Italy’s chief doctor Enrico Castellacci says that Giuseppe Rossi is ‘clinically fine’ but faces assessment after the Azzurri’s World Cup warm-up games.
Italy’s chief doctor Enrico Castellacci says that Giuseppe Rossi is ‘clinically fine’ but faces assessment after the Azzurri’s World Cup warm-up games.
Attention is centred on the Fiorentina” data-scaytid=”5″>Fiorentina man’s bid to prove his fitness in time for the summer tournament in Brazil, having only just returned from four months on the sidelines with a knee injury.
Into a second week of training with the national team as part of Cesare Prandelli’s provisional squad, the team’s chief medic has updated on Rossi’s progress.
“Clinically, he is fine, but as I have said to him, we will have to see how he reacts to challenges during the friendlies that we will play,” Castellacci has told reporters today.
“There is nothing to add from last week, he is fine but he will be evaluated in the game, and then of course it is up to Prandelli to decide whether or not to call him up.”
Castellacci then updated on a number of other players and their physical condition.
“Regarding Balotelli, he is managing a strain to his adductor, but there is no concern, he is continuing to train normally. All the players are suffering a little for the workload.
“Barzagli has brought with him long-standing tendinitis, which must be handled in the right way.
“Paletta has suffered a hematoma [bruise] on the last day of the season, we are monitoring the situation.
“He is improving and training, although not with the group – we are having him perform work that does not cause him harm, we are in no need to hurry, he should recover in four to five days.
“Prandelli will decide whether to use him against Republic of Ireland.
“Overall, the conditions of the team are good.”
Reports today have also been on a raid health and safety officials in Brazil carried out on the hotel Italy will be staying at during the World Cup, when over 50kg of expired food was confiscated.
“Clearly, this news does not make us happy. We are sorry that it happened right where we are going. In any case we have highly trained staff that will control everything.
“Then, we are bringing almost everything from Italy. From our point of view this has not created any problems, but of course we regret it…”