31 March 2009

With the weekend’s matches still fresh, the national teams are once again ready to go to the field for another two exciting days including the 11 bianconeri called-up with their respective national teams.

Tonight Casiraghi’s complete Under 21 squad (the one which will be taking part in the European Cup in Sweden next June) will play in Holland . De Ceglie, who is nearing recovery from the injury, will be absent but Pierluigi Casiraghi can count on 3 other bianconeri. If Claudio Marchisio and Sebastian Giovinco are a point of reference for the team, Lorenzo Ariaudo is in the shoes of the newcomer. After the great performance and the goal scored against Austria last Wednesday, the defender deserved the call-up. The friendly is scheduled for 20:45hrs (live on Rai Tre).

Tomorrow, Wednesday 1st April, it will be the turn of the senior squad. Much attention will be paid to the bianconeri derby which will take place in Bari. Marcello Lippi, Italy coach, will be playing against Giovanni Trappatoni the coach of Ireland assisted by two other symbolic names such as those of Marco Tardelli and Liam Brady. Amongst the possible protagonists are the 3 bianconeri called-up for Italy: Buffon, Chiellini and Iaquinta. In case of a victory, Italy would make a great step ahead towards qualification for South Africa 2010.

Reaching the World Cup is also the objective of Knezevic’s Croatia (playing against Andorra), Grygera’s Czech Republic (playing the derby against Slovakia) and Poulsen’s Denmark (playing against Albania).

The other two bianconeri Mellberg and Tiago will be involved in friendly matches. After having played against each other on Saturday, Sweden and Portugal will be playing against Serbia and South Africa (the hosts of the next world championship) respectively.

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