Balotelli, Rossi to play in Friendly against Nigeria
Italian coach, Cesare Prandelli has named Mario Balotelli and Giuseppe Rossi as part of the squad to face the Super Eagles of Nigeria at London’s Craven Cottage today in an international friendly.
Though the coach has not named a full squad yet, he mentioned the two players in his press conference on Sunday, saying,“I have some pretty clear ideas on the systems, even if we have to establish which is the best one.
“Balotelli is the first choice centre-forward, but now we have to find out who is the ideal second striker.”
Fiorentina hit man and current Serie A top scorer Rossi missed the game with Germany due to tonsillitis, but is now fit to start against the reigning African champions who booked their place in next year’s World Cup with a 4-1 aggregate win over Ethiopia.
“Rossi is ready and for the line-up we’ll have to see tonight’s training session. Balotelli, Riccardo Montolivo and Daniele De Rossi need to be evaluated.
“I perform many experiments because I haven’t got much time. I’m not saying it’s a problem that we don’t have training camps, but it is a fact.
“If I’d had more time then I wouldn’t have needed to call so many players and we wouldn’t have run into some embarrassing results. It’s not club Coaches who are the problem, but the fixture list and the directors.
“The truth is that right now everyone is thinking about Serie A or the Champions League, but come June they will all be huge Italy fans. I’d like a little more enthusiasm around us now.”
