Milan - Coach Marcello Lippi is back in the fray after
a two-year rest to begin a second stint at the helm of world
champions Italy.
He rejoins the national team, which he steered to a fourth World
Cup in 2006, for a friendly with Austria on Wednesday in the French
seaside town of Nice.
A month and a half after being called back to replace Roberto
Donadoni and less than three weeks from the beginning of the
qualifying campaign for the World Cup 2010, Lippi has largely stuck
to the group he took to the Germany-hosted World Cup.
Earlier this summer, on the second anniversary of his triumph over
France at Berlin's Olympiastadion, Lippi remarked that 'at times,
when talking about the 2006 World Cup, people don't fully acknowledge
that the success was not at all casual from a technical point of
view. That team had some of the strongest players in the world.'
Many of those who lifted the cup for the Azzurri in Berlin are
still in Lippi's line-up, with the glaring absences of Fabio
Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi in defence, both injured along with
striker Luca Toni.
Toni's absence gives way to the return of world champion Alberto
Gilardino, looking to bounce back after a move from AC Milan to
Fiorentina after two dismal seasons.
Juventus veteran Alessandro Del Piero, 33, has good chances to
start as captain up front after 89 games and 27 goals with the
Azzurri, possibly with team-mate Mauro Camoranesi as supporting
forward.
Lippi, however, is likely to take advantage from the six
substitutions allowed in friendlies, which should leave a chance to
strikers Vincenzo Iaquinta, also from Juve, and Antonio Di Natale.
Giorgio Chiellini, who earned a spot in defence during
Donadoni's tenure, is missing due to a recent injury and
is to be replaced by Juve team mate Nicola Legrottaglie, rejoining
the Azzurri after a four-year absence.
The midfield relies on the play-making skills of Andrea Pirlo and
the grit of Gennaro Gattuso, both from Milan, with Roma's Daniele De
Rossi and Simone Perrotta as ramparts before the defence.
Still reeling from the quarter-final elimination against Spain at
Euro 2008, the Azzurri look to find again the solidity they found in
2006 as Italian football was being shaken by one of its worst
scandals.
Their road to the 2010 World Cup hosted by South Africa begins
away to Cyprus on September 6, followed on September 10 by a home
game with Georgia.
Bulgaria, Ireland, and Montenegro also make up a qualification
Group 8 that seems to pose little threat for the world champions.
Austria left Euro 2008 at the group phase and may have a hard time
as they face off with France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania and the
Faroe Islands in Group 7.
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