Call-Ups, Big and Little
(Pasqual is imploring LDS to dress better now that he's got his first senior call-up.)
Both the Azzurri and the Azzurrini have qualifiers coming up, so Cesare has picked his first squad in anger, and Casiraghi is desperately trying to find the team that will save his ass by pulling out a miracle and qualifying for the U21 Euros.
For his part, Cesare lost Amauri to injury, kept Cassano, brought back Gila, Pazzo and Pirlo, and has called up four (that's 4) entirely new defenders: LDS, Gastaldello, Antonelli and Bovo. The full squad is as follows: Portieri: Mirante (Parma), Sirigu (Palermo), Viviano (Bologna)
Difensori: Antonelli (Parma), Bonucci (Juventus), Bovo (Palermo), Cassani (Palermo), Chiellini (Juventus), De Silvestri (Fiorentina), Gastaldello (Sampdoria), Molinaro (VfB Stoccarda)
Centrocampisti: De Rossi (Roma), Lazzari (Cagliari), Marchisio (Juventus), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Palombo (Sampdoria), Pirlo (Milan)
Attaccanti: Cassano (Sampdoria), Gilardino (Fiorentina), Pazzini (Sampdoria), Pepe (Juventus), Quagliarella (Juventus), Rossi (Villareal)
As for the babies, Casiraghi has lost three major players to injury -- Mario, Santon, and Poli -- and has also called up four entire new players, who apparently have gotten much better since he last had a squad together like two weeks ago: keeper Simone Colombi (Alessandria), defenders Christian Biraghi and Felice Natalino (both Inter), and midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura (Atalanta).Portieri: Colombi (Alessandria), Mannone (Arsenal), Perin (Genoa)
Difensori: Angella (Empoli), Ariaudo (Cagliari), Biraghi (Inter), D’Ambrosio (Torino), Mazzotta (Pescara), Natalino (Inter), Ogbonna (Torino), Ranocchia (Bari)
Centrocampisti: Bolzoni (Siena), Bonaventura (Atalanta), Fabbrini (Empoli), Marrone (Siena), Mazzarani (Modena), Mustacchio (Varese), Pasquato (Modena), Schelotto (Cesena), Soriano (Empoli)
Attaccanti: Borini (Chelsea), Marilungo (Sampdoria), Okaka (Roma), Paloschi (Parma)
The Azzurri convene tomorrow and will train together through Thursday morning, after which they'll fly out to Estonia. After Friday's match, they'll return to Pisa to prepare for Tuesday's meeting with the Faroe Islands. The babies have the same schedule, except that on Thursday they go to Sarajevo, where they'll face Bosnia-Herzegovina. After they win that game, they fly home and prepare for Tuesday's match against The Mighty Wales.