Lippi to shake up Italy for Georgia clash
Reuters - Monday 08 September 2008, 09:33
ROME - Italy coach Marcello Lippi is set
to ring the changes for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against
Georgia after the world champions scraped through their opener
against unfancied Cyprus at the weekend.
Poor form is not the only problem for the Italian coach, who
lost defenders Alessandro Gamberini and Fabio Grosso to injury
in Saturday's 2-1 win, and Gennaro Gattuso, who hurt his wrist
in training on Sunday.
The 2006 World Cup-winning coach has drafted Palermo's
Antonio Nocerino into the squad for the AC Milan midfielder, who
came on as a substitute in the Group Eight opener.
With many players not fully match fit after only one weekend
of Serie A action, in addition to covering for the absentees,
Lippi also needs to inject energy into a side that was unable to
cope with the Cypriots' pace for long spells.
"The problems in Cyprus stemmed from our fitness. We're not
100 percent and playing a match every three days is not the best
thing for us," the 60-year-old told reporters. "Changes are
needed."
Andrea Dossena and Nicola Legrottaglie are favourites to
take the places of the injured defenders, after Andrea Barzagli
and Marco Cassetti gave nervous performances as substitutes on
Saturday.
AS Roma's Alberto Aquilani is tipped to come into the
midfield for Andrea Pirlo, who looked tired in Cyprus, while
striker Luca Toni may lose his place as he was ineffective
before being brought off at halftime.
ADDITIONAL MOTIVATION
Alessandro Del Piero, who was rested on Saturday after
straining a leg muscle last week, and his Juventus team mate
Vincenzo Iaquinta will be eyeing his place in attack.
One player who looks sure to start is in-form forward
Antonio Di Natale, whose goals saved Italy's blushes on Saturday
a week after he scored a double for Udinese in their Serie A win
over Palermo.
The striker will have the additional motivation of playing
at his home ground in the northern Italian city of Udine.
Georgia are aiming to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat by
Ireland, a match played at the neutral venue of Mainz in Germany
because of the recent conflict with Russia.
Coach Hector Cuper said the situation at home was affecting
his team, but he added that they should not be written off yet.
"The war is in my lads' heads," the Argentine coach was
quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"My national team suffers with all the Georgian people. It's
not easy to play football in this atmosphere.
"We lost against Ireland, it's true, but my side showed they
have an identity.
"We are not beaten before kick-off. We certainly won't give
up, on the contrary, I want to return from Udine with a positive
result."
Possible teams:
Italy: Gianluigi Buffon; Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio
Cannavaro, Nicola Legrottaglie, Andrea Dossena; Mauro
Camoranesi, Daniele De Rossi, Alberto Aquilani; Vincenzo
Iaquinta, Alberto Gilardino, Antonio Di Natale.
Georgia: George Loria; Ucha Lobjanidze, Zurab Khizanishvili,
Kakha Kaladze, George Shashiashvili; Levan Kobiashvili, David
Odikadze, Zurab Menteshashvili, Levan Kenia; Aleksandr Iashvili,
Levan Mchedlidze.
Referee: Thomas Einwaller (Austria)
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