The match started a week early and is being played around the world. Not so much on the various fields of Europe, South America and Africa, as with blows of suspicion and (perhaps excessive) poisons. But the stopover is also this: double the wait, two weeks instead of one, and so it's worth it keep the attention – and the tension – high on Juventus-Napoli (next Saturday at 18), a very heartfelt challenge between the two teams leading the championship on equal points and who in the last year have given each other a thrashing between cups, super cups, matches full of goals and emotions and endless controversies off the pitch.
Add in a certainly not very exciting double qualifying round from Prandelli's Italy, who liquidated Armenia if they will face Denmark at home, and the game is done: the national teams, not least the blue one, at the center of attention not so much for results as for making fleas al playing time of the 25 players of the two rivals on the pitch: 14 from Juventus, 11 from Napoli.
The game of suspects is all the rage these days, especially around the Campania capital, where they don't want to miss the opportunity to at least play on equal terms with a challenge that could be worth the Scudetto. And it is coach Cesare Prandelli who is under particular pressure according to the backstory of De Laurentiis and his associates, on Friday in Armenia, he purposely kept Chiellini at rest and replaced Pirlo in the second half, with the result hanging in the balance, which has never happened in the previous 16 official matches played by the director in the management of the former Fiorentina coach (always the owner and on the pitch until the end). That wasn't enough, in Sunday's warm-up also stopped Buffon, who ironically against Denmark at the San Siro could give way to the Neapolitan De Sanctis. This time there will be Chiellini instead, while Giovinco would also appear to be bruised, fresh from yet another flop performance in Armenian soil.
Certainly however, net of turnover and real or presumed injuries, Juventus, the backbone of this national team for a couple of years, will have quite a few players on the pitch, and he will also line up one of his opponents, that Bendtner hitherto mysterious object, to whom a few more minutes in his legs certainly won't hurt.
Vucinic will also play in Ukraine with his Montenegro, while Switzerland's trip to Iceland will involve Lichtsteiner but also three Neapolitans: Inler, Behrami and Dzemaili. The four players (the last one coming on after the second half) were already used in Friday's match against Norway. Marek Hamsik will also be on the field in Europe, already scoring on Friday against Latvia: his Slovakia hosts Greece on Tuesday, while his partner Goran Pandev will not participate in Macedonia-Serbia: disqualified, he is the only blue who has already returned to Castelvolturno.
Much better news arrives for the black and whites from other continents, where instead the painful notes for Walter Mazzarri come from: Arturo Vidal was expelled in the Chile debacle in Ecuador and is already in Italy, as well as the Uruguayan Martin Caceres, warned and booked against Argentina. On the other hand, Ghanaian Asamoah missed the trip to Malawi due to ankle problems remedied in training on the eve: nothing serious anyway, there will be Napoli.
Naples, on the other hand, could be significantly penalized by the second round of South American qualifiers: apart from the Colombian winger Zuniga, who after the victory against Paraguay will probably be exempt from Eto'o's friendly match against Cameroon (clamorously eliminated from the African Cup) , they will have to sweat seven shirts the Argentines Fernandez and Campagnaro in the delicate trip to Chile, and they will return to Italy only on Thursday as will the bomber Edinson Cavani, who will be engaged with his Uruguay at 3.500 meters in La Paz, Bolivia. But if Felix Baumgartner returned alive yesterday from an altitude ten times higher, that certainly won't be the problem for the inexhaustible Matador. Also because, according to last-minute rumors, coach Tabarez would not be willing to deploy him from the first minute, to leave room for Cristian "Cebolla" Rodriguez and the Suarez-Forlan couple.
