Italy’s Inbetweeners: 7 players who need to step up to make the World Cup

Giuseppe Rossi – Fiorentina

Like fellow foreign-born Italy international Thiago Motta, Rossi only just made his way back into the Azzurri side, having missed two years of national team action through consecutive catastrophic knee injuries.

Rossi’s highly-anticipated call-up, made for Italy’s final pair of qualifiers with Denmark and Armenia, comes on the back of a brilliant scoring run in the early stages of the present campaign in which he has bagged six goals in eight appearances between Serie A and the Europa League.

His remarkably quick restoration of Prandelli’s set-up is indicative of the Italy tactician’s high regard for the striker, and given his clear demonstration that the long lay-off has not affected his level of play, his inclusion certainly warranted and bodes well for his World Cup prospects.

As a result, the 26-year-old looks good value to make the final cut, but with the high majority of the season still to go, will have to show that he can sustain his success to put his place on the roster under lock and key.