Giuseppe Rossi selected for Italy's pre-World Cup fitness tests
ROME (AP) Giuseppe Rossi was selected Friday for pre-World Cup fitness tests by Italian national team coach Cesare Prandelli.
Prandelli will have athletic tests and medical exams performed on 42 players Monday and Tuesday at the national team's Coverciano training complex in Florence.
The tests will be designed to simulate hot and humid match conditions in Brazil, and Prandelli has said the data collected will be factored into selections for his 23-man roster.
Rossi, the Fiorentina forward from New Jersey, led Serie A with 14 goals in 17 games before injuring the medial collateral ligament in his right knee from a hard tackle by Livorno's Leandro Rinaudo on Jan. 5.
Rossi tore his right anterior cruciate ligament during a game for Villarreal against Real Madrid in October 2011 and needed three operations before returning last May with Fiorentina. He has seven goals in 29 international appearances.
Parma's Antonio Cassano also was picked for the tests. He hasn't played for the Azzurri since helping Italy to a second-place finish at the 2012 European Championship.
Roma's Mattia Destro was left off while serving a three-game league suspension for punching Cagliari's Davide Astori. Forwards Francesco Totti, Luca Toni and Antonio Di Natale also were bypassed.
Teams must give FIFA preliminary 30-man rosters by May 13 and finals rosters by June 2.
The roster:
Goalkeepers: Francesco Bardi (Livorno), ), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Antonio Mirante (Parma), Mattia Perin (Genoa), Simone Scuffet (Udinese).
Defenders: Ignazio Abate (AC Milan), Davide Astori (Cagliari), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Torino), Mattia De Sciglio (AC Milan), Lorenzo De Silvestri (Sampdoria), Gabriel Paletta (Parma), Manuel Pasqual (Fiorentina), Andrea Ranocchia (Inter Milan)
Midfielders: Alberto Aquilani (Fiorentina), Daniele Baselli (Atalanta), Federico Bernardeschi (Crotone), Andrea Bertolacci (Genoa), Giacomo Bonaventura (Atalanta), Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (AC Milan), Marco Parolo (Parma), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Andrea Poli (AC Milan), Romulo (Hellas Verona),
Forwards: Mario Balotelli (AC Milan), Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Antonio Cassano (Parma), Alessio Cerci (Torino), Stephan El Shaarawy (AC Milan), Manolo Gabbiadini (Sampdoria), Alberto Gilardino (Genoa), Ciro Immobile (Torino), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Pablo Osvaldo (Juventus), Giuseppe Rossi (Fiorentina), Simone Zaza (Sassuolo)
