The CL draw will take place today. The choices are Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, Celtic FC, RSC Anderlecht, and FC Timisoara. So who will it be?

Fiorentina: The Violas were in the news recently with a possible Felipe Melo transfer to Arsenal which fell through. He eventually went to Juve. The club finished fourth in the Serie.

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Xabi Alonso's potential move to Real Madrid could pave the way for AS Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani to join Rafael Benitez's Liverpool ranks, but Goal.com Italy's Sergio Stanco has warned Anfield fans that they could be chasing "another Andrea Dossena".
Stanco has reservations about the Liverpool target, as he feels that it is high time that the 25-year-old has converted his much-publicised potential into top-level performances. Click to continue reading...

To fans of Calcio it's still as vivid as ever: The vision of Fabio Cannavaro lifting the World Cup aloft remains the proudest of Italian memories in a difficult recent history. But with one year to go before the 19th World Cup Final, Cannavaro and his Azzurri have a lot of hard work to do if the national team are to avoid an embarrassing fate in their defence of the trophy.

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Fiorentina's Pantaleo Corvino is known to be one of the best sporting directors in all of Italian calcio. Over the years Corvino has discovered a wealth of talent, including Fabrizio Miccoli, Valeri Bojinov, Mirko Vucinic, Christian Ledesma, and Stevan Jovetic just to name a few. He is also responsible for bringing players like Sebastien Frey, Luca Toni, Adrian Mutu, and Alberto Gilardino to Florence.

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Italy must start a younger midfield or suffer the possibility of being run off the park. What you say? Are you insane Pep? Italy fear Egypt? World Champions dont fear Continetal champions.Ha i laugh in your genral direction.
Egypt are African Champions and that means something now.Twenty years ago the title was something to giggle and even sneer at. Click to continue reading...

Italy and New Zealand squared off in their final tune-up for the tournament at the Super Stadium in Atteridgeville, about 45 minutes from the U.S. base camp. There were plenty of goals at both ends, with the Kiwis taking the lead three times before finally surrendering 4-3 after Vincenzo Iaquinta scored his second of the night in the 68th minute.

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Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Marco Amelia (Palermo), Morgan De Sanctis (Galatasaray) Defenders: Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan) Fabio Grosso (Lyon), Davide Santon (Inter), Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina), Nicola Legrottaglie (Juventus), Andrea Dossena (Liverpool) Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (Milan) Forwards: Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal), Pepe (Udinese) Click to continue reading...

Italy has winnowed their squad down to 23 players for the Confederations Cup and here's what it looks like:
Goalkeepers (3): Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Marco Amelia (Palermo), Morgan De Sanctis (Galatasaray);
Defenders (8): Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan) Fabio Grosso (Lyon), Davide Santon (Inter), Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina), Nicola Legrottaglie (Juventus), Andrea Dossena (Liverpool);
Midfielders (6): Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (Milan);
Forwards (6): Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal), Pepe (Udinese). Click to continue reading...

Marcelo Lippi finalized his Azzurri squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and the big news is that Inter's teenage sensation Davide Santon. The youngster played mostly left back for Inter but is seen as a player who can play on both sides.

Three red-hot attacking players with breakout seasons in the 08-09 Serie A campaign were left off the list in favor of more veteran Azzurri players.

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Today was the FIFA deadline to submit the final 23 man roster going to the Confederations Cup, and Marcello Lippi has picked his 23 man squad. He had already chosen 13 names, but he added on 10 more. There are no real surprises (besides the inclusion of Davide Santon), and the squad is mostly what we've seen for recent qualifiers and friendlies.

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Marcello Lippi has released a squad for Italy's friendly against Northern Ireland, but the roster is devoid of many of the big names you would expect in the Confederations Cup. That's because he's decided to keep them fresh for the tournament in South Africa, and on Thursday elected to name two teams. Click to continue reading...

405 days to go ...
We previously discussed the Top 10 African Youngsters at the 2010 World Cup.
But who are the top 10 world players who we'll be talking about by next summer's tournament?
According to John Molinaro of CBC Sports in Canada, these are the guys you should be paying attention to . Click to continue reading...

There have been many players in Italy who are hyped by the media and pundits and in the end they never really amount to nothing in their careers, or just have average careers when they were expected to become superstars. You can look back over the past 10 years and see how many players have been given the "failed promise" label.

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The perfect example of "a match of two halves", Saturday's Fiorentina vs. Udinese also delighted Serie A fans with a big deluge of goals, courtesy of some often shaky defending (on both sides) but more so of the great prideful reaction by Cesare Prandelli's boys. One goal down early in the game, La Viola looked [. Click to continue reading...

West Ham's Gianfranco Zola vows to take Watford seriously in Carling Cup
As the Italian domination at West Ham received its first challenge – Fiorentina manager Cesare Prandelli claiming that midfielder Riccardo Montolivo, one of the club's prime January transfer targets, would not be moving to Upton Park or anywhere else – Gianfranco Zola's thoughts turned to building a team the English way. Click to continue reading...

West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola could face a struggle to land target Riccardo Montolivo after Fiorentina insisted the playmaker is not for sale. The 23-year-old has reportedly captured Zola's attention after a number of eye-catching displays for the Serie A club, while he was also a member of the Italian Olympic squad. Click to continue reading...

Gianfranco Zola is lining up Fiorentina midfielder Riccardo Montolivo as his first West Ham signing, according to The People. The Hammers boss is desperate to add attacking flair to his squad and sees Italian playmaker Montolivo as the ideal solution. And, according to the source, Zola is ready with a £12 million offer for the talented 23-year-old. Click to continue reading...

So it seems to be a FIFA rule that each national team manager must submit a mega-list of 50 players that will be available for selection for World Cup qualifying games. I'm unsure about the rules of this list and if/when players can be changed or added (and info about these lists are hard to find, the list was unveiled by a Fiorentina website) but it does show you the players that the national team manager has in consideration.

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New Jersey-born striker Giuseppe Rossi has been selected to play for Italy in Beijing next month. The team will gather next week to start training at Coverciano, the Italian Soccer Academy near Florence. Meanwhile, his new Villareal teammate, American Jozy Altidore, is still waiting to learn if he will be able to play for the US Olympic team. Click to continue reading...

In accordance to the UEFA-imposed May 28 deadline, Italian coach Roberto Donadoni has made his final roster selection for Euro 2008: the 23 players who will representing the Azzurri this Summer have been picked and as many expected, Fiorentina midfielder Riccardo Montolivo was the player discarded from the manager's Pre-selection list. Click to continue reading...