open to everyone aged 18 to 40, but the more he says it, the less I believe him. This is just becoming the national team of Lippi man-crushes.

What does everyone think? Discuss in the comments.