[Olympics 2008] Casiraghi names provisional squad

Italy Under-21 coach Pierluigi Casiraghi has announced a provisional 22-man squad for the Olympic Games in Beijing next month.

After winning the Toulon Tournament in May, the Under-23 Olympics side are looking to make up for Italy's disappointing Euro 2008 showing by clinching a medal in China.

Casiraghi decided to pick just one 'over-aged' player in Lazio forward Tommaso Rocchi, naming 21 younger players for the gathering in Rome on Sunday and the training camp in Florence next Tuesday.

The coach has had to name a further 15 players on standby to follow the tournament regulations.

The team will play a practice match against Buggiano in Coverciano before a final preparation game on Italian soil against Romania on July 22 in Pistoia. The final 18-man squad, plus 4 reserves, will be announced on the following day.

The Azzurri, who are scheduled to leave for China on July 25 and have two further practice games planned in Qinhuangdao, have been drawn in Group D with Cameroon, Honduras and South Korea. Their debut is on August 7 against Honduras before they face the Koreans on August 10, and the African nation three days later. The group winners and runners-up progress through to the quarter-final stage.

Provisional Italian Olympic football squad:
Goalkeepers: Andrea Consigli (Atalanta), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo), Emiliano Viviano (Brescia).
Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Andrea Coda (Udinese), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Paolo De Ceglie (Juventus), Lorenzo De Silvestri (Lazio), Marco Motta (Udinese), Andrea Ranocchia (Arezzo).
Midfielders: Ignazio Abate (Milan), Luca Cigarini (Parma), Daniele Dessena (Parma), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Antonio Nocerino (Palermo), Andrea Russotto (Treviso).
Forwards: Robert Acquafresca (Cagliari), Antonio Candreva (Udinese), Sebastian Giovinco (Juventus), Tommaso Rocchi (Lazio), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal).

Standby list:
Enrico Alfonso (Venezia), Davide Bassi (Empoli), Gianluca Curci (Siena); Marco Andreolli (Vicenza), Michele Canini (Cagliari), Lino Marzoratti (Empoli), Francesco Pisano (Cagliari), Marco Rossi (Parma); Francesco Bolzoni (Inter), Daniele Galloppa (Siena), Tiberio Guarente (Atalanta), Piermario Morosini (Vicenza); Davide Lanzafame (Palermo), Pablo Daniel Osvaldo (Fiorentina), Graziano Pelle’ (AZ Alkmaar).

[Olympics Draw] - [Toulon Tournament]

Source: FIGC