Baggio fails to make Italy squad

Giovanni Trapattoni has named Italy's 23-man World Cup squad, and as expected there is no place for Roberto Baggio.

The veteran striker had been hoping to make his fourth World Cup finals and a bandwagon of support had grown in his favour.

The Brescia striker had recently recovered from a knee operation in time to make a last-minute attempt to claim a spot.

However, despite scoring three goals in three games, Trapattoni has repeatedly said that the fragile health of one of Italy's most popular players was a major hindrance to his selection.

The squad shows no major surprises and includes only four players from newly-crowned league champions Juventus.

Trapattoni showed loyalty to the players who had carried Italy through their unbeaten qualifying campaign.

AC Milan midfielder Massimo Ambrosini and Lazio's Stefano Fiore both missed out in preference to veteran Fiorentina midfielder Angelo Di Livio.

Parma striker Marco Di Vaio also missed out on selection.

The squad will congregate at the Coverciano training base near Florence on May 12 before travelling to Prague for their last pre-World Cup friendly against the Czech Republic five days later.

Italy's World Cup squad:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Francesco Toldo (Inter), Christian Abbiati (AC Milan).

Defenders: Fabio Cannavaro (Parma), Alessandro Nesta (Lazio), Paolo Maldini (AC Milan), Christian Panucci (AS Roma), Marco Materazzi (Inter), Mark Iuliano (Juventus), Francesco Coco (Barcelona).

Midfielders: Luigi Di Biagio and Cristiano Zanetti (Inter); Gianluca Zambrotta (Juventus), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Angelo Di Livio (Fiorentina), Damiano Tommasi (AS Roma), Cristiano Doni (Atalanta).

Forwards: Marco Delvecchio, Vincenzo Montella and Francesco Totti (AS Roma), Christian Vieri (Inter), Filippo Inzaghi (AC Milan), Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus).