Euro 2008 - Del Piero out of Italy squad again
Alessandro Del Piero's Euro 2008 hopes suffered a fresh blow when Italy coach Roberto Donadoni left the striker out of his squad for Wednesday's friendly in Spain.
FOOTBALL 2006-2007 Euro 2008 qual. Italy Italien Del Piero - 0
The 33-year-old Juventus captain has not played for the world champions since his poor performance in a goalless Euro 2008 qualifier against France in September when Donadoni used him out of position on the wing.
Donadoni's 21-man squad for Italy's penultimate test before the Euro finals contained no major surprises.
Striker Marco Borriello kept his place after making his debut in February's 3-1 friendly win over Portugal.
Borriello, who has scored 17 league goals for Genoa this season, is expected to understudy Bayern Munich's Luca Toni in Austria and Switzerland in June.
Inter Milan defender Marco Materazzi is in line to make his first appearance for Italy since injuring his thigh in the 3-1 friendly defeat in Hungary in August.
He was called up for the Portugal game but had to pull out with a back problem.
Sampdoria forward Antonio Cassano seems to have blown his chances by picking up a five-match ban for verbally abusing a referee in a recent Serie A game, the latest in a series of incidents of indiscipline.
Forward Alberto Gilardino, like Del Piero a member of Italy's World Cup winning squad, also looks to have fallen out of contention after a disappointing season with AC Milan.
Italy host Belgium in Florence on May 30 in their final Euro 2008 warmup.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Marco Amelia (Livorno), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
Defenders: Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Fabio Grosso (Olympique Lyon), Marco Materazzi (Inter Milan), Massimo Oddo (AC Milan), Christian Panucci (AS Roma), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona)
Midfielders: Massimo Ambrosini (AC Milan), Alberto Aquilani (AS Roma), Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Simone Perrotta (AS Roma), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan)
Forwards: Marco Borriello (Genoa), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Fabio Quagliarella (Udinese), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich).
Reuters
1 Response to "Euro 2008 - Del Piero out of Italy squad again"
del piero is one of my favourite players and its disappointment that he is not selected..
do drop in to my blog..
www.chelseafcchampions.blogspot.com
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