Two Cagliari players, Elia Caprile and Marco Palestra, are among Italy's 28-man squad for the World Cup qualifying playoffs. The Rossoblu duo, who will play against Napoli at 6:30 PM today , will then travel to Coverciano to prepare for the semifinal against Northern Ireland (next Thursday at 8:45 PM in Bergamo). If they qualify, the Azzurri would play away on Tuesday the 31st at the same time against the winner of Wales vs. Bosnia.
This is Palestra's debut with the national team, and he's the only newcomer in the Italy squad . Caprile, however, is on his second call-up after the one in November: he won the ballot with Guglielmo Vicario, the Tottenham goalkeeper who was left out of the squad after his club's difficulties (fighting against relegation to the Premier League). Sandro Tonali is there, having quickly recovered from injury against Newcastle United in the Champions League, and Federico Chiesa is back.
Goalkeepers: Elia Caprile (Cagliari), Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), Alex Meret (Napoli);
Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Alessandro Buongiorno (Napoli), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Diego Coppola (Paris FC), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Marco Palestra (Cagliari), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Leonardo Spinazzola (Napoli);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle);
Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Liverpool), Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter), Moise Kean (Fiorentina), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Atalanta), Mateo Retegui (Al-Qadsiah), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta).
