Marcello Lippi: Antonio Cassano Will Not Go To The World Cup

Football Genius wrote:Is it just me, or is it a little niave and silly to write off the opportunity to bring a player as part of his WC squad?

He may not be in Lippi's thinking for whatever reason right now, however a surge of injuries / form would surely then create a whole new proposition.

For an experienced manager burning bridges and closing doors seems schoolboy stuff to me.

Lippi is apparently considering Totti, and possibly Amauri 9if his citizenship comes in time) so I doubt he will run out of options.

However, it is always stupid to rule out your most creative player.... 6 months before or later... I guess Lippi has taken this stand coz the media has been hounding him about Cassano for over a year now, and Lippi is trying to make all that noise go away.... but it won't. It was similar with Baggio in 2002.

kas wrote:Different groups handle tragedy differently. Maybe a lot of the Netherlands players were close to Boulahrouz and his wife, but Sagna isn't as close to the key Arsenal players?

You might remember that for the Dutch family stood central this tournament : everyone brought wife and kids and as soon as the final whistle had blown they were celebrating with them.

In that context a miscarriage was an extra hard blow for this group...and it was clearly visible on the pitch.

bluenine wrote:
However, it is always stupid to rule out your most creative player.... 6 months before or later...

IMO this means that Cassano has made himself impossible in such a way that he'll never ever play again under Lippi.

In that case it's best to be as clear as possible and get all the talk out of the way as soon as possible...

bluenine wrote:

Football Genius wrote:Is it just me, or is it a little niave and silly to write off the opportunity to bring a player as part of his WC squad?

He may not be in Lippi's thinking for whatever reason right now, however a surge of injuries / form would surely then create a whole new proposition.

For an experienced manager burning bridges and closing doors seems schoolboy stuff to me.

Lippi is apparently considering Totti, and possibly Amauri 9if his citizenship comes in time) so I doubt he will run out of options.

However, it is always stupid to rule out your most creative player.... 6 months before or later... I guess Lippi has taken this stand coz the media has been hounding him about Cassano for over a year now, and Lippi is trying to make all that noise go away.... but it won't. It was similar with Baggio in 2002.

Yeh even if there is a massive injury crisis, Lippi won't call him. If he did call him, it would be seen as Lippi bowing down to the wishes of the media, and his massive ego won't let him do that.

Similar to Baggio, in that the media wanted him to go. Difference was that we had Del Piero and Totti in their prime back then, and both deserved to go. Maybe he could've taken Delvecchio's place though.