Euro 2008 - Who Will Be Italy Captain?
Posted by eto in Alessandro Del Piero, Euro2008 news, Gianluigi Buffon, Italy
Who Italian Captain? Or Buffon Del Piero?
The debate has started in Italy over who will replace Fabio Cannavaro as the new captain of Italy, and it seems to be directly between the grounds of race Gianluigi Buffon and Alessandro Del Piero.
Cannavaro's heartbreaking training ground injury yesterday, which has ruled him out of Euro 2008 is not only left a huge gap at the heart of the defence, it has also deprived the Azzurra their captain and leader.
The two favourites have been designated as the new captain of Buffon and Del Piero, which are the two highest appearance-makers, the squad, the former winning 82 caps, and the latter 86.
The fact that Del Piero is not the first team regularly, and it does not start against the Dutch, Italian first tournament game on Monday, means that Buffon will probably win the nod.
30-year old has captained the Azzurra once before, during the 2-0 Euro 2008 qualifying win Georgia in October last year, a game that was left Cannavaro due to suspension.
Other non-has been designated as skipper of Christian Panucci, Gianluca Zambrotta, and Milan duo Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso, however, Donadoni is likely to choose the leadership qualities Buffon.