Roma captain Totti remains in international retirement
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Francesco Totti was left out of Italy's provisional World Cup squad on Tuesday after coach Marcello Lippi decided against bringing the World Cup winner out of international retirement.
AS Roma captain Totti, who quit the national side after its 2006 World Cup triumph, had considered making himself available for the June 11-July 11 tournament in South Africa but the inconsistent Azzurri will have to do without his creativity.
Lippi has not disclosed if Totti had offered to play.
The inclusion of Villarreal forward Giuseppe Rossi at the expense of Juventus centerback Nicola Legrottaglie provided the only other surprise in the 30-man squad, which will be cut to 23 with four standby players next Tuesday.
Legrottaglie has not been a regular for a struggling Juve this season but his omission means Italy lack experienced cover for centerback Fabio Cannavaro and Giorgio Chiellini.
Defenders Salvatore Bocchetti, Leonardo Bonucci and Mattia Cassani have just six caps between them.
"Obviously, against some teams it will be necessary to make selections with great care, especially in defense. At the moment, I think it's the area that there are most doubts about," former Italy midfielder Stefano Fiore said.
"But if you don't give players the chance to mature, even with some negative performances, they will never come through. Italy should have started this process of making the team younger a little earlier."
Lippi, who has hinted he will quit after the World Cup, named keeper Federico Marchetti despite a leg injury but Luca Toni was omitted, as expected, having been ignored for months.
The striker flopped at Euro 2008, was dropped by Bayern Munich and has suffered injury problems in an otherwise decent loan spell at Roma.
Few Italy fans expect their team to defend their title despite their opponents in Group F being Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia.
Although Italy qualified unbeaten, a series of lackluster displays and an aging team have sapped optimism and many believe Lippi is relying too heavily on his 2006 heroes.
"Even though Italy are defending champions, we certainly aren't favorites, above all because of what was seen during the qualifying campaign," said Fiore, a Euro 2000 finalist.
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