Italy, Portugal Reveal World Cup Squads

Italy, Portugal Reveal World Cup Squads

Tuesday, May 13, 2014 7:47 pm


2006 world champions Italy and Euro 2012 semi-finalists Portugal have revealed their 30-man provisional squad for the 2014 World Cup which begins in a month’s time.

Serie A top scorer Ciro Immobile of Torino has been called up by Italy boss Cesare Prandelli who also invited Fiorentina striker Giuseppe Rossi, back from a cruciate ligament injury that sidelined him for most of the second half of the league season.

Andrea Pirlo, Gianluigi Buffon, Danielle De Rossi, Antonio Cassano, Mario Balotelli, Marco Veratti, Lorenzo Insigne and Thiago Motta have been called up as well, in a squad that has a mix of old and young.

Hellas Verona’s veteran striker Luca Toni, who has scored 20 goals in Serie A this season, was not called up however. Alberto Gilardino, Marchetti and Stephan El-Shaarawy are some of the notable names also not called up to the Italy squad.

One of Italy’s Group D opponent, Uruguay also released a 26-man provisional list today with Premier League player of the year Luis Suarez, PSG striker Edinson Cavani and veteran striker Diego Forlan the notable names called up.

Also in the Uruguay squad are Southampton midfielder Gaston Ramirez, Lazio’s Alvaro Gonzalez, Diego Godin of Atletico Madrid, goalkeeper Fernando Muslera and Palermo striker Abel Hernandez among others.

For Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo has expectedly been called up to the 30-man provisional squad along with Manchester United midfielder Nani and Monaco midfielder João Moutinho.

Also called up for Portugal are Lazio striker Helder Postiga, Ricardo Quaresma of FC Porto, former Chelsea midfielder Raul Meireles, Miguel Veloso as well as Real Madrid duo Pepe and Fabio Coentrão.

The Portuguese will compete in Group G at the World Cup against Germany, Ghana and the United States, all of whom have revealed their respective provisional squads.


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