New Jersey’s Rossi on Italy’s roster
Posted by GameSetMatch on May 11th, 2010
New Jersey’s Giuseppe Rossi was selected Tuesday for defending champion Italy’s 30-man preliminary World Cup roster, while Francesco Totti and Luca Toni have been left off.
Rossi, a 23-year-old forward for Villarreal in Spain, was born in Teaneck and went to Clifton High School. He was eligible to play for both Italy and the United States and opted to play for the Azzurri instead of the Americans. He was the only played selected based outside of Italy.
Totti retired from Italy’s national team after helping win the 2006 World Cup. Toni was the Azzurri’s primary forward in 2006 and at the 2008 European Championship, but lost his place when he ran into problems at Bayern Munich to start this season.
Toni transferred to Roma in January and has helped the club keep pressure on leader Inter Milan heading into the final weekend of the Serie A season.
Coach Marcello Lippi chose seven forwards, including Marco Borriello, Antonio Di Natale, Alberto Gilardino, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Giampaolo Pazzini and Fabio Quagliarella.
Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com
May 14th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Soccer this time of the year is very exciting! I know I am looking forward to the World Cup, but first I plan to get an appetizer of soccer excellence with Ken Loach’s new film Looking For Eric which stars soccer super star Eric Contana! It opens today in New York at the IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza. It even has a great review from The New York Times film critic A.O. Scott who says it’s “genuinely hilarious”. http://tinyurl.com/25kzj4c