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.

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.

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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

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lots of draws this week in Serie A, with 6 out of 9 games (Parma-Inter was postponed) finishing in draws, 4 of which had 1-1 scorelines with the others being 0-0 and 2-2. Still, there were 23 goals scored this weekend, not bad. Diego Milito and Antonio Di Natale are still atop the scoring chart with 13 goals, while Pazzini and Barreto are closing in on 11 goals a piece.

Borriello in nazionale.
Questa la principale novit che emerge dalla lista di giocatori convocati da Marcello Lippi per l'amichevole contro il Camerun. Le altre due new entry sono rappresentate dal cagliaritano Cossu e dal "galletto" Bonucci.
Il rosanero Sirigu, invece, è stato chiamato per sostituire il numero uno azzurro Gigi Buffon, attualmente ai box per infortunio.

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)

Arqueros
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus),Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli),Federico Marchetti (Cagliari),Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo).
Defensores
Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa),Leonardo Bonucci (Bari),Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus),Mattia Cassani (Palermo),Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus),Domenico Criscito (Genoa),Fabio Grosso (Juventus),Christian Maggio (Napoli),Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan).

Anche l'Italia è pronta. Ieri sera, poco prima delle 22, dopo aver appurato, tramite lo staff sanitario, le condizioni del bianconero Camoranesi (che aveva accusato una "pizzicata" al ginocchio, ma è stato definito recuperabile), Marcello Lippi ha comunicato la lista ufficiale dei 23 azzurri che disputeranno il Mondiale in Sudafrica.

Lippi has announced his final squad of 23 he will be taking to South Africa, while there aren't too many major surprises, there were two exclusions in the attacking department which seem a bit strange.

Here's the final 23-man squad:

Goal-keepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari)

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

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

Strikers: Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli)

The two main exclusions that should be noted are Giuseppe Rossi and Marco Borriello, it seems like Quagliarella beat them in the race to be the fifth striker.

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Add Andrea Pirlo to the growing list of World Cup injuries.

The Italian midfielder and AC Milan star could miss an undefined number of matches after suffering a second degree calf injury in the Azzurri's 2-1 loss to Mexico in a pre-World Cup friendly.

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Add Andrea Pirlo to the growing list of World Cup injuries.

The Italian midfielder and AC Milan star could miss an undefined number of matches after suffering a second degree calf injury in the Azzurri's 2-1 loss to Mexico in a pre-World Cup friendly.

By Chris Wright

Italy could be forced to employ defensive midfielder Angelo Palombo as an auxiliary goalkeeper should injuries befall both Federico Marchetti and Morgan De Sanctis the way it befell first-choice stopper Gianluigi Buffon.

Prandelli is the future: a coach with an attacking style and a mindset which understands the need of youth in a team. Now, with Prandelli's first match as Italy coach coming up August 10th, against the Ivory Coast, the ex-Fiorentina coach has called up a provisional squad of 30 players. In the squad there are 13 players who played in the World Cup with Lippi, and there's certainly a younger group compared to the team which went to South Africa.

Espanyol won the 36th edition of the Ciutat de Barcelona after defeating Sampdoria on 6-5 penalties. The home side were perhaps the better of the two teams and had a number opportunities to win the match but after ninety minutes it ended 0-0 and the game went to penalties where Francesc Casilla was able to get behind Massimo Volta's penalty ensuring Ernesto Galán gave the victory to Espanyol.

Last season was a special one for the Blucerchiati, as they finished the season in fourth place in Serie A and qualified for the Champions League. The club also unveiled a striker-duo that could not only lead Sampdoria to further success but form the basis of a more potent attack on the Italian national team.

With Antonio Cassano ongoing saga problem with Club President Riccardo Garrone on the pitch they are clearly missing his presence on the pitch. They are clearly missing his elegance and guile on the pitch as they put in a pitiful 0-0 performance at home to Chievo. For Sampdoria they were missing Angelo Palombo, Luciano Zauri and Franco Semoli.