Italy begin the defense of their World Cup title as they face Paraguay on June 14th. They will then play Slovakia and finish off group play against Oceania champs New Zealand.

Major absentees are, Roma's Francesco Totti, Palermo's Fabrizio Miccoli as well as Sampdoria's Antonio Cassano.

Two additional question marks, JUVE's Amauri and young Inter attacker Mario Balotelli

Marcello Lippi will have to decide which six players he will leave off the roster prior to the team trip to South Africa in June.

The Italian tactician has clearly excluded players from Inter Milan and AS Roma as they are currently in a dogged race to the finish for both the scudetto and Coppa Italia trophy.


Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo)

Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti and Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Cannavaro, Giorgio Chiellini, Fabio Grosso and Nicola Legrottaglie (all Juventus), Mattia Cassani (Palermo), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan)

Midfielders: Mauro German Camoranesi, Antonio Candreva and Claudio Marchisio (all Juventus), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari), Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Udinese)

Forwards: Marco Borriello (AC Milan), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli)

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