FLORENCE, ITALY – Fiorentina forward Rossi Giuseppe Rossi and Parma’s Antonio Cassano were set to be among the 30 players coach Cesare Prandelli will name in his preliminary squad for the World Cup in Brazil on Tuesday.
Rossi is on course to be called up even though he is not 100% fit after suffering a knee injury in January. He has only made three appearances as a substitute since returning to action for the Florence club this month, scoring one goal.
Prandelli has said he will wait as long as possible for the forward to regain fitness as he is his first choice partner for AC Milan’s Mario Balotelli in attack.
Parma’s Cassano is also set to make the preliminary squad: Cassano’s form for Parma, who are aiming to qualify for next season’s Europa League, has been too good to ignore.
The Azzurri team will start their campaign against England on June 14 in Manaus, a city in the middle of the Amazon rain forest, before traveling around 1,450 km to the Atlantic coast for their other two group games, against Costa Rica and Uruguay, in Recife and Natal respectively. Prandelli’s men have two friendlies scheduled in the run-up to the World Cup, against Ireland in London on May 31 and against Luxembourg in Verona on June 4.
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