Lippi excludes big names from 30 strong Italian shortlist

The big news in the Italy camp is that neither Alessandro Del Piero nor Francesco Totti were included in Marcello Lippi’s squad. Arguably two of the greatest Italian footballers in the modern era, so it was somewhat ironic that Lippi, a manager with what some would consider a frustrating habit of selecting the older generation of players, hasn’t opted for two players with mass amount of international experience, knowledge and bags of caps.

Italy manager, Marcello Lippi, has been known to edge towards the more experienced players rather than those with youth on their side, so it was a tad surprising to see that neither Alessandro Del Piero nor Francesco Totti were included in Lippi’s provisional squad. Instead, it would appears as though the in form pairing of Antonio Di Natale and Giampaolo Pazzini have etched their way into the front of the forward que alongside Vincenzo Iaquinta and Guiseppe Rossi.

Another big name player to miss out on a phone call from Lippi was Bayern Munich forward Luca Toni, who has spent the latter part of the season on loan at AS Roma in a desperate bid to catch the onlooking eye of Lippi. Toni’s ploy seems to have failed miserably, who after disappointing back in Germany 2006, looks as though he has missed his last chance to shine on the big stage.

It was of little surprise that Buffon was there, one of the best shot-stoppers of the game, while the usual Italian faces of Gattuso, Pirlo, Zambrotta, De Rossi and even Cannavaro, who recently declared he would retire from international football after the South Africa finals, will all brace our TV screens over the summer.

In terms of surprise inclusions, they are few and far between. In fact, we can’t see any, while the actually surprises are those not travelling in Del Piero, Totti and Luca Toni.

Marcello Lippi will need to cut his squad down to size before Italy take on Paraguay in their first Group F encounter. The Italians must also face challenges from New Zealand and Slovakia.

Italy 30-man Squad:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon, Morgan De Sanctis, Federico Marchetti, Salvatore Sirigu

Defenders: Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro, Giorgio Chiellini, Christian Maggio, Leonardo Bonucci , Fabio Grosso, Domenico Criscito, Mattia Cassani, Salvatore Bocchetti

Midfielders: Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Daniele De Rossi, Riccardo Montolivo, Mauro Camoranesi , Angelo Palombo, Antonio Candreva, Andrea Cossu, Claudio Marchisio, Simone Pepe

Forwards: Fabio Quagliarella, Giuseppe Rossi, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Antonio Di Natale, Marco Borriello, Alberto Gilardino, Giampaolo Pazzini