Italy chief medic Enrico Castellacci commented on Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano’s fitness, plus the specially-constructed sauna and ice bath.
The first two days of training at the Coverciano ground has been focused on fitness tests, including sessions in a specially-constructed sauna made to emulate the atmosphere in Manaus, where Italy will play their opening World Cup game against England.
Italy chief medic Enrico Castellacci commented on Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano’s fitness, plus the specially-constructed sauna and ice bath.
The first two days of training at the Coverciano ground has been focused on fitness tests, including sessions in a specially-constructed sauna made to emulate the atmosphere in Manaus, where Italy will play their opening World Cup game against England.
“I can say that after two days of training Rossi is in pretty good shape physically. He did everything the other players did,” noted Professor Castellacci.
“The decision on whether to bring him to Brazil or not is down to Cesare Prandelli. We are monitoring him every day.
“He played for Fiorentina before he came to Coverciano, but we’ll have to see over the next few days how he’ll react to the work load.”
Rossi was out of action for five months, since damaging knee ligaments on January 5.
“Everyone knew we were interested in Rossi’s condition, so we had weekly contact with the Fiorentina staff this year. We always thought of him as a Nazionale player.”
Another player whose condition is in doubt is Parma striker Cassano, though the 31-year-old has impressed.
“Cassano is in great shape, as he is training very well with great effort. He is very motivated. Could he last 90 minutes in the temperatures of Brazil? Theoretically yes, then the opinion of the Coach is fundamental. In any case, there are some truly very unusual environmental conditions there.”
Because of that, Castellacci has had the Azzurri training in a specially-constructed sauna.
“It is very simple. We tried to reproduce the conditions of Manaus, but also of Recife and Natal. Inside the hut there is a temperature of circa 32-33 degrees Centigrade, with a humidity level of around 70 per cent. With such a high humidity level, the perception of the temperature is more like 34-35 degrees.
“Inside there are treadmills and exercise bicycles, we make the lads work and then monitor their cardiac levels, how much liquid they’ve lost and the lactic acid. Finally, they plunge their hands into an ice bath to quickly cool the body.
“We need all this to see if they need corrections in their training. When the World Cup is in Qatar, they’ll need massive saunas…
“Prandelli is meticulous and the staff leaves nothing to chance. We have to verify the conditions of the players compared to the tests we performed in April and reach a high level of fitness.”
Italy also hired a Japanese sports therapist who worked with West Ham and Fiorentina, while Castellacci confirmed the meals will be light and hydrating.
There will also be an organised approach to preventing mosquito bites, while there could also be vaccinations for the likes of malaria and dengue fever.