4 July 2008

De Ceglie, Marchisio and Giovinco going to Beijing

As scheduled, the Italian Football Federation have released the official squad list of players called up for the Italian Olympic team, taking part in the Games held in Beijing this year from August 6th to the 14th.

Many people connected with Juventus will be taking part in the expedition. Pierluigi Casiraghi has indeed called up three Juve players: Paolo De Ceglie, Claudio Marchisio and Sebastian Giovinco. Therefore the three lads won't be at Claudio Ranieri's disposal for the first part of the season and will join their team mates after the adventure in China ends.

In the 21-man squad there are also other lads who have grown up at our Club, like Criscito and Nocerino (and Lanzafame, in the reserves list), but also Tommaso Rocchi, the only over-23 to be selected.

The young Azzurri will begin their adventure on Sunday the 6th, the day when they begin their training camp in Rome, which will last 20 days. They are then scheduled to leave for China on July 26th.

Italy have been drawn in Group D with Honduras, South Korea and Cameroon. Their debut is scheduled for August 7th, against Honduras. On the 10th they'll be facing the Koreans, and the African team on the 13th. The winners of the group directly qualify for the semi-finals, ready to challenge for one of the medals.