Azzurri NEWS

Greece – Italy Preview

Published by admin on November 18, 2008

Marcello Lippi’s world champion Azzurri travel to Athens to face Greece in a friendly international on Wednesday. The former Juve coach was expected to choose a new player or two that he will experiment with in Athens on Wednesday and he did so, picking Gaetano D’Agostino and confirming Napoli’s Christian Maggio and Giuseppe Rossi from Villarreal in the squad.

Luca Toni returns to the squad, and so do Mauro Camoranesi and Vincenzo Iaquinta. The injured Gianluigi Buffon, Marco Amelia, Gianluca Zambrotta, Andrea Pirlo, Antonio Di Natale and Alberto Aquilani were obviously left out of the squad.

Italy lead their World Cup qualification group and are clear favourites to win it, while Greece, the 2004 European champions, also lead in their group despite a 2-1 home defeat to Switzerland in their last game a month ago.

This is the last game of 2008 for the Italians, and Lippi preferred to rely on less seasoned strikers and confirmed mainstays Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni, with Vincenzo Iaquinta, Simone Pepe, Fabio Quagliarella and the young Villarreal starlet Giuseppe Rossi, who is likely to start in tomorrow’s match.

Gaetano D’Agostino, 26, is the only new entry in midfield after his good showings with Udinese, while the defence welcomes back Fabio Grosso, and Mauro Camoranesi is again available
on the right wing.

Morgan De Sanctis was picked to keep goal from Turkish side Galatasaray, with Siena’s Gianluca Curci as substitute behind a defence led by veteran captain Fabio Cannavaro.

Lippi and his men know they are in for a tough time at the Karaiskaki stadium, and his German colleague Otto Rehhagel will be hoping to make a good impression against the world champions to continue his legacy as the national team’s longest serving coach.

This is the probable starting eleven for tomorrow night’s game:

De Sanctis, Bonera, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Grosso, Gattuso, De Rossi, Montolivo, Toni, Camoranesi, Rossi.

Peter Pedroncelli - footballitaliano.org