By Simon Evans
MILAN, Sept 8 - With Christian Vieri dropped and
Alessandro Del Piero nursing a thigh injury, Fiorentina striker
Luca Toni took his chance to establish himself as Italy's first
choice striker with a hat-trick in the 4-1 win at Belarus on
Wednesday.
The victory leaves Italy five points clear at the top of
World Cup qualifying Group Five with two home games, against
Slovenia and Moldova, to come in October.
Qualification for Germany 2006 is almost complete for
Marcello Lippi's side and with Toni's goals, taking his tally to
five in six appearances for Italy, the coach has less need to
worry about the fitness and form of Vieri and Del Piero.
With neither of that pair guaranteed regular club starts,
they may even find themselves struggling to stay in the final
squad for Germany.
Vieri was a major disappointment in the European
Championship in Portugal last year and had a poor season with
Inter Milan last term.
His move to AC Milan on a free transfer, after being
released by Inter, was viewed as an attempt to restore his
reputation in time for the World Cup.
But that may be easier said than done. Vieri first has to
force his way into a Milan side where European Player of the
Year Andriy Shevchenko and Alberto Gilardino, Toni's strike
partner in Minsk on Wednesday, are Carlo Ancelotti's first
choice pairing.
Del Piero's position at Juve is even less secure.
For the opening game of the Serie A season, Juventus coach
Fabio Capello paired Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Frenchman
David Trezeguet and then brought on Uruguayan Marcelo Zalayeta
while Del Piero was stuck on the sidelines.
ATTACKING OPTIONS
Lippi certainly has no need to use players who are not
featuring regularly for their club sides given the abundance of
attacking options available to him.
As well as Toni and Gilardino, he can call on Udinese's
Vincenzo Iaquinta and Livorno's Cristiano Lucarelli, top scorer
in Serie A last season -- both big strikers in the Vieri mould.
Then there is Roma's Antonio Cassano who Lippi has already
made clear he considers a vital component in his plans but who
was left out of September's qualifiers due to his contract
problems with his club.
Presuming Cassano commits to Roma for the rest of this
season and plays regularly alongside Italy's key creative force
Francesco Totti then he should be back in the Azzurri set up in
time for the build-up to Germany.
Lippi's choices are unusually limited in defence.
Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta are the established
central defensive pairing but there is no-one in Serie A who
comes close to being a risk-free replacement.
Marco Materazzi of Inter is the current back-up but he may
struggle to play regularly for his club following the arrival of
Argentine Walter Samuel.
There is the same problem at right back with Palermo's
Cristian Zaccardo yet to make the position his own but no-one
emerging as a serious challenger -- a situation not helped by
the fact that Juve, Inter and AC Milan all have foreign players
in that position.
Only at left-back is there real choice for Lippi with Juve's
Gianluca Zambrotta well covered by Fabio Grosso. One option may
be to play both and move Zambrotta to the right.