Cassano's exclusion from national team

The Serie A will not resume before April 5. In the meantime, Italy have two crucial Group 8 qualifiers coming up. On Saturday, they travel to the Balkans to play Montenegro and next Wednesday they take on Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland in Bari.

Montenegro and Ireland are arguably the sternest opponents the world champions have in their group. If Italy manage to collect, at least, four points from these two outings, then they will be almost home and dry.

For these two games, coach Marcello Lippi will have to do without some key players. But the notable absences of Gennaro Gattuso, Alberto Gilardino, Luca Toni and Mauro Camoranesi should not serve as an excusive in case of an upset.

Indeed, Lippi has enough quality for Italy to do well against Montenegro and Eire. If they are harbouring aspirations of retaining the world crown next year, then the Azzurri should be wary of England, Germany, Spain, Argentina or Brazil and not modest rivals in the qualifying phase.

In his selections, Lippi pursued with his search for new talent. He does not have any other option, doesn't he?

Lippi knows that most of his experienced players are not getting any younger. The likes of Toni, Gianluca Zambrotta, Alessandro Del Piero and Fabio Cannavaro will all be in the twilight of their career next year.

Marco Motta (Roma), Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa) and Giampaolo Pazzini (Fiorentina) were called up for the first time last weekend. But the real surprises were the exclusions of Serie A leading marksman Marco Di Vaio and Antonio Cassano, not to mention Inter defender Davide Santon, still 18.

Di Vaio played for Juve when Lippi was in charge between 2002 and 2004, scoring 18 goals in 55 league appearances. Di Vaio is 32-years-old and this, perhaps, is the main reason why Lippi has opted to leave him out.

Cassano has been in splendid form all season. Not that the ex-Real Madrid striker has scored many goals but the way he has been playing amply testifies that he is back to his best. He is fit and not overweight anymore so, he can give his best contribution to the side.

His attitude on and off the field has also improved with respect to some months ago.

According to Sampdoria chief executive Giuseppe Marotta, Cassano is now a mature player. If he keeps playing like he is now, then one sees no reason why Lippi should continue to omit his name from the squad.

Players like Christian Panucci have never featured in his selections for the simple reason that Lippi strongly believes he cannot mould a winning side without first having a united dressing room.

But as Cassano is playing nowadays, he would have been a valuable addition to Italy particularly for their home match against Ireland, which will be played in his hometown Bari.

Cassano can unlock any defence and could be deployed with Giuseppe Rossi in the same team, just behind a towering striker like Toni in an offensive 4-3-3 formation.

But with more than a year to go for the World Cup finals, Cassano knows he still has time to prove himself and demonstrate what an accomplished player he has become. Lippi could be spoilt for choice in attack but can he possibly continue to overlook an in-form Cassano in future?

Serie A statistics

1 point collected by troubled Torino from their last four outings as last weekend they suffered a third straight defeat. After Juventus and Atalanta, it was Sampdoria's turn to run riot with Torino. Prior to Sunday, Samp had last conquered Turin on October 24, 1993 (3-2). Bologna did not profit from Torino's slip-up, however, as they went down to Cagliari at home. This was Cagliari's first win after two draws and two defeats. Bologna have been particularly erratic of late, chalking up a win, a draw and six defeats in their last eight games.

2 draws from as many outings are all Napoli have to show since new coach Roberto Donadoni took over from Edy Reja. On Sunday, Napoli played Milan and dominated for long stretches, albeit they failed to break down the visitors' tight defence. Three of the last five clashes between these two sides had finished in draws. Fiorentina were far from their best but still managed to edge Siena. The only time Siena left Florence undefeated was on October 17, 2004.

3 penalties were awarded by referees last weekend. Goran Pandev blasted his chance to put Lazio back on level terms against Catania when his spot-kick was blocked by Albano Bizzarri. Elsewhere, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter) scored his first of the day from the spot and Fabio Caserta ably converted Lecce's first penalty of the season as they salvaged a 2-2 home draw with Atalanta. Meanwhile, Luigi De Canio (Lecce) became the latest coach to be ordered off his bench. Mattia Cassani (Palermo) and Alexis Sanchez (Udinese) received marching orders.

7 points still separate leaders Inter from nearest pursuers Juventus. On Saturday, Juve were in a class of their own as they demolished a makeshift Roma side 4-1 away. Incidentally, this was the same result with which Juve had last beaten Roma at the Olympic Stadium in November 2005. This was Juve's fifth win on the trot. On Sunday, Inter found little resistance from bottom side Reggina. Jose Mourinho's side hit twice inside the opening 10 minutes to record a third straight win. Overall, this was Inter's fourth consecutive home league win over Reggina.

22 goals were scored on the 29th day: 12 coming from the hosts and the remaining 10 from the visitors. Foreigners contributed with eight goals while there were 11 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 710. Iaquinta (Juventus), Ibrahimovic (Inter), Caserta (Lecce) and Padoin (Atalanta) scored a brace each. Pavel Nedved came in as a substitute and found the back of the net for Juve. Meanwhile, Ibrahimovic joined Bologna's Marco Di Vaio at the summit of the scorers' list with 19 goals.