No place for Baggio in Italy squad

2002-05-08 19:06

Simon Evans

Milan - Roberto Baggio's slim hopes of a place in Italy's World Cup squad were finally dashed on Wednesday despite fan protests in support of him.

The 35-year-old former European Player of the Year was not in the squad of 23 players named by Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni.

The Brescia striker had recently recovered from a knee operation in rapid time in a last-ditch bid to appear in what would have been his fourth successive finals.

Although Baggio has not played for Italy in three years and his 90 minute showing for Brescia on Sunday was his first full game since January, he remains by far the most popular footballer in Italy.

There has been a growing campaign for him to be taken to the finals and as the squad was being announced a group of Baggio supporters demonstrated outside the headquarters of the Italian Football Federation in Rome in a forlorn attempt to change Trapattoni's mind.

Among the banners on display one declared: "For me, without Baggio there is no World Cup".

Another read "Italy without Baggio is like France without Zidane, Japan without Nakata, Brazil without Ronaldo, England without Owen and Argentina without Veron".

The Italian news agency ANSA reported that a pregnant protestor declared that she would be naming her daughter Roberta in honour of the player known as the 'Divine Ponytail' due to his Buddhist faith and his hairstyle.

No Surprises

There were no surprises in Trapattoni's selection with the Italy coach sticking with the players who assisted him through an unbeaten qualification campaign.

AC Milan midfielder Massimo Ambrosini, Lazio's Stefano Fiore and Parma striker Marco Di Vaio, who had all hoped to travel to South Korea and Japan, were left disappointed.

Roma's versatile defender Christian Panucci, whose international career has been revived this season after unsuccessful spells in England with Chelsea and with French club Monaco, is rewarded for his excellent showings this season.

Veteran Fiorentina midfielder Angelo Di Livio is one of the few choices that may raise eyebrows, but he is likely to be used only as cover.

Injury had robbed Trapattoni of the chance to include Juventus defender Gianluca Pessotto and AC Milan midfielder Demetrio Albertini.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Francesco Toldo (Inter Milan), Christian Abbiati (AC Milan).
Defenders: Fabio Cannavaro (Parma), Mark Iuliano (Juventus), Paolo Maldini (AC Milan), Marco Materazzi (Inter Milan), Alessandro Nesta (Lazio), Christian Panucci (AS Roma).
Midfielders: Francesco Coco (Barcelona), Luigi Di Biagio (Inter Milan), Angelo Di Livio (Fiorentina), Cristiano Doni (Atalanta), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Damiano Tommasi (AS Roma), Francesco Totti (AS Roma), Gianluca Zambrotta (Juventus), Cristiano Zanetti (Inter Milan).
Forwards: Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Marco Delvecchio (AS Roma), Filippo Inzaghi (AC Milan), Vincenzo Montella (AS Roma), Christian Vieri (Inter Milan).

- Reuters