Eve go celoto.... Not made in Italy
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Not made in Italy[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]
As Amauri continues to leave his international career in limbo, [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]
Giacomo Napolitano [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]
wonders if he is deserving of a place in the Azzurri set up[/FONT]
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“I want to play for the team of my country, Brazil, and that has been my dream since I was a child.” Hardly the words you would expect to hear from any player trying to squeeze into Marcello Lippi’s Italy plans.
Ever since Amauri announced his intention of acquiring an Italian passport, ex-Azzurri boss Roberto Donadoni had expressed his desire to draft him into the squad as back-up to Luca Toni, as he still remained uncapped by Selecao boss Carlos Dunga.
Previously, it had appeared as though he wanted to represent his adopted country on the international stage. And together with the Nazionale’s failure to find an adequate match to Toni, it seemed Amauri would soon be making his debut under Lippi.
After hearing his comments in an interview in London, though, the question needs to be asked not whether Italy needs him, but should they even want him? The Azzurri’s success in Germany two long years ago was founded on players like Marco Materazzi and Rino Gattuso, players who were proud to wear that blue shirt.
Just like in the Cristiano Ronaldo saga, as talented as he may be, if he wants to realise his childhood dream and play elsewhere, then why keep him in a place where everyone knows he doesn’t want to be? As Lippi has already rightly stated, Italy is second choice for no one.
However, with young promising prospects such as Giuseppe Rossi and Mario Balotelli already earmarked for a place in Lippi’s 2010 World Cup squad, it seems as though Amauri is not needed anymore.
Interestingly, both those young talents have already received offers of a senior call-up from the USA and Ghana respectively, but declined as they had made it perfectly clear which shirt they would prefer to pull on…[/FONT]