The possible absence of Francesco Totti is overshadowing Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni's preparations for the Euro 2004 Group C match against Sweden tomorrow. Trapattoni said he would resist making sweeping changes after the lacklustre goalless draw against Denmark but if Totti is suspended he may be forced to reshuffle his formation against a Sweden side still buzzing from their 5-0 crushing of Bulgaria.
Totti faces a certain ban if found guilty of spitting at Denmark's Christian Poulsen, contributing to the mounting pressure on the Italians who know that defeat by the Swedes would leave them facing the prospect of an early exit. In contrast, a confident Sweden will book their place in the last eight with victory. In training yesterday, Trapattoni's "first team" featured Totti's Roma team mate Antonio Cassano alongside Alessandro Del Piero and Christian Vieri in attack. But it was in midfield where the Italy coach hinted at more drastic changes with AC Milan pair Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso operating alongside Cristiano Zanetti at the expense of Simone Perrotta and Mauro Camoranesi.
The loss of Totti would be a major setback for Trapattoni and place added responsibility on Del Piero who, in keeping with his past record in major tournaments, looked far from his best in the opener. The Swedes, though, have a different memory of the Juventus striker as he grabbed the winner two minutes from the end when Italy beat them 2-1 in a Euro 2000 group match.
Sweden will be forced into at least one change with right back Teddy Lucic set to miss the game through injury. Joint coaches Tommy Soderberg and Lars Lagerback will probably ask midfielder Mikael Nilsson to slot in at right back with Christian Wilhelmsson, who came on for Lucic against Bulgaria, moving into the midfield.
Italy (possible): 1 Gianluigi Buffon, 2 Christian Panucci, 13 Alessandro Nesta, 5 Fabio Cannavaro, 19 Gianluca Zambrotta, 8 Gennaro Gattuso, 21 Andrea Pirlo, 4 Cristiano Zanetti (or 20 Simone Perrotta), 18 Antonio Cassano, 7 Alessandro Del Piero, 9 Christian Vieri.
Sweden (probable): 1 Andreas Isaksson, 7 Mikael Nilsson, 3 Olof Mellberg, 15 Andreas Jakobsson, 5 Erik Edman, 21 Christian Wilhelmsson, 6 Tobias Linderoth, 8 Anders Svensson, 9 Fredrik Ljungberg, 10 Zlatan Ibrahimovic,11 Henrik Larsson.
Filed by Mark O'Neill-Cummins
