Italy to take on World All-Stars
Exhibition game will benefit Italian soccer federation
Posted: Tuesday December 15, 1998 11:46 AM
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Italian All-Stars could be facing the likes of Gabriel Batistuta and others AP |
ROME (AP) -- Imagine this lineup: Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane,
Gabriel Batistuta and George Weah together in attack.
It's going to happen. For one match, anyway.
That powerful group is set to line up for the "World
All-Stars" facing Italy's national team in an exhibition game
Wednesday night at the Olympic Stadium to mark the Italian soccer
federation's centennial.
Brazil's Ronaldo has won the last two FIFA Player of the Year
awards, Liberias Weah won the 1995 version, and Zidane is the
favorite to claim this year's honor after carrying France to the
World Cup crown.
Batistuta, an Argentine, hasn't pocketed that award -- yet. All
he's done lately is regster the only hat-trick at France '98 and
lead Serie A with 13 goals through 13 games for first-place
Fiorentina.
Ronado and Batistuta have shown before that they make a
spectacular strikeforce.
At an exhibition game at Marseilles, France, in conjunction with
the World Cup draw last December, the duo combined to account for
all of the World All-Star's goals in a 5-2 defeat of a European
selection.
In fact, that display prompted Ronaldo's club, Inter Milan, to try to pry Batistuta away from Fiorentina. But the
Argentine eventually agreed to a new deal, keeping him in Florence
into the new millennium.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, is starting to get over the knee tendinitis
that has troubled him all season. His goal with three minutes left
Sunday gave Inter a key 1-0 league victory at Udinese.
"I'm happy to say I'm finding my form again," the Brazilian
said, "and I feel less and less pain."
Most members of the World team play for Italian clubs.
Actually, the starting goalkeeper for the visitors is likely to be
Gianluca Pagliuca, who started for Italy at the last two World
Cups. The Inter veteran had a falling out with new Italy coach Dino
Zoff, though, and has lost his Azzurri roter spot.
Others on the World team jointly coached by Celtic boss Josef
Venglos and Carlos Alberto Parreira, who led Brazil to the 1994
World Cup title, include Japan's Hidetoshi Nakata, Brazilians Cafu
and Dunga, and Spaniards Fernando Hierro and Julen Guerrero.
With starting forwards Christian Vieri and Alessandro Del Piero
out injured, Italy's attack will be led by youngsters Francesco
Totti of AS Roma and Filippo Inzaghi of Juventus.
The game could also see Alessandro Nesta's return to
international action. The defender broke his leg during Italy's
first-round game against Austria at the World Cup, and only got
back on the field two weeks ago in an Italian Cup match with his
club, Lazio of Rome.
Probable lineups:
Italy: Angelo Peruzzi; Christian Panucc, Fabio Cannavaro,
Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini; Diego Fuser, Dino Baggio, Demetrio
Albertini, Eusebio Di Francesco; Filippo Inzaghi, Francesco Totti.
World: Gianluca Pagliuca (Italy); Cafu (Brazil), Dunga
(Brazil), Fernando Hierro (Spain), Rigobert Song (Cameroon); Julen
Guerrero (Spain), Hidetoshi Nakata (Japan), Zinedine Zidane
(France); George Weah (Liberia), Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina),
Ronaldo (Brazil).
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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