Italy coach calls top strikers

ROME (AP) -- Italy's coach Giovanni Trapattoni has called up the so-called "wonder trio" of World Cup strikers, Christian Vieri, Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti, for Wednesday's friendly against Germany.

The coach on Saturday named 22 players for the match in Stuttgart, featuring two national teams which together have won six World Cup titles.

Vieri, Del Piero and Totti last played together at the 2002 World Cup in Korea when the Azzurri exited early from the competition.

A streak of injuries that sidelined the three strikers at different times last season had prevented Trapattoni from fielding them together in the European Championship qualifiers.

The lineup featured the return of midfielders Alessio Tacchinardi of Juventus and Stefano Fiore of Lazio to the Italian squad.

Italian league champion Juventus contributed seven players while Champions League title-holdert AC Milan only had two. AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi was left home.

Trapattoni said in an interview Friday that he planned to field the best Italian team in Stuttgart for a decisive test ahead of the crucial European qualifiers against group leader Wales on Sept. 6 and against Serbia four days later.

"It's a true, tough match. It's a classical challenge because it marks my return to Germany after the years at Bayern Munich and because both Italy and Germany, two weeks later, will play decisive qualifiers for the European Championship," Trapattoni said in an interview with Rome's Corriere dello Sport.

The two teams agreed to have five to six substitutions during the match.

Italy's roster (clubs in parentheses):

Goalkeepers: GianLuigi Buffon (Juventus), Francesco Toldo (Inter Milan).

Defenders: Fabio Cannavaro (Inter Milan), Matteo Ferrari (Parma), Fabio Grosso (Perugia), Nicola Legrottaglie (Juventus), Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan), Massimo Oddo (Lazio), Christian Panucci (AS Roma).

Midfielders: Massimo Ambrosini (AC Milan), Mauro German Camoranesi, Alessio Tacchinardi and Gianluca Zambrotta (Juventus), Stefano Fiore (Lazio), Simone Perrotta (Chievo), Cristiano Zanetti (Inter Milan).

Forwards: Bernardo Corradi (Lazio), Alessandro Del Piero and Fabrizio Miccoli (Juventus), Marco Delvecchio and Francesco Totti (AS Roma), Christian Vieri (Inter Milan).

The team was scheduled to train in Milan Monday night and fly to Stuttgart Tuesday.

 

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