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Coco called up Buffon returns to Italy roster for World Cup qualifier
ROME (AP) -- There is an old face among the new names on the roster announced Monday for Italy's upcoming 2002 World Cup qualifying match: goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. The 22-year-old Buffon is "old" only as it regards his international soccer experience, after he helped lead Italy through the two-year qualification round for this past summer's Euro 2000 championships. But Buffon, returning to the Azzurri roster for the first time in five months was forced to miss the championship itself with a hand injury suffered in Italy's final warmup match in May. Buffon, an AC Parma standout, will fight for playing time with Fiorentina's Francesco Toldo, who came out of the shadows to become the hero of Italy's memorable shootout win in the semifinals against co-host the Netherlands. Toldo, 28, may have a leg up on his younger teammate: the new Azzurri skipper, Giovanni Trapattoni, was his coach for two years at Fiorentina. In a twist of fate on the Serie A calendar, Parma and Fiorentina faced off on Sunday in the first week of the Italian league season, drawing 2-2. Italy, which lost the Euro 2000 final to France looked sluggish in its opening 2-2 draw against underdog Hungary. Its roster will be largely the same against Romania, with questions still lingering about whether struggling star Alessandro Del Piero will start, though the striker scored the game-winning goal in Juventus' opener. AC Milan wing-back Franceso Coco also earned a place in Italy's squad by impressing Trapattoni before the league season even began. Coco's first call-up on Monday completes a remarkable turnaround in the player's fortunes. The 24-year-old, a former under-21 international, spent last season on loan at Torino and when he returned to Milan in the summer he was expected to take his place among the reserves. Italy's roster (clubs in parentheses): Goalkeepers: Francesco Toldo (Fiorentina), Gianluigi Buffon (AC Parma). Defenders: Fabio Cannavaro (AC Parma), Paolo Maldini (AC Milan), Alessandro Nesta, Valerio Bertotto (Udinese), Giuseppe Pancaro (Lazio), Mark Iuliano (Juventus), Daniele Adani (Fiorentina). Midfielders: Demetrio Albertini, Massimo Ambrosini, Francesco Coco, and Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Angelo Di Livio (Fiorentina), Luigi Di Biagio (Inter), Stefano Fiore (Udinese), Alessio Tacchinari (Juventus). Forwards: Filippo Inzaghi and Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Vincenzo Montella, Francesco Totti and Marco Delvecchio (AS Roma).
Reuters contributed to this report.
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