According to the Barcelona website Miami will be graced with a wonderful soccer game that will involve Barcelona of Spain versus A.C. Milan! Game is said to be scheduled for August 3, 2011.
Two of the best teams in the world in our backyard!
A.C. Milan's current roster includes
Italians Massimo Ambrosini,Gennaro Iván Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Nesta, Filippo Inzaghi, German Kevin-Prince Boateng, Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, American Oguchi Onyewu Brazilians Alexandre Pato, Robinho, Ronaldinho, Dutch star Clarence Seedorf and Colombian Mario Yepes just to name a few.

In life, four years is a drop in the bucket, unless it involves hard time and a bully of a shower mate named Benny. In football, four years is eons; if we were to reappropriate football time to equate real time, Germany would have a brontosaurus in net instead of Manuel Neuer. (Which sounds like a stroke of genius with that tail.

Five years ago I think I would have cried at the final whistle on Wednesday. Beating Milan at the San Siro was incredible enough but to go on to beat them 4-0 at Old Trafford was out of this world. The fact that I was just really happy though, sharing in the happiness of David Beckham wearing the scarf and Real Madrid getting knocked out of Europe brought us, was a reminder of how fortunate we've been over the past few years.

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There are few players in the game today who have achieved as much as AC Milan playmaker Ronaldinho and even though there are some reports suggesting that Dunga may opt to not take the former Barcelona legend to the World Cup finals It would surprise me greatly if the Brazilian coach made such a mistaken decision.

It seems awfully early, but the FIFA ticker tells us it's only 38 days away. Must be lying? No, apparently not.

With the ticker ticking, squads will start coming fast and furiously. The provisional list of 30 must be sent in by May 11th, but there are excuses for midweek training which can call for choosing a squad rather early, like a free week between domestic games.

Puma have been working overtime designing Italy kits recently. There was the very light blue shirt and chocolate brown shorts and socks worn for the 2009 Confederations Cup, which I was quite a fan of. But the team has had another makeover for World Cup 2010, with a quite a few unique features.

Chris has already let the world know how he feels about the "fishnet" design of the new goalkeeper jersey, but this post is all about reviewing the outfield gear.

So France lost 1-0 to China today. Which sounds bad. And is bad. But take a look at the goal from Deng Zhuoxiang that won it:
Either Deng is better than Pirlo/Juninho/Beckham combined, or every bad thing we've heard about the adidas Jabulani World Cup ball is true.

• Three words you don't often see together: Penguin soccer fail (Dirty Tackle)
• North Korea's $4m jersey deal with Legea (Bloomberg Business Week)
• Is Pirlo's injury bad enough to keep him out of the tournament?

The rumours Severus Snape will play Andrea Pirlo are simply not true

There is no Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Pirlo, and Mauro Camoranesi to look up to in the match against New Zealand.

But Marcelo Lippi is not looking for excuses.

"We have everything to lose.

First France, now Italy. Who would of thought that the 2006 FIFA World Cup champions would be booted from the tournament in group play by Slovakia? Not many.

"Tonight," Italian midfielder Gennaro Gattuso said following the match, "we touched rock bottom."

Thursday, Slovakia defeated Italy by a final score of 3-2, advancing into the round of 16.

Due to injury, AC Milan's roster for Friday's exhibition match against Panathianiks in Pontiac, Michigan's Silverdome will be short Ronaldinho, Filippo Inzaghi, Andrea Pirlo, and Massimo Ambrosini.

Fan favorite Ronaldinho will disappoint thousands this weekend due to a strained left hamstring which he sustained last week.

The AC Milan master free-kick artist Andrea Pirlo shows how it's down by scoring the game winner. From close to 40 yards out Pirlo sent a perfect shot beyond Parma keeper Antonio Mirante to give the Rossoneri a deserved first-half lead and ultimately winning score. Visitors Milan would cling on for the win as Parma rallied late for an equalizer, given an extra 5 minutes of stoppage time.

The AC Milan master free-kick artist Andrea Pirlo shows how it's down by scoring the game winner. From close to 40 yards out Pirlo sent a perfect shot beyond Parma keeper Antonio Mirante to give the Rossoneri a deserved first-half lead and ultimately winning score. Visitors Milan would cling on for the win as Parma rallied late for an equalizer, given an extra 5 minutes of stoppage time.

1. Got it wrong v Stoke

   After Arsenal's defeat at Stoke today in the FA Cup 4th Round it looks as if its Chelsea's trophy to lose again this year, with the Blues being the only member of the so-called Big Four left in the competition. The holders dispatched Preston with ease on Saturday and the absence of Didier Drogba and Michael Essien has not slowed Carlo Ancelotti's men in their tracks.

Que tal, futbolitas?!! So we've been working with a few ferosh fashion brands on an article, most of whom dress some of your favourite teams including AC Milan and Real Madrid. And they've been molto gentile to share some goodies with us including photos from the Dolce & Gabbana-inspired Rossoneri book by Stefano Guindiani.

Italian national team coach Marcello Lippi named his preliminary 30-man roster this afternoon.

Surprise drops include Juventus' Nicola Legrottaglie and Roma's Luca Toni, while Villarreal's Giuseppe Rossi (who many Americas see as a traitor) has been included.

Source, Image Source

Italy's 30-man preliminary roster squad includes the following:

Goalkeepers - Gianluigi Buffon Juventus Morgan de Sanctis Napoli Federico Marchetti Cagliari Salvatore Sirigu Palermo Defenders - Fabio Cannavaro Juventus Fabio Grosso Juventus Giorgio Chiellini Juventus Gianluca Zambrotta AC Milan Domenico Criscito Genoa Christian Maggio Napoli Salvatore Bocchetti Genoa Mattia Cassani Palermo Leonardi Bonucci Bari Midfielders Gennaro Gattuso AC Milan Andrea Pirlo AC Milan Mauro Camoranesi Juventus Daniele De Rossi Roma Angelo Palombo Sampdoria Simone Pepe Udinese Riccardo Montolivo Fiorentina Claudio Marchisio Juventus Antonio Candreva Juventus Andrea Cossu Cagliari Forwards Alberto Gilardino Fiorentina Vincenzo Iaquinta Juventus Antonio Di Natale Udinese Fabio Quagliarella Napoli Giuseppe Rossi Villarreal (ESP) Marco Borriello AC Milan Giampaolo Pazzini Sampdoria

San Siro man set for more World Cup success?

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Andrea Pirlo is one of those players who appears to have been around for an age and whilst the AC Milan man is nearing his 31st birthday he is still more than able of making his mark at the World Cup this summer.

It's true that World Cup 2006 was available to watch in high-definition. But not for everyone. HD technology is much more widely available and much more affordable now, and so plenty of people will be watching World Cup 2010 in high definition.

If you've never seen football in high-definition, then my advice is not to do so.

La actual selección campeona del mundo la forza azzurri de Marcelo Lippi esta de vuelta y quiere ir por todo este verano/invierno en Sudafrica 2010.
Es una selección ya veterana pero con mucha experiencia y con ganas de ser bicampeona mundial, los pronósticos no son tan alentadores, pero estos jugadores son delos favoritos de la afición mundialista, siempre empiezan de menos a mas.

By Chris Wright

Italy coach Marcello Lippi has confirmed the 30 players he intends to select his final 23-man World Cup squad from after naming his provisional squad for this summer's tournament in South Africa.

Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni (currently on loan at Roma) has been omitted from the preliminary squad, after the 32-year-old's poor showing in the Azzuri's last major tournament (Toni failed to hit the net once at Euro 2008).

The Italy coach Marcello Lippi remained true to his word today by rewarding the players who helped the Azzurri to the World Cup finals with a place in his provisional squad for this year's tournament in South Africa.

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

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

Midfielders: Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Antonio Candreva (Juventus), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Simone Pepe (Udinese);

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

Italy Preliminary Squad

Coach: Marcello Lippi

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club GK Gianluigi Buffon 28 January 1978 (aged 32) 100 Juventus GK Federico Marchetti 7 February 1983 (aged 27) 4 Cagliari GK Morgan De Sanctis 27 March 1977 (aged 33) 3 Napoli GK Salvatore Sirigu 12 January 1987 (aged 23) 0 Palermo DF Fabio Cannavaro (c) 13 September 1973 (aged 36) 132 Juventus DF Gianluca Zambrotta 19 February 1977 (aged 33) 92 Milan DF Fabio Grosso 28 November 1977 (aged 32) 48 Juventus DF Giorgio Chiellini 14 August 1984 (aged 25) 28 Juventus DF Domenico Criscito 30 December 1986 (aged 23) 5 Genoa DF Salvatore Bocchetti 30 November 1986 (aged 23) 3 Genoa DF Christian Maggio 11 February 1982 (aged 28) 3 Napoli DF Mattia Cassani 26 August 1983 (aged 26) 2 Palermo DF Leonardo Bonucci 1 May 1987 (aged 23) 1 Bari MF Gennaro Gattuso 9 January 1978 (aged 32) 71 Milan MF Andrea Pirlo 19 May 1979 (aged 31) 65 Milan MF Mauro Camoranesi 4 October 1976 (aged 33) 53 Juventus MF Daniele De Rossi 24 July 1983 (aged 26) 52 Roma MF Angelo Palombo 25 September 1981 (aged 28) 15 Sampdoria MF Simone Pepe 30 August 1983 (aged 26) 13 Udinese MF Riccardo Montolivo 18 January 1985 (aged 25) 12 Fiorentina MF Claudio Marchisio 19 January 1986 (aged 24) 3 Juventus MF Antonio Candreva 28 February 1987 (aged 23) 2 Juventus MF Andrea Cossu 3 May 1980 (aged 30) 1 Cagliari FW Alberto Gilardino 5 July 1982 (aged 27) 39 Fiorentina FW Vincenzo Iaquinta 21 November 1979 (aged 30) 35 Juventus FW Antonio Di Natale 13 February 1979 (aged 31) 31 Udinese FW Fabio Quagliarella 31 January 1983 (aged 27) 18 Napoli FW Giuseppe Rossi 1 February 1987 (aged 23) 14 Villarreal FW Giampaolo Pazzini 2 August 1984 (aged 25) 6 Sampdoria FW Marco Borriello 18 June 1982 (aged 27) 4 Milan

Most Capped Player: Fabio Cannavaro 132 caps
Top Goalscorer: Luigi Riva 35 goals

Back to 2010 World Cup Squads.

The roster:

American born striker Guiseppe Rossi and AC Milan striker Marco Borriello will not be representing Italy at the World Cup this summer in South Africa. As an American I obviously feel no sadness in seeing Rossi, who refused to play for us and played very well against us at the Confederations Cup, left out of the Italian set up.

Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo has suffered a calf injury and looks set to miss, at the very least, his side's first two 2010 World Cup matches.

The AC Milan star left the Italy training camp in Sestriere after picking up a knock to his calf and will not be available for tomorrow's friendly against Switzerland, the Azzurri's last official preparation match before their World Cup campaign kicks off on June 14 against Paraguay.

Today's Soccerlens World Cup column is brought to you by the number '4′ and by the word 'curse'.

There's an awful lot, and I mean an awful lot of injury news doing the rounds this weekend.

Holland are the latest side to suffer the wrath of the dreaded curse, after Arjen Robben (see below) hobbled out of their tune-up match against Hungary yesterday although an injury to the former Chelsea man shouldn't really come as too much of a surprise, given that his skeleton seems to be made of warm chocolate.

Time for our World Cup Group F predictions. Don't want to jinx it, but I'm actually thinking this will be easier to figure out than most. The contenders alphabetical order are: Italy, Paraguay, Slovakia, New Zealand. No prizes for guessing who finishes bottom.

No prizes for guessing who finishes top either.

We've been over the hype victims, darkhorses and well as the disappointments, but now is the time when I tell you who I think can win the 2010 World Cup. I started this post last week with five teams that I really thought could win it. Now, after Robben's injury, I think it may be down to just four. Let's start with the defending champions Italy.

An ESPN interview with some of the Italian national team players shows that not even the squad seems to know who will be on the pitch on Sunday when they kick off versus Paraguay. Marcello Lippi has been tight-lipped about who will start and what formation the Azzurri will play, even noting that the formation could be fluid throughout the World Cup.

Italy-Paraguay is without a doubt the juciest matchup of today's World Cup 2010 matches. The defending champions take the field with a great deal of uncertainty surrounding their efforts and of course the starting 11 they'll put on the field.

Much like Fabio Capello's mysterious starting lineup, especially in goal, the Italians aren't really sure who will take the field today against the South American challengers.

By now you have undoubtedly heard about the injury to Gigi Buffon and his questionable status for the remainder of the World Cup. Reading between the lines of the statements coming out of the Italian camp it looks like possibly the best keeper in the world could actually miss the entire World Cup.

photo by Perry McIntyre/ISIphotos.com

by FRANCO PANIZO

In response to the controversy stirred in the United States-Slovenia match. FIFA has assigned Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere to officiate the Americans' critical Group C match against Algeria on June 23.

Commendatore Marcelo Lippi faces his sternest test

Disunity. A common theme which emerges from European teams that are struggling in the World Cup. France is the bench mark. But England with the John Terry coup nipped in the bud provided rumblings of a similar kind.

Add Italy to the list as Marcelo Lippi struggles to find an answer to his ailing team.

Italy boss Cesare Prandelli announced his 23 man squad for the friendly against the Ivory Coast which will take place on Tuesday in England. Many of the names chosen by Marcello Lippi were dropped.

Prandelli made some expected changes following the World Cup disappointment with Fabio Quagliarella the only striker remaining from the team selected by Lippi for South Africa 2010.

Italy named their squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifying against Estonia and Faroe Islands. After an awful World Cup a lot of the squad was dropped for the recent friendly with Ivory Coast, and while new Italian manager Cesare Prandelli has recalled, arguably his two most talented strikers, Alberto Gilardino and Giampaolo Pazzini.

Andrea Pirlo, the man who looks continually stoned, talked quite a bit about the state of Italian football. In fact, his soundbite is quoted at a whopping three sentences by ESPN, who didn't exactly paint gli azzurri in a positive light. Words like "disastrous," embarassing," and "must drastically improve" pop out in the 3 paragraph, 2 sentence article.

Andrea Pirlo (19 May 1979) is an Italian-born footballer who plays midfielder for AC Milan.

During AC Milan's showdown with Parma at the Stadio Tardini, Pirlo netted the game-winner in the 25th minute of play. Pirlo's spectacular goal took Milan to the top of Serie A.

AC Milan is looking good, no doubt about it.

You have to feel for Mirante in the Parma goal. He managed to keep out Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ronaldinhoa and Robinho in his side's game against AC Milan, and yet saw his side lose to a wonder goal from distance from Andrea Pirlo. Pirlo, who only scored one goal in forty games last season, picked up [..

Soccer creates the cruelest of dynamics. On the one hand, the softness of the foot marks the difference between the good and the very good. On the other hand, the sport demands more cardiovascular fitness than meets the eye. Thus, our heroes age before our very eyes, but in subtle ways. Box-to-box midfielders become holding midfielders.

Italy could not defeat Northern Ireland in their third match during Euro 2010 qualification and had to settle for a scoreless draw Friday. The Azzurri's problems extend beyond injuries which deprived the team of key players such as keeper Gigi Buffon. It might be strange to mention Buffon since he is a long-term absentee but his surgery and the time he is still expected to miss has affected.

Yesterday was a bad day for Serie A in the Champions League. Roma lost 3-1 at home to FC Basel to fall into last place in Group E, but level on points with Basel and Cluj. But the big story of the night was AC Milan's first trip back to the Bernabeu since their shock 3-2 victory there last year.

The Nigerian head coach, Samson Siasia has made a strong accusation against Chelsea, claiming that Mikel has been changed for the worse since signing for them in 2006.

It's a pretty harsh claim, especially considering the language he used: "The system at Chelsea destroyed Mikel's game.